Q&A: David Guterson on his new novel, ‘Evelyn in Transit,’ and his ties to the UW
The Bainbridge Island-based author of "Snow Falling on Cedars" discusses life as a teacher and memories from the UW.
In advance of his book launch at Town Hall later this month, David Guterson, ’78, ’82, ’83, spoke with UW Magazine about his new novel, “Evelyn in Transit,” his memories of being a student at the UW and his life as a teacher and writer.
After your first big novel, “Snow Falling on Cedars,” became an award-winning bestseller and was made into a movie, how did you navigate the expectations and continue to write on your own terms?
I’ve always, to the extent possible, ignored that stuff and just focused on the writing—just writing what I wanted to write. Of course, some people will like what you write and others won’t, no matter what you do. I never thought, in career terms, that I had to build on “Snow Falling on Cedars” and write “Hail Falling on Pine Trees.” You have to do what’s in you.
Your new novel “Evelyn in Transit” explores the possibilities of reincarnation and the story of a prominent Tibetan spiritual teacher who is reborn as a young child in Indiana. What are your thoughts on reincarnation?
What does reincarnation mean? Does it mean that you’re embodying someone from the past and bringing them into this life to be a carrier and holder of a particular tradition? Or do you fly through the bardo? When people ask His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama whether he’s going to reincarnate—he can see how he’s related to the past Dalai Lamas. He’s the inheritor of their entire way of being. But it leaves room for interpretation. He’s not saying it’s a mystical thing between lives. These lineage holders do embody what came before. But how that happened isn’t important. What’s important is that it happens. There’s ambiguity there. I don’t need an answer.
If you could come back again as an artist, what might you be?
In the next life, I’d be a lyricist/composer/songwriter/singer. When I was in college, in the summers, I sucked a lot of smoke while fighting fires for the Forest Service. Mostly we burned slash in clearcuts—torched whatever was left so the land could be replanted after all the marketable timber had been taken. We went to wildfires too. One summer working for the Forest Service paid for a whole year of school at UW. So far, the only problem is my vocal cords got singed. In my next life, my vocal cords will be gold.
You’ve written books of poetry, a memoir, a story collection, and several novels. What else do you want to do?
I’m finishing up a nonfiction book about writing fiction. I devote some of it to my teachers at theUW: Lois Hudson, Charles Johnson and Jack Brenner. Lois always opened her office door to me. She read my work closely and looked me in the eye. I’m friends to this day with Charles Johnson, who steered me through my M.A. program. I want to use my book on writing as a launching point to give more energy to teaching. Even though I left it behind in 1994, I never lost my love for it.
David Guterson will talk about “Evelyn in Transit” with Karen Maeda Allman at Town Hall on January 22 at 7:30 p.m.