Q&A: Allan Gurganus talks about Writing Inspirations

On Saturday and Sunday, the N.C. Literary Festival welcomes Allan Gurganus and other authors. The DTH got a chance to talk to the author of “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.”



DTH: How long have you been writing?

Allan Gurganus: I went to arts school when I was 17, and then I was drafted into the U.S. Navy.

And I really started writing as a result of the war in Vietnam.

I was on an aircraft carrier with 4,000 other men, and there was a library on board.

I’m now 62, so I guess I’ve been writing about 41 years or something like that.



DTH: In general, what do you like to write about?

AG: Family conflict is fascinating to me and family resemblances are fascinating to me. I believe in those two categories as they apply to history, too. So I’m interested in families and history and families in history.



DTH: Where do you normally get your inspirations for writing?

AG: I subscribe to three newspapers today. I think any page of any newspaper can give you enough material to last a lifetime as a writer.

There are just stories like gold ore, lying around everywhere.

I also have a post office box, and I go downtown to my post office everyday.

It’s a very rare day that I don’t hear a story coming and going to the post office. So gossip must never be underestimated.

Just the news that people find interesting enough to tell or convey is often something that’s contradictory, or something that’s hilarious or embarrassing.

All fiction is about people in trouble, and gossip is usually about people getting into or out of trouble.



DTH: Do you have a favorite literary memory? Anything that stands out as being the best part of your experience as a writer so far?

AG: Seeing a person on a train reading your short story, sitting beside them and watching them turn the pages, is very sexy. … It’s almost like literary porn or something, to be able to watch somebody read your work and be anonymous.

And the first published story and first time you hold your book in your hand …

People always talk about writing as something that you do in solitude, but all of the writers that I love the most are the best listeners, which means they can imitate other people because they have listened with tremendous concentration and respect to other people.



DTH: Are you reading a book right now?

AG: What I really do is I go back frequently to read (Anton) Chekhov short stories. He is a major inspiration.

I try to read contemporary work, but between courses I read three or four Chekhov stories, and it’s like taking a one-a-day multiple vitamin.

So humane and so clear and so seemingly simple that it makes you think you can write better than you actually can, but it’s very inspiring. I always send my writing students to Chekhov as a beautiful teaching writer.


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