A Gathering of Old Men Essay | Critical Essay #4

A Gathering of Old Men Critical Essay #4

I learned much about dialogue from Faulkner, especially when we're dealing with our Southern dialects. I learned rhythms from Gertrude Stein, learned to put a complete story in a day from Joyce's Ulysses or Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych."

You have spoken before about how Russian writers influenced you.

Yes, I started out with form from Ivan Turgenyev. I was very much impressed, not only with form but with their use of peasantry. I think serfs are used much more humanely in their fiction than, say, the slaves were used, or the blacks were used, by many of the Southern writers. I remember Tolstoy says, "You just watch a serf, just watch him. He'll never tell you the truth." He says, now if you watch closely, you'll figure out the truth, but boy he's going to lead you all through the swamps, all through the woods, and...
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