Tim Gautreaux
Louisiana writer Tim Gautreaux is the son of a tugboat captain, grandson of a riverboat captain — and author of a new novel set on the Mississippi that follows the steamboat not in Mark Twain’s day but in the rough and tumble, down and dirty age of the 1920s.
World War I is the backdrop. A kidnapping in New Orleans is the plot starter. And the themes are wide and deep as the river. Loss. Reparation. The pull of vengeance.
Jazz is new. Human nature is old. And the river rolls.
This hour, On Point: A different life on the Misissippi, and Tim Gautreaux’s “The Missing.”
You can join the conversation. Have you read Gautreaux? Do you know this river? These woods? The urge for vengeance?
-Tom Ashbrook
Guest:
Joining us from Hammond, Lousiana is Tim Gautreaux, novelist, short-story writer, and longtime teacher of creative writing. He’s a Louisiana native, and he’s now a writer in residence and professor emeritus at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. His fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and GQ, as well as the O. Henry and Best American Short Story collections. His third novel, “The Missing,” is just out.
Read an excerpt from “The Missing.”
More links:
There’s a good profile of Tim Gautreaux in the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. His new novel has been reviewed in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.
For a sense of the steamboat era’s music pre-1930, Tim Gautreaux recommends Red Hot Jazz Archive. A music buff, he particularly likes the music of Fate Marable.
The music played before the breaks in today’s show, in order, is: Jelly-Roll Morton’s “Steamboat Stomp”; Fate Marable’s “Frankie and Johnny”; and King Oliver’s “New Orleans Shout.”
Hi,
I grew up in New Orleans in the 70’s and remember the boats still going out on Friday and Saturday nites (The President). Great music – saw the Neville Bros once – a bon temp!
Blaine
Posted by Blaine, on April 8th, 2009 at 10:32 am EDTParis, FR
As a LeBlanc I’m looking forward to reading Tim’s books. I’m one of those Acadian descendents who were exiled in the 1750’s. Also have Gauterots in the family history way back there. I’m wondering if Tim has ever considered writing about the “kidnapped” generation of folks back in Nova Scotia. Others have written about the subject but I think that Tim’s writing style, research and writing skill would create a fascinating story.
Posted by Rob White, on April 8th, 2009 at 10:59 am EDT