When Chris Offutt, author of six books and writer for TV shows like “True Blood” and “Weeds,” achieves yet another major accomplishment with his third memoir, the whole of Oxford will be there to celebrate.
Chris Offutt has authored books far and wide, worked on television shows that reach deep into fantasy, and earned many an award. His latest work, “My Father, the Pornographer,” has been heralded by Booklist, New York Magazine and The Washington Post, among others. Off Square Books will be hosting Offutt and “My Father, the Pornographer” tomorrow at 5 p.m. The book focuses on Offutt’s father, a man who left 1,800 pounds worth of pornographic fiction to his son, a legacy prompting yet another work of non-fiction from the author and professor who now calls Oxford home.
Courtesy: Amazon.com
“I’m very fortunate,” Offutt said. “Oxford accepts not just the value of writers, but their necessity to society. That’s rare. It’s probably due to the writers who lived here before– Faulkner and Barry Hannah and Larry Brown. I’m grateful to them for paving the way, and to Oxford and the University for accepting me.”
Like most Southern-born writers, location is key for Offutt and his stories, even the non-fiction ones.
“For me, location and landscape is crucial,” Offutt said. “Narrative consists mainly of people interacting in time and space. I believe strongly that place–geography, land, trees, buildings–all are a major influence on human beings. In life, we react to one another and external events. Those reactions are due to where we come from and where we happen to be living. Part of this book is set in Mississippi, because it’s where I wrote it. I don’t think I could have written it in Kentucky or Iowa or Los Angeles, or any of the places I’ve lived.”
“My Father, the Pornographer” features Andrew J. Offutt, and explores the Offutts’ father-son relationship as well the struggles that came with Andrew’s life and death, notably his career in writing erotic novels.
“I cleared out Dad’s house and found all his work,” Offutt said. “My siblings wanted to destroy it, but I thought that he, like any writer, deserved a bibliography. He’d never made one himself. I began by trying to assemble his bibliography. But there was so much that I got bogged down and had to take extensive notes. Then I got interested in the notes, and realized it was possible to write a book. I didn’t really make the decision so much as stumble into it!”
He adds, “It’s too soon for me to have a favorite part. I’m mostly relieved at having finished such an undertaking. I’ve wanted to write it for a long time. Dad’s death allowed me to do so, and provided compassion and generosity toward him.”
Such a personal and emotionally-driven novel practically fell onto the page, thanks to Offutt’s strengths and self-awareness. This memoir, despite having a very different focus than the previous books and involving less invention than fictional works, saw no change in Offutt’s process.
“The main difference with a memoir is that you typically already know the story. That takes the pressure of invention away from writing. For me, that means I can pay more attention to structure, and use a more personal language. The book is about Dad but reflects my own way of thinking. Most of my fiction is an attempt to portray the culture of eastern Kentucky, where I’m from. I use language that is part of that culture. So far, I’ve had better luck experimenting with structure in memoir than in fiction. Nothing really changes in terms of process. I get up and I write – seven days a week.”
