Duke University received a taste of the rural north Thursday night.
American author Howard Norman gave a reading in the Rare Book Room to an audience of about 30 students, professors and visitors. The event was a part of his residency as the Blackburn Visiting Fiction Writer for the week from Feb. 15-21.
Norman's novels have garnered critical acclaim, and his first two, 1987's "The Northern Lights" and 1994's "The Bird Artist," were both National Book Award finalists. Most of his fiction concerns the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, especially its capital of Halifax.
Norman was introduced by Associate Professor of English Michael Moses. He taught Norman's "The Bird Artist" in his Spring 2008 Contemporary American Authors class alongside Professor of English Thomas Ferraro. Moses praised Norman's fiction in his introduction, citing "the strange and intensely compelling universe of his characters" as one of its primary draws.
Norman read the first chapter and other select passages from the as-yet-untitled novel he is currently working on. The fiction was based in World War II, when German U-boats would strike regularly off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
Moses and Ferraro had suggested Norman's name as a possible author for the Blackburn Committee to consider bringing to Duke.
"He's really what I would call a writer's writer," Moses said. "If you talk to any writer in the country, they would instantly know his work and admire him."
Past Blackburn writers have included Robert Pinsky, Paul Auster, John Ashbery and Richard Ford, among many others.
Professor of English Deborah Pope is a member of the committee. She explained the interest in bringing Norman to Duke.
"He's someone who has won many major awards, but to some extent flies under the radar," she said. "He's so generous and approachable, and he's been wonderful to students."
Norman's writing is steeped in the culture of the Canadian provinces in which most of his stories takes place. Norman speaks Inuit, Cree and Algonquin, Pope said. She added that his novels, including the passages he read aloud, draw from traditions of the area.
Professor of English Joseph Porter noted a particular cultural highlight in his books: the names of his characters.
"One of the glories of his writing is the proper names," he said. "I almost felt like asking him, 'Do people have more interesting names in Canada than they do in the U.S.?'"
Freshman Malia Lehrer also appreciated Norman's attention to detail. Although she had never read any of his novels prior to the reading, she said Norman spoke to her creative writing class and then accompanied some of them to dinner afterwards. She came to the event to hear some of what he had written.
"I'm really impressed with the characters," she said. "Also, he collects things and then puts them into his novels, and that's really cool."
The audience was not limited to members of the Duke community. Myles Friedman and Virginia Chambers came from Pittsboro after Friedman learned about the appearance from an advertisement in The Independent Weekly. He said he has read and owns all of Norman's books.
"I think he's brilliant, first of all, and the resonance of his voice and the intricacies of the detail-it was fabulous," Chambers said. "It was well worth the jaunt from Pittsboro."
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