The Catawba Fictioneers: Ron Rash, Something Rich and Strange

The Case Study

Jennifer Beach

Ron Rash, Something Rich and Strange

Ron Rash is a poet, novelist, and short story writer born in 1953. Though born in South Carolina, he grew up in western North Carolina and this is where most of his stories take place. He is a professor at Western Carolina University, and has a cool beard.

I noticed several themes in the stories I read. First, and most obvious is that all of his stories take place in North Carolina, and he mentions places like Asheville, Sylva, and Boone. Secondly, perhaps as a function of his settings, his stories mainly seem to focus on characters in rural settings, with conflicts that are unique to living in a rural/agricultural area. Another strange (to me) similarity found in a few of these stories, though likely not very relevant, is methamphetamine use. A more subtle thing I also noticed is that Ron Rash likes to use foreshadowing and allusions to things that the reader doesn’t yet understand. He will make a reference early in a story to something he will come back to later and explain. I liked this element of his writing, because while it could have made things confusing, I think it made the stories more interesting and erased the impression of the author making things up as he/she goes along, which is a feeling I get with many short stories.

Lincolnites

This story was about a Southern woman named Lily whose husband was union soldier in Civil War. Lily is left alone while he is away fighting with their young daughter, and another on the way. Rash starts on a day when Lily’s worst fear occurs: a confederate soldier shows up on the property to steal her chickens and her horse. After realizing she knew this man, Mr. Vaughn, she lures him into the cellar on the pretense of exchanging sex for the horse, and then she stabs him with a knitting needle and kills him. Her final thoughts were about her children and her plans to bury Mr. Vaughn the next day in the fields and plant crops over him.

This was possibly my favorite story, and not just because I like Civil War stories. I loved how we were inside Lily’s head the whole time at a fairly close psychic distance. I think his use of 2^nd person is really effective, because we still hear her thoughts, but it doesn’t seem as personal and it’s less scary than it could be. I think this helps the story move quicker and it doesn’t seem sentimental to me.

The Trusty

This story follows a prisoner named Sinkler, as he plans out an escape. Sinkler is what is known as a “trusty”, because he is trusted to go fetch water without being tied up. He meets Lucy on a nearby farm, he stops by to borrow water from their well. He begins to earn Lucy’s trust, and they plan to run away together to Asheville, and then catch the train to California. The surprise ending was that the girl had been leading him in circles, and planning with her husband to murder and rob him the whole time.

The whole time, I didn’t like Sinkler much. He seemed to me like a guy who thinks he’s smarter than he is, which seems to keep getting him in trouble. Rash keeps me from giving up on this story, however. I wanted to find out if they were going to get away with their plan. I also really liked the unexpected ending, with Lucy being a more complex character than I thought.

Three A.M. and the Stars Were Out

This story is about Carson, an aging veterinarian who lost his wife recently before the story starts. He wakes up to a phone call to an old friend Darnell, who lived on a nearby farm and needed help delivering a calf. They finally deliver the cow, and then they sit and talk for a while. Both Darnell and Carson lost their wives and fought in the Korean War. They seem to bond over these two things especially, and Darnell identifies with Carson because he misses his wife, too.

I liked this story because it had a nice feeling to it. It was slightly sad at the beginning but as the story went along, it got hopeful. I think Rash did a good job making it seem like Darnell and Carson were old, loyal friends and that they really mean something to each other. There was also a beautiful feeling about being able to bring the cow into the world alive and healthily. Carson’s attitude toward the birth at the beginning was fairly grim, thinking he might have to kill the calf to save the mother cow, but everything turns out fine. This was one of his more “boring” or “simpler” stories, but I think that’s part of its charm. It is slower, uses lots of imagery-words, and is very descriptive. The reader really feels like he or she is actually in the barn with the two of them, huddling over the cow in the lantern-light.

Hard Times

This story is about Jacob and Edna, a husband and wife, who are going through rough financial times and Edna is concerned about seemingly missing some eggs from under their hen. She obsesses over what has been getting to their eggs. Early in the story, another family is mentioned, the Hartleys. The Hartleys are the poorest family in town, because he can’t grow crops on his land, and the mill had recently closed, so he was out of work. When The Hartleys pass by Jacob and Edna’s house, Edna asks if The Hartley’s dog steals eggs. Mr. Hartley is so ashamed and has so much pride, he slits the dog’s throat right there. Finally, Jacob sets a trap to catch what has been stealing eggs, and the thief ends up being Hartley’s daughter. She was so hungry that she would steal an egg every night and eat it whole. Jacob warns her to never take any again, but does not tell Mr. Hartley, to protect her. He also lies to his wife and tells her it was a snake that he killed.

The first story in this collection, it was a good first impression of Ron Rash as an author, and definitely set the tone for a rural setting and characters. The story is interesting and has enough of a shock factor to keep it unexpected. I was very surprised when Hartley killed his own dog without even thinking. He didn’t seem angry or challenging, the man just shrugged and slit the animal’s throat. That was a big moment that Rash kind of slipped into the story without much ado.

Grades

1. Hard Times – B+

2. Three A.M. and the Stars Were Out – A

3. The Ascent – C

4. Night Hawks – B

5. The Trusty – B

6. Back of Beyond – A

7. Lincolnites – A

8. Into the Gorge – C

Agent’s website http://www.rusoffagency.com/authors/rash_r/ron_rash.htm

Amazon.com page http://www.amazon.com/Ron-Rash/e/B001IQX8XQ

Stacey Cochran interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMzZLxWm57I