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I always pictured this novel as being operatic, that is, following in the much- trod tradition of the bel canto operas with doomed female heroines. There’s ref- erences throughout the book to La Traviata that, at one time, was my favorite opera. And these operas, of course, are all about fate, just like the Greek tragedies. There is something also con- sciously Hellenic about the narrative. The epigram talks of the ancient Greeks discovering amber — which, in Greek, is the word for “electricity.” And at the end of the book, there is some other Greek stuff going on as well, not to give away too much. Q. How about the social vision of this book? There’s a deeply felt longing for jus- ticein Lick Creek. You men- tion james Agee, well, I’m going to mention Walker Evens. It seems you have both the social realist eye of a Walker Evans here, as well as this mythopoetic fable set in the mountains of West Virginia. What are the links between the political vision of the book and the almost magic-real elements of the narrative? A. Hmm. Obviously they’re of a piece. At its most reductive,'this is the story of a woman who is crushed by capitalism and “progress,” from the coal mines that were owned by the Guggenheim family, to the power lines that spread across the country in the twenties, which consolidat- ed the power (literally) into the hands of a few big com- panies. All this stuff is the deep background of the book, and rears its head only occasionally so as not to swamp the main story. I wanted to suggest this polit- ical stuff, but not burden the narrative with it. Social justice is hard to write about in, fiction. The impulse toward it should always be there, lurking somehow beneath the visible words, but I’d rather read about what a person ate for break- fast. Q. You had lived in West Virginia where Lick Creek is ..:..- . . 4 . K . . ,. set for some time and that sense of place informs the novel. As a fiction writer liv- ing in Vermont, what are there ways that Vermont is informing new writing you are doing now. What are you currently working on? A. I fell in love with West Virginia the way an eight- een—year-old falls for his or her first love. It was reckless and ungoverned, irresponsi- ble almost, and full of false hopes. We lived there and tried moving there, but we couldn’t really find work, and couldn’t really find the house and the land that we wanted. Still, it was my muse and I have deep long- ings for the people there and the land, which is haunting and beautiful and difficult. The valley we moved to in Vermont actual- ly reminded us of the hollow in West Virginia where Lick Creek takes place. And that’s the reason why we moved there. But I have a very different workman—like relationship to Vermont. It is -«a great place to live. A great place to work. Its laws are progressive. The moun- tains -.are beautiful. Everything about it is responsible and good, which doesn’t alwaysmake for the best fiction. But we’ll see. It takes a while for a landscape to seep into your body and start talkingito you, to give up its secrets, and settle into your bones. This is happening now. It will continue to happen, I’m sure, over the years. Right now I’m working on a book that takes place up the Hudson River, north of New York City. But maybe I'll get "there with Vermont. It might just take some time. I’m still a flatlander,_ but learning. Tim Miller is a solo per-, former and the author of Shirts & Skin, published by Alyson. He can be reached through his website http://hometown.aol.com/mille rtale/timmillerhtml Brad Kessler reads from LICK CREEK April 12 at 7:30 pm Northshire Bookstore Manchester Center, VI" 802-362-2200