Friday, August 06, 2004
Richard Ford reading at the Lensic last night was just brilliant – warm and urbane but with a clarity and precision to his prose that made me very jealous.
He read a couple of extended passages from his forthcoming novel – the third in the Frank Bascombe trilogy that started with The Sportswriter and continued with Independence Day.
As well as his spare and beautiful prose (I think only Martin Amis can match him for this), he manages to be funny and wise while absolutely nailing his characters and their world. Ford’s soft Mississippi accent was great to hear – and that’ll be the voice in my head now when I’m reading his stuff.
It’s enough to make me think about writing fiction, but also enough to scare me horribly.