BRATTLEBORO — With current debates about the future of art funding and work in the age of artificial intelligence, local author Peter Gould’s novel offers a timely meditation.
Gould said “Part for the Hole” is about how “artists get support for all the important work that they do.” But when he started out writing it in 2003, he didn’t know that would be the focus. He finished it last month.
The launch of his book tour is happening at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the Putney Public Library. Copies of the novel will be available for sale.
“At a time of politicization of arts support,” a description from the library states, “Peter Gould’s new novel … puts the reader into the mind and heart of a thoughtful high school teacher, who decides to rescue the National Endowment for the Arts by himself — with the help of his lover and his AP English students. They realize it’s time to take a stand, to not let working artists disappear into a system that demands their soul in return for success.”
In 1998, Gould saw an Associated Press article in the Brattleboro Reformer that caught his eye. An artist was kidnapped and forced to paint at gunpoint, an image that stayed with Gould for years and inspired the novel.
Gould cut out the article and posted it on his wall. He started his PhD studies and didn’t return to the story until he was ready to write fiction again.
In the acknowledgements of “Part for the Hole,” Gould thanks the local daily newspaper. He also met the artist from the story. When he finished the book, he brought it to Mexico and gave it to him as a gift.
Gould and his wife Mollie Burke, outgoing state representative for the Windham-8 district in Brattleboro, went to the country for their 25th anniversary. They have artist friends who live there.
“One of my objectives was to find the guy and I did,” Gould said. “It was an amazing experience.”
Five of Gould’s books were published before.
“I love writing,” he said. “It’s one of the ways I identify myself.”
Gould’s earlier works were published by big name publishers Alfred A. Knopf and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Green Writers Press in Brattleboro. His new novel was released under his own imprint, Whetstone Books, which is supporting other authors as well.
Gould has toured the world as a physical comedy performer. In 1998, he founded the Get Thee to the Funnery youth Shakespeare camp in the Northeast Kingdom, which he continues to direct.
For his creative work with theater and writing students around Vermont, Gould earned the Arts Council’s 2016 Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Arts Educator of the Year award.
On writing fiction, Gould said he makes himself “open for a new voice to become available.” He meditates or writes a sloppy draft in which he allows that voice to take over in his head.
“That person, with his ideas and his opinions, inspired me,” he said. “I’m not really sure where it came from.”
People who know Gould will recognize parts of themselves in his fiction, which he said is not meant to be real. He borrows “aspects of friends and acquaintances,” he said.
When getting in the flow of writing, every person he meets or conversation he hears has the potential to influence the story.
“It’s like this wonderful magnifying glass you might use,” he said. “When you’re in the middle or in process … you’re in this incredibly inspired state of grace that is sad when it comes to an end, but there’s always a next book.”
Now, Gould is working on a sequel to his nonfiction book “Horse Drawn Yogurt: Stories from Total Loss Farm.” Stories touch on the experience of living in a commune in Guilford.
Gould said his theater work plays into his writing. In his 20s, he didn’t feel he knew how to write dialogue. After performing 3,000 to 4,000 times and learning how to keep audiences engaged, he said he now feels like he has that ability.
Theater techniques Gould teaches to children are applicable to writing, he said, including “escalation, payoff and framing.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.reformer.com ’
