Read an interview in the Journal this a.m. in which Jhumpa Lahiri promotes her new novel - and the interviewer, himself a former R.I.er, focuses on the Rhode Island setting. Lahiri notes that she's more or less avoided specifying a Rhode Island setting in her fiction, even though some of her stories are clearly set in Rhode Island (where she was raised, went to h.s., etc.), as attentive R.I. readers will note. The interviewer thanks her for her portrayal of the state - I can't wait to read it, myself - yet notes, incorrectly, that there haven't been too many novels set in Rhode Island. Allow me to correct the record on that point - we've had a # of novels set in Rhode Island, including many recent ones - though unfortunately novels set outside of the NYC (or sometimes LA) mainstream don't always get the attention they deserve. Here are a few R.I.-set novels and story collections:
H.P. Lovecraft stories, to start with the most famous of Rhode Island writers
Providence, by Geoffrey Wolff - captures the essence of the city
Spartina, by John Casey - R.I. coastal life
Much of Ann Hood's fiction, starting with Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides - wish I'd liked it more, but it does depict Brown in the 1980s
Outside Providence, by Peter Farrelly - yes, the director of Dumb and Dumber
Airs of Providence, a great story collection by Jean McGarry
A few from my colleagues in the former Providence Areas Writers (PAWS), including:
The Tell, by Hester Kaplan
Keeper & Kid, by Ed Hardy
The Year She Disappeared, by Ann Harleman
Flipping for It, by Daniel Asa Rose
I'm sure I'll think of more - and will add to the list in a future post if so.
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