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HERE'S TO NOAH, BLESS HIS ARK AND
OTHER MUSINGS
Essays and nonfiction
prose
By Paul Ruffin
Cover Graphic: Noah's Ark, Edward
Hicks (1780-1849) Published by Stone
River Press
ISBN
0-9728775-3-3
Also available in paperback
In this, his first collection of
nonfiction, Paul Ruffin, best known
for his fiction, poetry, and edited
works, gives us a broad sampling
from his treasure chest of hundreds
of column pieces and essays published
over a fifteen-year period. A master
of dialogue and southern humor, these
pieces are witty, intelligently written
and often poignant, but with the
author's insight into the human psyche
and a never-wavering search for the
truth of things, they are never mundane.
From "Spreading the Gospel of
the Grape" about a hitchhiking
jaunt in Ruffin's youth to "The
Lady with the Quick Simile" which
tells of his brief encounters with
Eudora Welty, we are entertained,
and imbued with smiles, belly laughs,
and the thought provoking "Yes,
that's the way it is."
LINES FROM "MUSING
ON THE GYPSIES."
"I never, ever, saw a Gypsy
in Mississippi when I was a boy,
even though they were as real to
me as the Devil, whom I never saw
either but certainly was reminded
of often enough. I was more afraid
of them than Him because He didn't
get you until you were dead, but
Gypsies wanted you alive and kicking."
LINES FROM "THE BEST WAY TO
COVER YOUR LOINS."
"First of all, you put some
butter in a large skillet and heat
it just to the point of darkening--don't
want to burn it, you know, just get
it to the point of smoking. Lay the
tenderloins in, curled to fit, like
they're a couple sleeping snugly
against each other. Oh, they'll get
happy real quick, as Emeril puts
it. Let 'm sizzle and carry on a
few seconds until you have a nice
brown on that side, then roll 'm
over, just like a couple rolling
over in bed."
WHAT OTHERS SAY:
As has been noted by reviewers and
critics of Ruffin's fiction, here
is a man who has total command of
his language in these sharply etched
pieces. He writes with what Library
Journal described as "a hardened
American elegance," and he demonstrates
what The Journal of American Studies
called "an eye for significant
detail and his ear for dialogue is
impeccable." The Mississippi
Press echoed: "Ruffin has a
weather ear for believable conversation,
and a keen eye for balanced detail." In
the New York Times Book Review Susan
Lowell wrote of his first collection
of stories, the Man Who Would Be
god: "Mr. Ruffin's poignant
stories linger in the memory like
the scent of wood smoke-or gun smoke-on
the skin."
From the Houston Chronicle "...one
of the best writers of his generation."
PAUL RUFFIN is Regents Distinguished
Professor of English at Sam Houston
State University in Huntsville, Texas
where he edits The Texas Review and
directs Texas Review Press. He is
the author of two novels, Pompeii
Man and Castle in the Gloom: two
collections of short stories, The
Man Who Would Be God; and Islands
Women, and God; and five collections
of poetry, and he is the editor or
coeditor of eight other books. His
work has appeared in hundreds of
journals, magazines, anthologies,
and textbooks in the United States,
and his fiction has been aired on
National Public Radio. He writes
a weekly newspaper column, Ruffin-It,
from which most of these essays were
taken.
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