SOURCE: Griffin, Larry D. “Richard Ford.” In A Reader's Companion to the Short Story in English, edited by Erin Fallon, R. C. Feddersen, James Kurtzleben, Maurice A. Lee, and Susan Rochette-Crawley, pp. 156-60. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001.

[In the following essay, Griffin provides an overview of the criticism on Ford's short stories and provides his own analysis of them.]

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Ford was born on February 16, 1944, in Jackson, Mississippi, the only son of Parker Ford, a traveling salesman, and his wife, Edna, a homemaker. Ford grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and Little Rock, Arkansas, then attended Michigan State University as an undergraduate. He studied law at Washington University in St. Louis, served briefly in the U.S. Marine Corps, and in 1970 received his M.F.A. from the University of California at Irvine, where he studied under E. L. Doctorow. In 1968, Ford married Kristina Hensley, who had a Ph.D. in city planning. During the 1970s he taught creative writing at Princeton, Williams College, and the University of Michigan. In 1977, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship followed in 1978. In 1987, he received the Mississippi Academy of Arts and Letters' Literature Award.

Several of Ford's stories in Rock Springs (1987) as well as the novel Wildlife (1990) are set in Montana, where the Fords moved when Kristina became the planning director of Bozeman, Montana. Currently, however, Ford divides his time among his leased plantation house in the Mississippi Delta, a house trailer in Chinook, Montana, a nineteenth-century Bourbon Street townhouse in New Orleans (where Kristina now works as the executive director of the City Planning Commission), and an apartment in Paris, France. Two of the three stories in his 1997 collection), Women with Men, are set mostly in France; the third is set in Montana.

In 1980, Ford received the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Literature. In 1995, he received the Rea Award for his contributions to short fiction, and in 1996, he received both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Independence Day.

CRITICISM

THE LANDSCAPE OF MONTANA IS AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT IN RICHARD FORD'S COLLECTION ROCK SPRINGS. AS RAYMOND A. SCHROTH SUGGESTS, THE “STORIES AND CHARACTERS SO SPRING FROM THEIR LANDSCAPES AND PHYSICAL SITUATIONS AS TO PERSONIFY THE SPIRIT OF THE MOTELS, ROADSIDE BARS, LAKES AND HIGHWAYS WHERE WE ENCOUNTER THEM” (227). IN AN INTERVIEW WITH KAY BONETTI, FORD HIMSELF EXPLAINS THAT “A PLACE MAKES ITSELF FELT ENTIRELY THROUGH PARTICULARS” (71), ELSEWHERE NOTING THAT “PLACES DON'T HAVE ESSENCES. THEY'RE TOO PROFUSE AND INCALCULABLE. THEIR ESSENTIALNESS AND THEIR APPEAL IS IN THEIR SPECIFICITY” (FORD, “PLACE” 68).

IN CHARACTERIZING THE PLACE OF SUNBURST, MONTANA, IN THE STORY “CHILDREN,” FORD MAY BE SAID TO UTILIZE A DEVICE TERMED BY RICHARD HUGO AS “THE TRIGGERING TOWN” (7). WHILE HUGO'S ANALYSIS APPLIES SPECIFICALLY TO POETRY, ITS INSIGHT IS APPLICABLE HERE BECAUSE IT SUGGESTS A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE SENSE OF A PLACE AND THE ESSENCE OF A PLACE. THE “TRIGGERING TOWN,” A FICTIONAL SETTING WITHIN WHICH A POEM (OR STORY) UNFOLDS, IS A LOCATION IN THE IMAGINATION ONLY. WITHOUT ESSENCE, IT PROVIDES A SOURCE OF “CREATIVE STABILITY” AND THUS GRANTS THE AUTHOR POSSESSION OF THE EMOTIONAL RESONANCE—OR SENSE—OF ITSELF (12). INDEED, AS FORD WRITES IN “I MUST BE GOING,” “IMAGINATION … THRIVES IN US BY EXTENDING PARTIAL KNOWLEDGE TO COMPLETE ANY ILLUSION OF REALITY” (104).

FORD SUGGESTS THAT HIS STORIES CONCERN THE ACCOMMODATION OF CHARACTER TO PLACE (GREEN 72). YET PHILLIP ORR, IN HIS REVIEW OF ROCK SPRINGS, INSISTS THAT THE STORIES IN FORD'S COLLECTION EMPHASIZE THE INDIVIDUAL'S ALONENESS IN THE WORLD. PERCEIVING A DISTANCE BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR EMOTIONS, AND A RESULTING INABILITY TO ARRIVE AT ANY REDEMPTION, HE CLASSIFIES THE AUTHOR AS A MINIMALIST. BRUCE WEBER, HOWEVER, DISAGREES WITH THIS ASSESSMENT. FORD'S CHARACTERS NEVER GIVE UP. WEBER ARGUES; “THEY ACTIVELY SEEK THE HIGH-MINDED SOLACE THAT'S AVAILABLE—IN SELF KNOWLEDGE, IN THE FUTURE, IN LOVE” (59). FORD, TOO, FINDS A MEASURE OF HOPEFULNESS IN HIS WORK, PROCLAIMING THAT WRITING ITSELF “IS AN ACT OF OPTIMISM” (MCQUADE 67).

YET BAD THINGS DO HAPPEN TO FORD'S CHARACTERS, THINGS THAT STRIP THEM DOWN TO THEIR VITAL SELVES. AS DEAN FLOWER CONCLUDES, “DESPITE BRIEF MOMENTS OF GRACE, FORD'S STORIES TEND TO CONFIRM A SENSE OF INEXORABLE MEANNESS AT WORK IN THE WORLD” (210). VIVIAN GORNICK IN “TENDERHEARTED MEN: LONESOME, SAD, AND BLUE” DESCRIBES FORD'S CHARACTERS AS “PAINED AND BEWILDERED PEOPLE DRIVEN BY THEIR OWN SAD EMPTINESS INTO PROTOTYPIC AMERICAN VIOLENCE” (33). WHEN NICK NORWOOD COMPARES THE SHORT STORIES OF ROCK SPRINGS TO WILDLIFE, HE WRITES, “FORD'S CHARACTERS ARE PEOPLE WHO STARTED LIFE WITH NEBULOUS DREAMS AND WHO WIND UP SUFFERING AT THE HANDS OF BAD LUCK OR THEIR OWN MISCALCULATIONS” (86). YET WHAT FORD HAS SAID SPECIFICALLY OF THE STORIES “FIREWORKS” AND “ROCK SPRINGS” IN ROCK SPRINGS MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO MUCH OF HIS WORK: “I THINK IT'S PEOPLE ON THE EDGE; THINGS COULD REALLY GET WORSE, OR THINGS COULD GET A LITTLE BETTER. THAT, I THINK, IS WHERE THE TWO LINES OF DRAMATIC ACTION TAKE PLACE IN ALL THESE STORIES” (BONETTI 95).

ANALYSIS

IN ROCK SPRINGS, RICHARD FORD PEOPLES HIS MONTANA WITH MALE CHARACTERS: EARL, THE CAR THIEF, WHOSE ARM IS TATTOOED “FAMOUS TIMES” IN “ROCK SPRINGS”; JACK RUSSELL'S SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON, WHOSE MOTHER LEAVES HIS FATHER IN “GREAT FALLS”; RUSS, WHOSE EXPERIENCE INCLUDES DRIVING HIS GIRLFRIEND'S EX-HUSBAND TO PRISON AT DEER LODGE; GEORGE, WHOSE BEST FRIEND BEATS HIM OUT OF A SEXUAL ENCOUNTER IN “CHILDREN”; LLOYD HENDERSON, WHOSE BAD LUCK BEGINS WHEN ONE WOMAN SLEEPS WITH HIM WHILE HER FRIEND ROBS HIM IN “GOING TO THE DOGS”; LES SNOW, WHOSE WHEELCHAIR-BOUND BEST FRIEND BEATS HIM OUT OF A SEXUAL ENCOUNTER IN “WINTERKILL”; FRANK BRINSON, WHOSE FATHER KILLS A MAN WITH HIS BARE HANDS BEFORE HIS OWN SON IN “OPTIMISTS”; OR LES, WHOSE MOTHER BREAKS OFF HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER BOYFRIEND IN “COMMUNIST.”

MANY OF THE STORIES IN ROCK SPRINGS, ALONG WITH THOSE IN WOMEN WITH MEN, CONCERN SOULLESS SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS OR EPISODES OF INFIDELITY. IN “GOING TO THE DOGS,” FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN TWO WOMEN COME TO VISIT LLOYD HENDERSON, THE NARRATOR WHOSE WIFE HAS LEFT HIM, ONE SEDUCES HIM WHILE THE OTHER STEALS HIS WALLET. SIMILARLY, IN “EMPIRE,” SIMS RECALLS THAT CLEO, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR WITH WHOM HE SLEPT WHILE HIS WIFE MARGE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL RECOVERING FROM CANCER, HAS “A TATTOO OF SATAN'S HEAD ON HER ASS” (128). LATER, HE SPENDS THE NIGHT WITH THE LOVELY SERGEANT BENTON WHILE TRAVELING WITH HIS WIFE ON A TRAIN (145).

OTHER STORIES DEPICT LIVES OF HARDSHIP AND MISFORTUNE AND BITTERNESS. IN “WINTERKILL,” LES SNOW, THE UNEMPLOYED NARRATOR, AND TROY, HIS WHEELCHAIR-BOUND, TAXI-DRIVER FRIEND, GO FISHING AND FIND A DEAD DEER IN THE RIVER. CONSIDERING WHY IT FELL, TROY LETS HIS DISCONTENT BUBBLE TO THE SURFACE: “‘SO A GIMP MAN CAN CATCH IT ON A FISHING ROD IN A SHITTY TOWN,’ TROY SAID AND GASPED WITH BITTERNESS. REAL BITTERNESS. THE WORST I HAVE EVER HEARD FROM ANY MAN, AND I HAVE HEARD BITTERNESS VOICED, THOUGH IT WAS A UNION MATTER THEN” (167). IN “COMMUNIST,” LES INTRODUCES GLEN BAXTER, ANOTHER MAN DOWN ON HIS LUCK: “WHEN HE WAS AROUND OUR LIFE HE WORKED WHEAT FARMS AS A DITCHER, AND STAYED OUT OF WORK WINTERS AND IN THE BARS DRINKING WITH WOMEN LIKE MY MOTHER, WHO HAD WORK AND SOME MONEY. IT IS NOT AN UNCOMMON LIFE TO LEAD IN MONTANA” (216). IN “OPTIMISTS,” FRANK BRINSON BEGINS HIS STORY WITH A CATALOG OF MISFORTUNES:

ALL OF THIS THAT I AM ABOUT TO TELL HAPPENED … IN 1959, THE YEAR MY PARENTS WERE DIVORCED, THE YEAR WHEN MY FATHER KILLED A MAN AND WENT TO PRISON FOR IT, THE YEAR I LEFT HOME AND SCHOOL. … THE YEAR, IN OTHER WORDS, WHEN LIFE CHANGED FOR ALL OF US AND FOREVER—ENDED, REALLY, IN A WAY NONE OF US COULD EVER HAVE IMAGINED IN OUR MOST BRILLIANT DREAMS OF LIFE.

(171)

INSTEAD OF FEELING CURSED, HOWEVER, MANY OF FORD'S CHARACTERS ATTRIBUTE THEIR MISFORTUNE TO THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF LIFE. AFTER THE ACCIDENTAL MURDER OF BOYD MITCHELL, FOR EXAMPLE, ROY BRINSON, FRANK'S FATHER, REMARKS SIMPLY, “BAD THINGS HAPPEN” (184). FRANK TOO PERCEIVES THAT “THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN YOUR LIFE CAN CHANGE SO SUDDENLY” AND IS “TAKEN UP BY THE CHANCINESS OF ALL THAT'S HAPPENED AND BY ALL THAT COULD AND WILL HAPPEN NEXT” (187). SIMILARLY, IN “THE NEWEL VIGNETTES,” NEWEL REMEMBERS THAT HIS FATHER HAD ONCE TOLD HIM “THAT NOW AND THEN THINGS GET AWAY FROM YOU AND YOU [CAN'T] CONTROL EVENTS ANY MORE” (303).

FOR MANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN FORD'S STORIES, IN FACT, MISFORTUNE, EVEN CRIMINALITY, SEEMS INEVITABLE, UNAVOIDABLE. IN “SWEETHEARTS,” RUSS SAYS OF BOBBY, HIS GIRLFRIEND'S VIOLENT EX-HUSBAND, “THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD SAY THEN THAT WOULD SAVE HIM OR MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR HIM AT THAT MOMENT OR CHANGE THE WAY HE SAW THINGS” (65). AS FRANK REMARKS IN “OPTIMISTS,” SOMETIMES “SITUATIONS HAVE POSSIBILITIES IN THEM, AND WE HAVE ONLY TO BE PRESENT TO BE INVOLVED” (181). YET WHILE SEVERAL CHARACTERS IN FORD'S STORIES ARE DESPERADOES OR CRIMINALS, THEY ARE NEVER ONE-DIMENSIONAL VILLAINS. JACK RUSSELL, THE NARRATOR'S HUNTER-FATHER IN “GREAT FALLS,” SHOWS BLATANT DISREGARD FOR THE LAW WHEN HE SELLS THE WILD GAME HE KILLS, BUT HIS TRANSGRESSION PALES IN COMPARISON TO HIS WIFE'S INFIDELITY AND SUBSEQUENT ABANDONMENT. EARL, THE CAR THIEF IN “ROCK SPRINGS,” ADMITS THAT HE IS “AN OFFENDER IN THE LAW'S EYES,” BUT DOES NOT VIEW HIMSELF AS A CRIMINAL: “I ALWAYS THOUGHT DIFFERENTLY, AS IF I WEREN'T NO OFFENDER AND HAD NO INTENTION OF BEING ONE, WHICH WAS THE TRUTH” (17). WHEN A MAN SEES EARL EYEING A CAR IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE RAMADA INN, EARL PUTS THE READER IN THE MAN'S POSITION AND ASKS: “WOULD YOU THINK HE WAS TRYING TO GET HIS HEAD CLEARED? … WOULD YOU THINK HIS GIRLFRIEND WAS LEAVING HIM? WOULD YOU THINK HE HAD A DAUGHTER? WOULD YOU THINK HE WAS ANYBODY LIKE YOU?” (27). SUCH DIRECT ADDRESS COLLAPSES THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS AND THE READERS AND, IN SO DOING, CALLS ATTENTION TO THE HUMANITY OF EVEN THE MOST FLAWED AMONG US.

THE INVOLVEMENT OF “REGULAR,” MULTIDIMENSIONAL, OFTEN-SYMPATHETIC PEOPLE IN VIOLENT OR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, THEN, INVITES READERS TO EMPATHIZE WITH THE CHARACTERS, DESPITE THEIR IMPERFECTIONS AND VULGARITIES. IT ACKNOWLEDGES, MOREOVER, THE UNIVERSAL POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE AND CRIMINALITY. IN “GREAT FALLS,” JACK RUSSELL'S SON, ADMITTING TO LINGERING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EVENTS OF THE NIGHT WHEN HIS PARENTS SEPARATED, CONCLUDES THAT THERE IS COLDNESS IN EACH OF US: “POSSIBLY IT—THE ANSWER—IS SIMPLE: IT IS JUST LOW-LIFE, SOME COLDNESS IN US ALL, SOME HELPLESSNESS THAT CAUSES US TO MISUNDERSTAND LIFE WHEN IT IS PURE AND PLAIN, MAKES OUR EXISTENCE SEEM LIKE A BORDER BETWEEN TWO NOTHINGS” (49).

INDEED, MANY CHARACTERS IN FORD'S STORIES, COGNIZANT OF THEIR OWN HELPLESSNESS AND COLDNESS, ARRIVE AT A SENSE OF LIFE AS EMPTY, “A BORDER BETWEEN TWO NOTHINGS.” FRANK BASCOMBE IN INDEPENDENCE DAY LIVES ALONE WITH HIS “GHOSTLY SELF” IN HIS EX-WIFE'S HOUSE AND CONCLUDES: “THE POET WAS RIGHT AGAIN. ‘LET THE WINGED FANCY ROAM / PLEASURE NEVER IS AT HOME’” (108). IN “CHILDREN,” GEORGE SAYS OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD, “[IT] WAS A PLACE THAT SEEMED NOT EVEN TO EXIST, AN EMPTY PLACE YOU COULD STAY IN FOR A LONG TIME AND NEVER FIND A THING YOU ADMIRED OR LOVED OR HOPED TO KEEP” (98). IN “SWEETHEARTS,” WARNED BY BOBBY “TO FACE THAT EMPTY MOMENT” (54), RUSS DECIDES THAT WHAT IS IMPORTANT ABOUT LIFE WAS “NEVER BEING IN THAT PLACE YOU SAID YOU'D NEVER BE IN. AND IT WAS NOT ABOUT BEING ALONE. NEVER THAT” (68).

YET FOR SOME IN FORD'S STORIES, BEING ALONE MAY BE A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE, SIGNALING INDEPENDENCE AND MATURITY. IN “CHILDREN,” FOR EXAMPLE, GEORGE REMARKS ADMIRINGLY OF LUCY, “SHE WAS ALREADY SOMEONE WHO COULD BE BY HERSELF IN THE WORLD” (94). IN “EMPIRE,” WHEN SIMS LOOKS OUT THE TRAIN WINDOW, HE REVELS IN HIS SOLITUDE: “[HE] FELT ALONE IN A WIDE EMPIRE, REMOVED AND AFLOAT, CALMED, AS IF LIFE WAS FAR AWAY NOW, AS IF BLACKNESS WAS ALL AROUND, AS IF STARS HELD THE ONLY LIGHT” (148). IN “JEALOUS,” THE NARRATOR, LARRY, ALSO FEELS STILLNESS IN HIS ALONENESS: “AND FOR A LONG TIME THEN I SAT VERY STILL AND FELT AS THOUGH I WAS OUT OF THE WORLD ENTIRELY” (144).

RICHARD FORD'S CHARACTERS DEMONSTRATE AN EXTREME OPTIMISM, MADE MORE DISTINCTLY SO BY THE DIFFICULTIES THEY ENCOUNTER IN THEIR LIVES. IN THE FACE OF THEIR ADVERSITIES, THEY SEEK TO LIVE BETTER, TO LOVE BETTER, TO KNOW THEMSELVES BETTER, SO THAT THEY MAY ENJOY A FUTURE BETTER THAN THE PRESENT ONE THEY NOW HEROICALLY ENDURE. AS FORD HAS TOLD KAY BONETTI, THE POSITIVE ASPECT OF HIS STORIES IS THE ACCOMMODATION OF THE FEELINGS OF MEN TO THE EVENTS IN THEIR LIVES: “I ALWAYS WAS WRITING ABOUT … MEN TRYING TO DEAL WITH THEIR OWN SENSITIVITY” (80-81). YET DEAN FLOWER WRITES OF ROCK SPRINGS THAT “FORD NEVER ASKS THAT WE PITY THESE CHARACTERS” (209). SCHROTH AGREES: “HE FOCUSES HIS CAMERA ON ORDINARY—AND SOMETIMES OUTLAW—LIVES, PEOPLE WHO FOR THE MOST PART ESCHEW SELF-PITY AND ARE SLOW TO JUDGE. FORD HELPS US, TOO, WITHHOLD JUDGEMENT” (227). SHARING WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS'S AMBITION TO “CREATE A LITERATURE WORTHY OF AMERICA,” FORD HAS SAID, “EVERYTHING COUNTS, AFTER ALL. WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?” (SCHROTH 230).

WORKS CITED

PRIMARY

FORD, RICHARD. “GOING TO THE DOGS.” TRIQUARTERLY 78 (1990): 125-131.

———. “I MUST BE GOING.” UTNE READER 55 (1993): 102-104.

———. INDEPENDENCE DAY. NEW YORK: KNOPF, 1995.

———. “THE NEWEL VIGNETTES.” MICHIGAN QUARTERLY REVIEW 15.3 (1976): 298-307.

———. “PLACE QUA PLACE: MISSING THE TRUE CHARACTER OF A LANDSCAPE—BY A COUNTRY MILE.” AMERICAN FILM 16.10 (1991): 68.

———. ROCK SPRINGS. NEW YORK: ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS, 1987.

———. “SHOOTING THE REST AREA.” PARIS REVIEW 16.2 (1975): 154-67.

———. “SNOWMAN.” TRIQUARTERLY 48 (1980): 214-24.

———. THE SPORTSWRITER. NEW YORK: RANDOM (VINTAGE), 1986.

———. WILDLIFE. NEW YORK: ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS, 1990.

———. WOMEN WITH MEN. NEW YORK: KNOPF, 1997.

SECONDARY

BONETTI, KAY. “AN INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD FORD.” MISSOURI REVIEW 10.2 (1987): 71-96.

FLOWER, DEAN. “IN THE HOUSE OF PAIN.” HUDSON REVIEW 41.1 (1988): 209-17.

GORNICK, VIVIAN. “TENDERHEARTED MEN: LONESOME, SAD, AND BLUE.” NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (SEPTEMBER 16, 1990): 32-35.

GREEN, MICHELLE. “TRANSIENT WRITER RICHARD FORD LETS HIS MUSE ROAM FREE IN WILDLIFE.” PEOPLE JULY 9, 1990: 71-72.

HUGO, RICHARD. THE TRIGGERING TOWN: LECTURES AND ESSAYS ON POETRY AND WRITING. NEW YORK: NORTON, 1979.

MCQUADE, MOLLY. “RICHARD FORD.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 237.20 (1990): 66-67.

NORWOOD, NICK. “WILDLIFE.” THE REDNECK REVIEW OF LITERATURE (FALL 1991): 86-87.

ORR, PHILLIP. “ROCK SPRINGS.” NORTHWEST REVIEW 26.2 (1988): 143-47.

RUSHDIE, SALMAN. IMAGINARY HOMELANDS. LONDON: VIKING (GRANTA), 1991.

SCHNEIDER, WOLF. “BRIGHT ANGEL: RICHARD FORD UPS THE ANTE.” AMERICAN FILM 16.5 (1991): 50-51.

SCHROTH, RAYMOND. “AMERICA'S MORAL LANDSCAPE IN THE FICTION OF RICHARD FORD.” CHRISTIAN CENTURY MARCH 1, 1989: 227-30.

WEBER, BRUCE. “RICHARD FORD'S UNCOMMON CHARACTERS.” NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE APRIL 10, 1988: 59-65.