Author of The Oregon Experiment speaks at Manor House
Friday, September 16, 2011 at 12:13PM By Hannah Clements
Staff Writer
It was a great honor for faculty and students alike to have Keith Scribner at the Manor House this past Tuesday for an intimate reading of selections from his third and most recent novel, The Oregon Experiment. Scribner is a recipient of Wallace Stegner and John L’Heureux’s “Fellowships in Fiction” award at Stanford University, was selected for Barnes and Noble’s “Discover Great New Writers” series and received The New York Times’ “Notable Book of the Year.”
Currently, Scribner is living in Corvallis where he is an English professor at Oregon State University—a profession very similar to that of the protagonist in his newly released novel.
In Scribner’s hour at L&C, he integrated background information from his newest work and details behind his writing process. Scribner spoke of the intense research that went into writing The Oregon Experiment, which spanned over seven years.
His research included reading many books on anarchy and conducting personal interviews with Oregon residents. He even shared that he feels he knows (and likes) the characters in his book much better than many of his “real life” acquaintances.
From anarchy-obsessed professors to public breast-feeding coffee baristas, pregnant mothers with “genius” noses to pot-smoking teenage movers, it’s understandable that one can’t help but become emotionally involved with the characters in The Oregon Experiment.
This novel aims to capture the emotional journey of a new family settling in to life in Oregon, and with its unusual combination of plot aspects it will undoubtedly become a familiar title among many.
Keith Scribner –a father, poet, professor, short story and fiction author– is not only an excellent public presence, but also a phenomenal writer. There is no question that The Oregon Experiment will receive as much praise as his previous novels: The Good Life and Miracle Girl.
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