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Conversation: Peter Matthiessen

Posted by Arts Desk , December 31, 2008

Peter Matthiessen, a 2008 National Book Award winner, is best known as both a novelist and non-fiction writer, but he's also an environmental activist, American Indian rights advocate and former C.I.A. recruit. The National Book Foundation called "Shadow Country," Matthiessen's novel, "an epic of American rise and descent -- poetic, mythic, devastating." The book is a compilation of Matthiessen's Everglades trilogy, published in the 1990s, tracing America's "familial, racial and environmental degradation" from the Civil War to the Great Depression through the character of Florida sugar planter E.J. Watson.

Matthiessen was born in New York City in 1927 and co-founded the Paris Review in 1953 with Harold L. Humes and George Plimpton. The magazine claims credit for publishing the earliest works of some of the most important and influential writers of the past five decades, including Adrienne Rich, Philip Roth and V. S. Naipaul. In a deliberate departure from traditional literary reviews, Matthiessen, Humes and Plimpton encouraged authors to talk about their own works through the Paris Review's "Writers at Work" interview series.

Matthiessen's other works include the National Book Award-winning "The Snow Leopard" and "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," a National Book Award nominee. His non-fiction works are often rooted in his environmental interests, and many of them have been serialized in the New Yorker magazine.

Here is more of Jeffrey's Brown's conversation with Matthiessen, who also reads an excerpt from "Shadow Country":

Comments

Posted:
12/31/08 at
07:18 PM

Jared : This was on the Newshour--about the author of the book I got you for Christmas. Thought you might be interested. Love, Mom
Posted:
12/31/08 at
07:21 PM

Don walton : I am ashamed to write that I have never encountered his writings before. But I am not too late. I have traveled some of the paths that Mr. Mattiessen has visioned. Only the onset of a snow storm prevents me from venturing out to Barnes and Noble, or my Library ...Tomorrow will come. A wonderful interview.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
07:36 PM

lindsay conrad : Thanks for the great art beat coverage...I was unable to get more of the Peter Matthiessen interview as it was promised..I gave a click on the image of PM reading and it was dead. Any suggestions? With thanks for any help you can beam this way.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
08:03 PM

robert b. reed : so, how and why was watson killed? a good interview, i submit, resolves the question which makes the interview worthwhile in the first place. you did not do it here.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
08:13 PM

Eva M. Wike, Ph.D. : Jeffery Brown's inteviews with authors is THE BEST PART of the evening news. "Shadow Country" author, Peter Matthiessen, was an excellent guest! Check out my book at www.tvp1.com a family history entitled "The Matheson Cove - In the Shadow of the Devil's Post Office. In my book I gave my great grandmosther, a Cherokee Indian, a present day identity - which she sorely deserved! Cheers, Eva Wike
Posted:
12/31/08 at
08:14 PM

jojo : Thank you, Jeffrey Brown for this gift: a conversation with a wise man, a compassionate man. I wish the interview had been longer and I had been there to soak it in. Your segments with poets and writers are of incredible value -- please keep it up.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
08:15 PM

Kathleen Dougherty : Wonderful to see Peter Matthiessen, along with his passions and expertise, featured. Thank you. His is an important voice.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
08:26 PM

Raymond MacDonald : I want to thank Peter for his life work and PBS for presenting the interview. I particularly enjoyed the extended interview and reading. Would like to see a program devoted to this man, his work and projects in progress.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
08:58 PM

Charles Ronald Hamilton (~Ron~) : Eric Fromm, who departed from depth psychology of Freud and others, stated in his penetrating social commentary of the mid twentieth century that the spiritual void of so many millions is their alienation from nature. The land becomes part of the soul. We just don't rise up from it, neither do we just pass through it, else we are already spiritually dying. Such a writer as Peter Matthiessen describes what happens when humanity sets it sights on short term gain either inadvertently, or knowingly, but seemingly through a combination, thus, causing successive generations to forget the primodorial source of humankind's collective soul of both the Earth and each other. Art is a powerful means to chronicle and describe myth as truth when people are one with the land as well as when exploitation wins out over respect for such a wild area as the Everglades, a place of powerful life and decay that quickly creates new life. What will become of us if more and more people continue to forget from where they came, becoming disconnected from the many lands and seas on this special turning planet? I was born on a farm in central Kentucky nearly sixty years ago. I, too, know the land as I carry it within myself; it is in part the fabric of my soul. Story as narrative is powerful reminding us to not only hold steady, but its recitation, its silent impact, does something else: crafted words passes on not only our stewardship, but as importantly our soul to the next generation. Such writing is a gift and a blessing.
Posted:
12/31/08 at
10:05 PM

Judy Cornell : Thank you for the Matthiessen interview. I'm a long time fan who doesn't have many opportunities to hear Peter Matthiessen read from his work. Jeffrey Brown's Artbeat is good--keep it!
Posted:
01/ 1/09 at
10:33 AM

Jane Bernstein : I saw Jeffrey Brown's interview with Peter Matthiessen last night and was delighted to hear that he has received another National Book Award for his work,"Shadow Country." Although I have not read the other books in the Watson trilogy, after hearing him read an excerpt from it, I am definitely going to read it when I have time. I have read his books on nature and the environment, including "The Birds Of Heaven" and "Tigers in the Snow." His is an important voice that demands to be heard - I hope that one day, PBS will do an entire program on this author - he deserves it. Thank you.
Posted:
01/ 1/09 at
12:48 PM

Susan Merrill : I've read the trilogy by Peter Matthiessen about Mr. Watson and would like to suggest the new one, Shadow Country, to my Book Club after hearing about its award on you program. I wanted to copy the information from the website and wasn't able to. How will I be able to copy those three paragraphs? Thanks for having him on your show.
Posted:
01/ 2/09 at
04:37 AM

Charles Ronald Hamilton (~Ron~) : Mr. Jeffrey Brown, You have created a much needed service with Art Beat. The arts take us to another plane that is personable, that engages us with imagination. The Beat is just that: heart to heart; higher mind to higher mind; community to community. With Warm Regards, Ron Hamilton English Instructor/Writer Tidewater Community College, Hampton Roads Area: Virginia Beach, Norfolk, etc.
Posted:
01/ 7/09 at
06:58 PM

Chris Parrish : I know Mr Matthiessen gives pride of place to his fiction, but ever since my reading as a teenager years ago of his travels in Africa in "The Tree Where Man Was Born" I have been most impressed by his sensitive and insightful portrayal of our relationships with the natural world. This interview was the first time I have been able to see and hear him speak ( ... as it were). Thank you!
Posted:
04/ 6/09 at
11:06 PM

Nola Ahola : Jeffrey Brown is a class act. It's wonderful to have more arts coverage. But let's have more VISUAL ARTS! Thank you.