Sometimes I like to take a drive. An easy trip on back roads clears my mind, fosters inspiration, exposes new vistas, and recharges an old battery. I like to go places that are atypical vacation destinations because I know I won’t fight crowds and usually I will find a good restaurant or a vintage watering hole.
I took such a trip recently, meandering my way from Lexington over to Athens, Ohio, and then back home via Alexandria/Highland Heights to Hebron, where I idle my days and write novels.
As we were preparing to merge onto I-275, my wife mentioned that the University of Kentucky, Ohio University, and Northern Kentucky University all had one person in common. She reads more than I do.
I waited and finally asked, “Well, are you going to tell me who that person is?”
“Walter Tevis, the novelist,” she said. “The guy who created Fast Eddie Felson; you remember Paul Newman’s roles in The Hustler and The Color of Money?”
I did; the role was seminal.
I said, “One of my favorite lines from the movie is: It’s not enough that you have talent, you gotta have character, too.”
She nodded. “Walter Tevis is the guy.”
Tevis, for those who don’t know, wrote The Hustler, The Color of Money, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Queen’s Gambit, and Mockingbird. All of them are brilliant novels. He also wrote science fiction tales and short stories.
Once home, I did some quick checking to verify facts. Although born on the west coast, Tevis spent a good deal of time in Madison County, where he attended high school and learned to play pool; this before entering the Navy.
According to various websites, after his discharge from the Navy and after receiving a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky, Tevis wrote for the Kentucky Highway Department and taught a variety of courses, including English, in small-town Kentucky high schools: Science Hill, Hawesville, Irvine, and Carlisle.
Sources report he also taught at NKU and UK, and from 1965 to 1978, he was a professor of English literature and creative writing at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Tevis died in New York City of lung cancer in 1984; he is buried in nearby Richmond.
I recommend The Hustler and The Color of Money. Fast Eddie Felson is a memorable character in American literature, from an author with deep Kentucky roots.
I also recommend The Queen’s Gambit, a cannot-put-down story about a female chess prodigy.
As one reviewer states: “Tevis creates a singular, and singularly moving, lead character—Beth Harmon, an orphaned, alcoholic, drug-addicted teenage girl who also happens to be one of the greatest chess prodigies the world has ever seen. Left alone in the world at the age of eight, hooked on tranquilizers by the monsters [running] her orphanage, Beth is buffeted on all sides by enemies and fools. She finds her only lasting solace in the black and white figures on the chessboard… she is so real, and so heartrending, that she and her story will linger with you long after you’ve finished the book.”
To learn more about this talented author with ties to Northern Kentucky visit www.waltertevis.com. Oh, one final thought: the next time you seek inspiration, take a drive on the back roads and let the magic set in.
Donald Then, a novelist and experienced editor and journalist, is NKyTribune’s literary editor. He reviews books written by local authors or those with a Northern Kentucky setting. Reach him at author@djamesthen.com. Visit his website at www.djamesthen.com.