'Obituary Writer’ pays visit
■ Visiting author Porter
Shreve is spending winter
term at the University
to share his “expert” advice
By Christopher Arnold
for the Emerald
After promoting his debut novel,
visiting professor Porter Shreve re
ceived several e-mails from funeral
directors and obituary writers ask
ing for his “expert” opinions.
Shreve earned these fans when his
novel “The Obituary Writer” landed
him a spot as an honored guest at the
Second Great Obituary Writers’ Con
ference. Shreve’s novel about a
young journalist’s search for his first
big break has been well-received by
readers and critics. The New York
Times mentioned “The Obituary
Writer” as a Notable Book of 2000.
“I would insist I was never an
obituary writer,” Shreve said. “I
have some obituary writer friends,
but it’s not like I’m drawn to it.”
Readers have been drawn to
Shreve’s book, though, and as a re
sult he has become something of an
obituary authority.
“It’s very funny how you can ac
cidentally take on an expertise,”
Shreve said.
The 34-year-old has also attract
ed attention as a writer, though he
admittedly courted failure.
“You have to have the absolute
belief that you’re going to write a
notable book,” Shreve said. “But at
the same time, [you need] complete
humility, this belief that you’re ac
tually sort of a loser and you’ll be
lucky to eat a solid meal in the next
week.”
Shreve said he always imagined
himself as a writer.
“I convinced myself I wasn’t
good at anything else,” he said.
Shreve grew up in Washington,
D.C., the son of novelist Susan
Richards Shreve. He said growing
Tom Patterson Emerald
Assistant professor Porter Shreve is visiting this term to lead a seminar and a workshop.
up around writers influenced his
view of the profession.
“I thought of writers as flawed,”
Shreve said, “perhaps the most
flawed human beings walking the
earth.”
Shreve spent the bulk of his un
dergraduate years studying journal
ism at the University of Missouri at
Columbia before graduating from
American University in Washing
ton, D.C.
While at American University,
Shreve worked at The Washington
Post as a rewrite reporter and, later,
as an editorial assistant. Working
the night desk left his mornings
open for writing.
“I knew I would never be a good
journalist,” Shreve said. “I wrote
some nice ‘grandmother crosses the
street’ stories, but they were never
hard-hitting.”
Shreve’s decision to leave the
Post led him to the University of
Michigan’s master of fine arts fic
tion program, where he worked on
“The Obituary Writer” with
Nicholas Delbanco, Charles Baxter
and Lome Moore.
Now Shreve teaches at the Uni
versity of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
He is spending winter term at the
University as a visiting writer and
assistant professor.
“Porter is a terrific addition to
our program,” said Ehud Havazelet,
director of the program in creative
writing. “As a new and much
praised voice in American fiction,
he’s brought a welcome vitality to
our students.”
Shreve leads a graduate seminar
and a fiction workshop. He is cur
rently writing a collection of short
stories called “A Brief History of
the Fool.” He is also under contract
for a second novel.
“The graduate students at Ore
gon are an extremely intelligent
group,” Shreve said. “I’m just curi
ous to hear what they say.”
His students have come to appre
ciate his sense of humor.
“He’s very personable and very
straightforward,” said Tina Eskes, a
student in the seminar. “We’ll be
sad to see him go.”
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