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Friday, March 21, 2008
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Ex-colleague Plut touched by Hassler's novels, friendship
Entertainment Editor Jon Hassler once said "I don't write as a cure-all, I write to tell a story," but he acknowledged that his novels touched many readers.
"I put my characters through tough times, but most come out better for it," the novelist said. "I see a healing process in these books and it must be the reason people like them so well. I get letters from people who are sick or have been through troubled times. They tell me reading my books helps them."
Hassler's quote is from an interview conducted in recent years by Joe Plut, Hassler's friend and former colleague at Brainerd Community College, where Hassler taught English from 1968-80. Hassler, 74, died early Thursday from progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease he had for more than a decade.
Despite Hassler's death, fans might have a lot of fresh material to look forward to. Plut, 71, Crosby, completed interviews with Hassler about his first 10 novels; the book is currently being shopped to publishers. He is also compiling a collection of Hassler's nonfiction and editing "My Simon's Night' Journal.'" (When he died, Hassler was working on a novel, "Jay O'Malley,"; the Star Tribune reported that he completed it.)
"It'll be a good way to help work through the loss of Jon. It'll be therapeutic," Plut said of his projects.
Hassler's writing career - often therapeutic to readers - began in 1977 with "Staggerford," his most famous novel. It follows a high school English teacher in a small Minnesota town who endures his own problems while trying to help students with theirs. Hassler kept a journal most of his life, and he always joked that 38 percent of his writing was autobiographical. But he and Plut knew that estimate was low.
"He would always say 38 percent. That was part of his humor," Plut said. "Something may be biographical and then he'd transform it. Except for the last year, he kept a journal, and he would get incidents and feelings from the journals for the characters. They were gold mines for his imagination. He'd remember what people would tell him. That's probably why (his novels are) so real. They are real-life stories, then he changes them somewhat to fit the dramatic moments and characters."
Plut believes Hassler will become more appreciated by critics and scholars as time goes by.
"I think more and more critics are seeing his value. I suppose it's sad, but his death may help his literary reputation. ... He is an important author, and I think it's because he wrote about things that many other authors don't write about. There's Sinclair Lewis, but his small towns were more criticized than written about in a real way. (Hassler's stories) ring true with audiences."
Plut's favorite Hassler works are "North of Hope" (1996), "probably his darkest novel"; "Staggerford" and "The Life and Death of Nancy Clancy's Nephew," a novella from "The Staggerford Murders" (2004).
"Some I like better than others due to personal taste, but they're all accomplishments," said Plut, who has read each of Hassler's books at least four times. "He worked hard on his style. He uses some really fine similes and metaphors - I always find them fresh. And he has humor. Some of his passages are very funny, some of his characters are laugh-out-loud funny."
After Hassler was diagnosed with PSP in 1994, his writing didn't drop in quality, Plut said. But the books did get shorter, and the author - in a wheelchair the last three years - did have to change his writing process.
"He had double vision, and then loss of coordination as part of the PSP," Plut said. "Typing got more difficult for his eyesight and fingers. That's why he was dictating to (wife) Gretchen (Kresl). The last few years, he's had a soft voice. He would be honest about his condition. One character in Staggerford Flood' (2002) had fallen a number of times and he'd keep track of the number of times he had fallen. And Jon would do that."
Plut and Hassler had different approaches in the classroom, but Plut still learned a lot from his friend.
"For teaching, we had different styles, but we both loved literature and wanted to communicate that love to students. So we shared much of the same philosophy. (Students) liked him. Some still say how much they learned from him. He taught literature well, because he knew literature so well even before he started writing. He was quiet-spoken in the classroom; I was much more exuberant. Students liked him.
"Of course, he had an incredible sense of humor. Our friendship developed quickly and deeply because one could be at ease with him. His mind was always sharp, and he was a loyal friend."
JOHN HANSEN may be reached at john.hansen@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5863.
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