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A natural act (continued)
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| Montana's rivers first brought David Quammen to the state three decades ago. MSU's current Stegner Chair remains committed to the Western landscape and lifestyle. |
Your name has been mentioned with other writers such as Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, and Terry Tempest Williams -- great praise indeed -- who elevate their genre with a prose amalgam of science, economics, politics, culture and a good dose of humor. You've said, "Of all the things writing can be, what it always should be is entertaining." How did you come to develop your style? What is your process in polishing your prose?
DQ: Those three writers you mention have been my colleagues and pals. Ed Abbey was also an early inspiration, one of the writers who showed me what nonfiction could be. I developed my style by trying hard to write as though I were talking to one friend at a small table in a bar. I believe humor is important; you can't really make a person cry in a piece of writing, I believe, unless you're also a threat to make them laugh; and vice versa. I polish my prose this way: write; rewrite rewrite rewrite rewrite rewrite rewrite; listen to good editorial advice; then rewrite again.
What future activities do you plan related to the Stegner Chair?
DQ: Jane Goodall will speak at MSU on April 28 this year. She comes as a Friend of the Stegner Chair. In a literal sense, she's a friend of mine, from previous occasions; we've had some good times together in the field, watching chimpanzees in the Congo, watching black- footed ferrets in South Dakota. But she also comes to Bozeman as a friend of The Tributary Fund, the conservation organization founded by my wife, Betsy Gaines, who played a big role, along with Brett Walker, in working out the arrangements with Jane and her people.
Jane Goodall is one of the world's most eloquent voices and having a chance to hear her in person is a wonderful opportunity for this community. She's also a really good egg. People will enjoy this event and be inspired.
Suburban sprawl and ranchette country living are doing more to destroy wildlife habitats.than all the chainsaws Husqvarna could ever build.
--David Quammen |
In February, I did another Stegner lecture. My topic this time was the evolutionary biology of cancer and the epidemic of infectious cancer (yes, infectious, from animal to animal) that's currently sweeping through the Tasmanian devil. There are wider implications of this phenomenon, even some implications for human health.
Another continuing activity will be what we call the Stegner Seminar -- a reading group that I lead for graduate students in the history department, which meets at Betsy's and my house three times per term and discusses some select readings on a theme. This term the theme is "Oppenheimer, Teller, and the soul of nuclear America."
This should keep me busy, when I'm not on the road in Africa or somewhere else. And the menu I've described -- Jane Goodall in April, plus some history of technology, history of science, evolutionary biology and wildlife conservation -- will offer, I hope, substantial but tantalizing intellectual fare to the MSU and Bozeman community. My chair is in "Western American Studies," and I never forget that, but so far I've chosen to pursue the mandate by helping students and lecture-goers reach out imaginatively from this Western context of ours to the wider world and bring ideas back that help us understand ourselves, our country, and our landscape better.
How do you pick your next large topic? What's your next book project?
DQ: My next book project is on zoonotic diseases, growing out of my October 2007 article in National Geographic. Zoonotic diseases: the ones we humans share (giving and taking) with other species. The subject is fascinating because some of the diseases (such as Ebola, Nipah, Hendra, SARS, bird flu) are so dramatic and scary, and it's important because it's all about ecology. It shows us, still again, that Earth's biological systems are all interconnected and that we disturb them at our peril. I'll be chasing various aspects of the subject, but one in particular: the relationships among Ebola virus, gorillas, humans, and bats.
More information about the Wallace Stegner Endowed Chair in Western American Studies can be found at www.montana.edu/wwwsf/main.html
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