Conversations with Jon Hassler by Joseph Plut (2010: Nodin Press. ISBN 978-1-93472-97-4)
I have “bumped into” the owners of Nodin Press a couple of dozen times over the years at various book venues. Nice people, Norton and his wife. This summer, at the Northwoods Arts and Crafts Festival in Hackensack, Minnesota, I renewed that acquaintanceship and also bought a copy of Nodin’s latest book, Conversations with Jon Hassler. I got a signed copy from the author, Joseph Plut, who taught with Mr. Hassler for a number of years at the Brainerd Community College before Hassler went on to literary fame and a stint as the author in residence at St. John’s University in Collegeville.
As a writer and sometime Hassler reader (my wife is much more the devoted fan than I am),the intimate tone of the interviews between Plut and Hassler, each of which centers on one of Hassler’s novels in great and succinct detail, was amazing. I’m not sure if non-writers or non-Hassler readers would see the immense value of preserving one of Minnesota’s most beloved authors in this fashion. The book is very much “an inside job” in that it reveals much of the thinking process Hassler engaged in during his writing of nine of his most important works. Still, like a biography of a renowned artist of any stripe, this book is important to understanding the creative process.
Well written and very tightly edited, I found this expose of Jon Hassler’s mind a fine addition to my library. 4 stars out of 5.
