The author of “The Assassination of Jesse James” honored the memory of a former Binghamton University professor at the second annual John Gardner reading Sunday.
Ron Hansen read excerpts from his latest novel, “Exiles,” in the Anderson Center Chamber Hall. The reading, made possible by BU’s Dean’s Office, was held in memory of the late John Gardner, who taught at Binghamton University from 1978 up until his death in 1982 in a motorcycle crash.
According to Liz Rosenberg, a BU English professor and Gardner’s former wife, Gardner was a “great and beloved teacher.”
“At the scene of the motorcycle accident, a trail of paper ran a quarter of a mile behind him,” she said. “He always carried around with him manuscripts of failed writers and new writers.”
Gardner revitalized the Creative Writing Department during his career at the University. He published essays on medieval literature, translations and novels, including “Grendel,” a retelling of the Beowulf saga from the monster’s perspective.
BU sponsors the John Gardner Fiction Book Award and the Harpur Palate John Gardner Memorial Prize for Fiction in his honor.
“He was deeply philosophical,” Hansen said. Hansen first met Gardner at the prestigious Breadloaf Writers Conference in Vermont.
Hansen is an established author of novels, short stories and essays. His semi-biographical novel, “Exiles,” explores the life of Gerard Manley Hopkins, an unconventional poet and holy man whose spark for writing was renewed in light of a tragic shipwreck.
“He had a magnetic personality,” John Vernon, a distinguished English professor at BU, said. “He is the model for a lot of people who teach here.”
Vernon worked alongside Gardner in the English department and said he remembers how Gardner offered his services when he first started writing fiction.
After the reading, Hansen answered questions from his audience. A man asked Hansen what interested him about Hopkins enough to write a novel about him.
“[‘Exiles’] is about outsiders — people who do not belong — observing from afar.” To better answer the man, Hansen quoted his literary outcast subject, Hopkins: “I know you don’t understand my poetry, but in 100 years someone might.”
With Joel Gardner, the son of the late author, present, the audience applauded in memory of the BU professor.