When Richard Ford read from a story featuring his beloved character Frank Bascombe at the 92nd Street Y last week, one had to ask if this meant Bascombe would soon return in a fourth novel. Mr. Ford had previously told interviewers he was done writing about Bascombe when he concluded his trilogy of novels, “The Sportswriter†(1986), the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Independence Day†(1995) and “The Lay of the Land†(2006).
I recently asked Mr. Ford via e-mail whether the excerpt portends a new novel. He said the piece he read was from “Falling Forward,†a short story that is, for now, not part of a longer project.
The new story takes place in the days before last Christmas, and it prominently features the effects of Hurricane Sandy on New Jersey. “[My wife] Kristina and I did go down to Toms River and across the bridge to Lavalette and Ortley Beach in late fall â€" when the cleaning up was well underway but also a bit over-matched by calamity and thus quite moving,†Mr. Ford said. “I’d also been, previous to that, plucked-at a bit, wanting to write something in Bascombe’s voice, and had already considered writing a story â€" about what I hadn’t decided. So, in a sense, the two experiences fused, and ‘Falling Forward’ has been the result.â€
Mr. Ford didn’t rule out the idea of a possible novel, saying he would “at least try to write another Frank Bascombe story this late spring, and see how that goes.â€
“What draws me to writing Frank Bascombe is what’s always drawn me: he’s funny (and it’s thrilling to write things that are funny); but also he offers me the chance to write into the breach between what Henry James calls, ‘bliss and bale’; in my own way, to connect ‘the things that help and the things that hurt’ and to find some kind of reconciling vocabulary for both,†Mr. Ford said. “I always think that when I’m writing Frank Bascombe I have the chance to write about the most important things I know, and that’s always been irresistible â€" as it probably is for most writers.â€
