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Book & Author Dinner Series: Stone's books probe dangerous labyrinths of politics and religion
Thursday, April 15, 1999 By Bob Hoover, Post-Gazette Book Editor
Robert Stone loves trouble. Since 1967 when his first novel, "Hall of Mirrors," grabbed the attention of readers and critics with its disturbing violence, Stone has focused his novelist's eye on hot spots -- exterior and interior -- around the world.
Stone's next stop will be a somewhat safer place, however -- the Post-Gazette Book and Author Dinner April 21, where he'll discuss his latest novel, "Damascus Gate."
The book takes us deep into the labyrinth of religion and politics in modern Jerusalem. In its characters can be found the welter of personalities who have been drawn to the ancient city, from jaded journalists to the most extreme religious fanatics.
"Once I visited Jerusalem, I felt compelled to write about it," Stone said on the phone from his Key West, Fla., home. He said he was attracted not only by the historical significance of the city, but also by the tensions arising from the clash of the three religions that have claims to this holy place.
"Damascus Gate" is one of his longest works. "Maybe it's a little sprawling," Stone concedes, "but I think it has a lot of good reading in it. Some of my better stuff."
Published last year and now in paperback from Scribner, the novel continues to tap into contemporary events in the Middle East. Recently, an American fundamentalist Christian group was accused of planning a terrorist attack in Jerusalem.
It's a scene straight out of "Damascus Gate," as American fanatics plot to bomb the Haram esh-Sharif or Temple Mount.
But this group is only one of many plotters hiding in the shadows of the city's ancient walls. Deftly, Stone moves among Jews, Muslims, undercover agents and their unwitting victims.
Each group has an agenda, and frequently that agenda turns deadly.
"Many people are manipulated by forces they aren't aware of," the author said. "Eventually, even the manipulators wind up being manipulated. That's history."
And it's a common theme in Stone's work, starting with his first book, a far-seeing story of a right-wing religious radio station in New Orleans and the fate of three drifters who get caught up in its influence.
Now a serious player in American politics, fundamentalism had little role in elections 30 years ago, but it caught Stone's attention anyway.
"I've always been interested in American culture and had been aware of the presence of right-wing evangelism, even in 1967," he said. "The principles have always been there. It's a straight-line transition from Father Coughlin in the '30s to Jerry Falwell today."
Stone said he had been "carrying that book around with me for years" before he finished it. "Back in those days, there were plenty of people who were always 'writing a book,' " he joked.
Now 62, the author didn't turn to serious writing until he mustered out of the U.S. Navy in 1958 and studied under a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University.
"I liked hanging out in California in the 1960s," he said, "back when the writing programs were getting popular in colleges. But, there's probably more writing programs around these days than there ought to be."
The proof?
"I meet a lot of writers who can't get published," he said. "I'm glad I'm not starting out today."
In contrast to the country's big-seller authors like John Grisham or Stephen King, Stone has taken his time with his books: "Dog Soldiers" in 1974 (a National Book Award winner), "A Flag For Sunrise" in '81, "Children of Light" in '84 and "Outerbridge Reach" in '92.
The short story collection, "Bear and His Daughter," appeared in '97.
Stone has also taught writing for many years and recently received his second five-year appointment as writer in residence at Yale University. The writing continues, though.
His new project is a novel set in 1930s, "the early 20th century, as the storm of World War II approaches," he described it. His first historical novel aims to "prefigure the future" in the person of a missionary driven out of war-torn China who ends up in Alaska.
"There's still a place for the old-fashioned plot in novels," Stone said, "although, in truth plot can be nonsense. But, if you're going to play that plot game, you might as well play it well," he said.
"People like it, and I think that the old pleasure principle is still important. A novel should still provide pleasure."
Robert Stone will be joined by novelist Ann Arensberg, biographer Joyce Milton and nature writer Sue Hubbell at the Post-Gazette Book and Author Dinner at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the DoubleTree Hotel, Downtown. Tickets are $30, and proceeds benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. Call 412-263-1421 to order. Credit cards are accepted.
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