Randolph College Visiting Writer Series: Anthony D'Aries reads from his memoir Aural History, Part 1

A mash-up of music, masculinity, and the vibrant cultural clashes of the 1970s, Anthony D'Aries' completed memoir Aural History artfully explores the dynamics of family against a Pollackesque backdrop of pop, politics, and patrimony. In this excerpt, The Beatles' Let It Be, The Who's Tommy, and final machine-gun blasts of Jimi Hendrix's guitar interweave with the opening scenes of Catch-22, Patton, The French Connection, Woodstock, and M.A.S.H., as President Richard Nixon invites Johnny Cash to the White House, commences bombing in Cambodia, and promises to end the war in Viet Nam. D'Aries vividly captures the tension of the times, personalizing the drama through the eyes of his father departing for the jungles of South East Asia. Beck, Ani DiFranco, and River Phoenix are born. Simon and Garfunkel break up. John Lennon releases his first solo album. John Kerry joins the anti-war movement. And D'Aries takes it all in.

A graduate of Emerson College with a MFA from the lauded University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast writing program, D'Aries was Randolph College's Emerging Writer-in-Residence in the spring of 2011. A resident of Boston, he's devoted himself to teaching literacy and writing to inmates of several Massachusetts correctional facilities. In 2010 D'Aries received the PEN New England Discovery Award in Nonfiction. His work has appeared in Solstice Magazine and an excerpt of Aural History will be published later this year in The Literary Review. He also contributed to the Pinchback Press anthology Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost. On February 2, Randolph professor Bunny Goodjohn, director of the Writing Center, introduced D'Aries, the latest reader in the college's on-going Visiting Writer Series, to an appreciative audience of the greater Randolph community.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Randolph College
• Liberal Arts College
• Memoir
• Anthony D'Aries
• Bunny Goodjohn
• PEN New England
• Pinchback Press
• The Literary Review
• Emerson College
• USM Stonecoast

[NYSteamerMan]

Will read Anthony's book. Am most impressed by his work at the correctional facilities. God bless and continued success.

[NYSteamerMan]

Kind of a compendium of entertainment and general news headlines / trivia that which having lived through and found very nice when juxtaposed with the births of many now famous and nearly famous people. . . Mr. Steinberg's comments seem apt. Small items:not too sure rivits were used in the World Trade Center construction...It is Bridge Over Trouble Water not waters. and while Anthony's s got a terrific voice, it picture not pitcher when talking about cinema..

[marlonziello]

Dude phenomenal Damn impressed

[rickberl]

‎'a Pollackesque backdrop...' nails it, matt. also a neal cassady meth letter, tho less rambling

[lugajugs]

Love this...What a talented writer D'Aries is...look forward to reading his book.