with author Russell Banks

The Reserve, by Adirondack-based author Russell Banks, is out in paperback and offers another of the author’s stories set close to home in the North Country. The novel was inspired by historical events and figures of the early 20th century. The main character, Jordan Groves, is loosely based on another famous Adirondack artist, Rockwell Kent. Like both Banks and Kent, Groves is a skilled artist and writer, a flawed outsider whose admirers offer easy entry into worlds of affluence and influence.

In The Reserve, that world is a private Adirondack reserve populated only part-time by socialites escaping from the city to establish some dominance over the wild country, and the local guides and residents that depend on the wealthy wilderness adventurers.

The Reserve is a painterly portrayal of pre-war Adirondack life by a living North Country legend. Shortly after the novel was released in paperback, North Country Scene spoke with Banks about his life and literature in the region. Select segments of that conversation are included below.

NCS: How do you like your Michigans?

RB: I get my Michigans at Stewart’s, with a lot of raw onions on top; and I’ve gotten sort of hooked on them. I sneak down there for lunch.

NCS: Have you ever sat on the ledge of the Au Sable Chasm bridge [like Chappie from Rule of the Bone]?

RB: No. I’ve not sat on the ledge, although I stopped and looked over the edge and was terrified and quickly backed away.

NCS: A lot of your stories set in the Adirondacks and North Country seem to paint a pretty grim picture, not necessarily tourist pamphlet stuff, but it seems you are proud of or have some affection for the characters that are part of your community and stories.

RB: They aren’t likely to quote from my novels in the chamber of commerce brochures, that’s for sure. But on the other hand I think that it’s an accurate picture of life in that part of New York State and that also matches up with a lot of rural America.

But the truth is, I have profound affection for my neighbors and the people I live among. I don’t think they get sufficient attention really, because there is such a drive to market the region for tourism that reality gets overlooked.

NCS: Is there one story or one character that best reveals or demonstrates your own feelings about the Adirondacks and the North Country?

RB: That’s a tough question. Maybe the guide figure in The Reserve. He has a sense of the place, both historically and physically that I can identify with and feel comfortable with. He doesn’t sentimentalize it the way so many people from outside do, yet he’s very conscious of it at the same time, of its beauty.

And I think that he would be the figure. Also I kind of like, in the same odd way, the school bus driver in The Sweet Hereafter. What she has is a warm affectionate regard for it, both for the people and for the place, and for the community as a whole. That may be the closest to the way I personally feel.

NCS: When you have visitors to the Adirondacks, where do you like to take them, what do you like to show them?

RB: Well, it depends on their state of health actually. For those who are fit and healthy and energetic I like to take them hiking. We live right in the middle of The High Peaks area so it’s easy to do. You can actually walk out my door into the woods without seeing another house or another road or driveway and walk all the way out to the tops of the Crows and the Ga-o Trail and go to Hurricane and come back down through the woods. For those who are less fit we end up sitting on the porch and uncorking a good bottle of wine and watching the sun set across the top of Pitchoff.

NCS: Are we going to see a screenplay for The Reserve?

RB: I think so. It’s out to a few people right now, but I also just finished negotiating a contract with a London-based theater company that wants to develop it as a play. We may see it as a play. I cannot imagine it as a play, but they seem to think they can do it.