Professor Greg Hewett’s New Novel No Names | We Ask, Professors Answer | An Insider Look into Twelfth Night \ The English Department’s a Little More Crowded Now!
Professor Gregory Hewett’s New Novel “No Names”
We interviewed English professor Gregory Hewett on the release of his first novel. Read on to learn his inspiration, his writing process, and what it means to be punk.
When I entered Gregory Hewett’s office on 2nd Laird, I asked him the question which he told me he gets asked the most: Why write a novel and why now? “You wrote five books of poetry, why suddenly shift to prose?” Greg answers, “sometimes you just need to write something.” This isn’t his first time writing fiction. He wrote an unpublished novel under the guidance of Toni Morrison before she became famous. “She helped me a lot, gave me confidence. She was really strict but she gave me lots of encouragement, too,” Greg reflects.
After marveling that my advisor was once advised by an idol of mine, I inquired about what inspired him to write No Names specifically. He needed to tell this story about these boys he knew in the college town where he grew up, where there “is a real stratification people aren’t aware of. I felt like these boys were underrepresented in literature and often stereotyped, these working class guys.” One of the characters in No Names is based off of a boy Greg knew in high school. The only college prep course he ever took was an advanced literature class because he “was good at it and he loved it.” Greg knew this other boy whose mom would take him to garage sales where he would buy books like A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. “These guys were different . . . while they had a tough side to them [they were] not these stereotypical thuggish, uncaring, partying kind of guys. They were not like that at all.” Greg took them as inspiration and began his book.
No Names, according to Greg, has a relatively simple plot. It is about a teenager in the 1990s who finds the only record of a 1970s band in his mother’s attic. He listens to the record and becomes obsessed with the band. He decides to figure out why they only made the one record. The story is told from the perspective of four different narrators: the teenager in the 90s who finds the record, a member of the band in the 70s, one of the mothers of the band members, and a fan of theirs who is a world famous classical pianist. Greg says that his music taste is “rather eclectic, so [he] wanted to reflect that” in No Names.
Another source of inspiration for Greg was punk rock. When he was young, punk was just starting. He was traveling alone for three months in Europe when he met an Italian girl in London. Greg admits that she was so cool, he still does not know “why she wanted to hang out with [him].” She was not a punk, but she knew punk music (in those days you could not simply be a punk by being into punk music) but, “it was changing your life, it was an existence.” This girl introduced him to the punk club scene where he got the chance to see now-famous bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Boys perform. “That’s kind of how the novel started,” Greg says. “I was interested in these kinds of guys and their music and, in particular, the idea of loss.” Punk rock, his hometown, loss, and more blurred and meshed together in his head to inspire and eventually create No Names.
For my final question, I inquired about what it is like to finally have the book done. What does it feel like to be on the other side of all that creative work and into the world of publishers and interviews and book readings? Greg said, “it feels great… The launch was great and the readings have been good.” He feels anxious showing his writing to the world: “you want it to do well, but then you hear from people that they like it.” As writers, ourselves, at the 2LM, Greg, we completely understand.
Thank you so much to the wonderful Greg for letting me into his immaculately decorated office and telling me and our 2LM readers about No Names! It sounds like a beautiful time. We hope each and every one of our readers goes out and buys a copy today. I know we will be doing so. Make sure to attend his book reading Wednesday May 14th at 5 pm in the Gould Library Athenaeum.
We Ask, Professors Answer
You know it, you love it: it’s your favorite column. The premise is in the title.
Our question this week was as follows: Were you ever involved in any artistic pursuit before teaching?
Gwen Kirby: My career is my artistic pursuit (writing fiction) but besides fiction I have also been an avid knitter, a journalist reporting on the ex-pat community in Buenos Aires, and, very briefly!, a competitive social dancer. I used to do a mean foxtrot!
George Shuffleton: I played the bassoon for 7 years, but not very well. Does that count? It will have to, because I can’t claim any of the other categories.
Nancy Cho: Drawing and painting from childhood through my mid-20s. Playing the piano until high school.
Adriana Estill: In high school I was eternally a second lead, never the star, in our musicals (bitter still? nooooo) and I played the flute in the orchestra. In college I joined a coed a cappella where I excelled at doowahs and schwoop-de-doos.
Constance Walker: Trying to decide whether to do English or theater, I ended up playing Lady Macbeth while still in grad school. Several gallons of stage blood later, said yes to Carleton.
Peter Balaam: Probably every English Prof is a frustrated Something. I own that if it comes to ham, I’ve sung Edwin, the rake and defendant in Gilbert & Sullivan’s, “Trial by Jury” and I’ve played a weaselly rich-boy Lucentio in “Taming of the Shrew.” But, before my current gig reading stanzas of Emily Dickinson aloud in Laird 205 (…and my W’23 Living-Londoneers will back me on this), I had a bit part in Nicholas Hytner’s revival of “Guys and Dolls.” Oh, it was one night only… and a long time ago… but I did bring down a packed house one night at the Bridge Theatre in London!
A Insider Look Into Twelfth Night
The Carleton Players’ Production this term is putting on “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare. Ya’ like jazz?
Twelfth Night is a comedy about love, loss, and mistaken identity. If you don’t already know, or even if you do, it’s about two twins, Sebastian (Kaelyn Rothe) and Viola (Mahdia Tully Carr) who are separated in a shipwreck. Thinking Sebastian is dead (and he totally is…), Viola pretends to be a man to gain employment in the court of Orsino (Arthur Koenig). She helps him woo a lady he loves, Olivia (Lizzie Coy-Bjork), and the messiest love square to ever exist ensues, full of hilarious miscommunications. Ours is directed by theater professor Andrew Carlson and associate directed by student Caroline Stanton. Our production is modern, the time and place inspired by the culture and music of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. It draws on the grief found in the aftermath of that wreck, but also the joy.
Jack Bartlett (Captain): This is the largest production that I’ve been a part of at Carleton. I’ve really enjoyed how involved it is and how the show is drawing on the interdisciplinary nature of Carleton.
Sophia Jazaeri (Toby Belch): I don’t think I’ve ever been in a rehearsal room that has felt more supportive and more like a community. The show is a really good time. It’s hilarious, there’s physical humor and subtle innuendos. There’s sweet stories of love and everyone is doing an incredible job. This show is the pinnacle of what it means to be a Carl.
Foster Pratt (Andrew Aguecheek): Everyone should come because it is a thrilling ride from beginning to end, highs, lows, laughs, tears. The people have been fantastic, kind, supportive, and the leadership has been wonderful and engaging and ever so helpful.
Kaelyn Rothe (Sebastian): It’s got love, laughter, intense grief. The cast and crew is so talented and dedicated. I’m so lucky to be in a rehearsal room with them. Andrew and Caroline have done a beautiful job. Everyone should see it because it’s a banger of a time.
Kate Eng (Feste): It’s a bunch of cool people doing really cool things. And we don’t all hate each other, unlike most theaters.
George McAdams (Malvolio): I don’t know. It’s a good show. I like it. You should see it.
When describing our production, Andrew posed a question to the cast and crew. “What if the moment your heart breaks is the same moment it opens to love?” If you want any shot at knowing the answer, come see Twelfth Night in the Weitz Theater, May 8th–11th.
The English Department’s a Little More Crowded Now
That’s the way we like it. Let’s take a moment to celebrate our newly declared English majors!
It’s spring. The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, the air is full of allergens, and Laird is full of new English majors. It’s a beautiful time. We would like to honor the newest editions to our literary cult and the best way to do that is by stalking them on the campus directory and forcing them to see their full names in bold print. We do this mainly in the hopes that they will learn that to be an English major, you have to conform quickly, intelligently, and elegantly into our collective hivemind. Yes, it will be in alphabetical order. Do you see how hard I work?
- Samira Abdirahman
- Defne Arat
- Grace Beaster
- Leo Besen
- Tony Brown
- Lizzie Coy-Bjork
- Megan Haak
- Alice Handelman
- Piper Henderson
- Tabitha Jones
- Peter Kenedi
- Jess Knachel
- Yiming Ma
- Hayden McDevitt
- Clara McGee
- Quinn Meaney
- Sam Millen
- Gabe Murillo-Torres
- Ruby Nicholson
- Clara Pierce
- Calla James Ruff
- Thomas Sorokti
- Max Southwell
- Sebastian Torres
- Autumn Wissenburg
- Lane Worthing
Welcome, class of 2027, to the hallowed halls of Laird! It’s a wonderful department, an enriching field of study, and an amazing community. Thank you for choosing to spend two years with us. Now remember: do your readings or die.
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