The Man Who Loved Birds (40 page)

Those familiar with central Kentucky may recognize in this book certain features of its geography, history, and culture, but these characters and their stories are fabrications of my imagination. This is a work of fiction inspired by real-life events, researched in the course of writing a feature-length article for the
New York Times Magazine
(“High in the Hollows,” December 17, 1989).

On September 9, 1971, the Kentucky State Police staked out a cornfield in Spencer County, Kentucky, where they killed a renegade storyteller and petty criminal named Charlie Stiles. Detective Marion Campbell, who shot Stiles, was later promoted to become a Kentucky State Police Commissioner. In 1986 Campbell was suspended with pay pending an internal investigation resulting from his indictment in federal court for his role in cocaine smuggling.

The press release reproduced on pages 224–225 describing the “Cornbread Mafia” was issued by the Western Kentucky office of the District Attorney of the United States Department of Justice on June 16, 1989. As of this writing several of the men who were convicted of growing marijuana and whose farms were confiscated remain in federal prison, serving mandatory sentences without possibility of parole.

In composing the speeches of County Attorney Harry Vetch I have borrowed phrases from the speeches of President Ronald
Reagan, Vice President Richard Cheney, and President George W. Bush.

Song lyrics are drawn from the following sources:

“Shine On, Harvest Moon,” 1908, Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes

“Slumber, My Darling,” 1838[?], words and lyrics by Stephen Foster

The following individuals have lent their intelligence and support to the writing of this novel. Most of what is good I owe to them; the faults I claim as my own.

Dr. June McDaniel, Dr. Gerry Forbes, Bharati Mukherjee, Clark Blaise, Dr. Darril Hudson, Sandip Roy, my kind and endlessly hospitable hosts in Calcutta (especially Manas Ray, Sharmila Ray, Tanusree Shankar & Company, Tapas Mondal, Somnath Banerjee Bandhopadhayay), Dr. David Heiden, Margaret Jenkins, Molly Sutphen, Haney Armstrong, Shirley Abbott, Alfred McCartney, O.C.S.O., John Brennan, Cathy Cravens Snell, Pam Houston, Katherine Seligman, Shirley Abbott, the courageous and remarkable J.K.Vickers, diva in exile, Dr. Sanjukta Dasgupta, Dr. Krishna Sen, Dr. Aparna Viswas, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Dr. Richard Eaton, Dr. Rajarshi Dutta, Dr. Swati Dutta, Dr. Anjanlal Dutta. Pawan Dhall, my friends at Swikriti, Calcutta’s brave LGBT rights organization, and Rae Douglass.

A special thanks to the Camargo Foundation and its staff, especially Jean-Pierre and Mary Dautricourt, who provided me four months for writing and research overlooking the serene Mediterranean. The Creative Writing Program at the University of Arizona has been generous and forgiving in allowing me several leaves without pay.

A fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation supported my final revision.

English-to-Bengali translations were provided by Ms. Supurna Datta, Dr. Shompaballi Datta, and Ms. Shantanu Das, former Bengali lecturer, Stanford University Language Center.

A special bow to the staff of the University Press of Kentucky, most especially my editor, Ashley Runyon, and my copyeditors, Julie Wrinn and David Cobb.

Miss America Kissed Caleb: Stories

Billy C. Clark

New Covenant Bound

T. Crunk

Next Door to the Dead: Poems

Kathleen Driskell

The Total Light Process: New and Selected Poems

James Baker Hall

Driving with the Dead: Poems

Jane Hicks

Upheaval: Stories

Chris Holbrook

Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place

bell hooks

Crossing the River: A Novel

Fenton Johnson

The Man Who Loved Birds: A Novel

Fenton Johnson

Scissors, Paper, Rock: A Novel

Fenton Johnson

Many-Storied House: Poems

George Ella Lyon

With a Hammer for My Heart: A Novel

George Ella Lyon

Famous People I Have Known

Ed McClanahan

The Land We Dreamed: Poems

Joe Survant

Sue Mundy: A Novel of the Civil War

Richard Taylor

At The Breakers: A Novel

Mary Ann Taylor-Hall

Come and Go, Molly Snow: A Novel

Mary Ann Taylor-Hall

Nothing Like an Ocean: Stories

Jim Tomlinson

Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York

Frank X Walker

When Winter Come: The Ascension of York

Frank X Walker

The Cave

Robert Penn Warren

The Birds of Opulence

Crystal Wilkinson