|  Robert
James Waller, whose mega-selling, bittersweet romance novels like The
Bridges of Madison County make women swoon and bookstore owners
smile, says he's "kind of a libertarian."
Waller made that comment to the Austin, Texas newspaper, The American-Statesman,
in a June 28, 2005 interview. He was discussing his just-published novel,
High Plains Tango, which deals with the battle between a heroic
loner and a rogue gang of sleazy politicians and rapacious businessmen
intent on building a highway through bucolic South Dakota countryside.
Waller said he shares that character's leave-me-alone attitude. "I
don't like being pressed," he told The American-Statesman.
"I'm kind of a libertarian, and I don't like big things, like big
government, big companies, and so on, who are leaning on me or on other
people."
Later, Waller qualified that comment and suggested that he fits more
into the "classical liberal" category. "Contemporary
libertarians go much farther down that road than I would be willing
to travel," he said. "I'm more of a liberal in the modern
European or 19th-century American sense."
Still, Waller did admit to a kind of Lone Star-style, ornery individualism
-- but said he was that way even before he moved to his current home
in Texas. "I've always had that," he told The American-Statesman.
"I don't think Texas had anything to do with that."
There's a lot of Texas in many of Waller's characters, especially Robert
Kincaid, the restless hero of The Bridges of Madison County.
That 1992 novel, about the poignant or schmaltzy romance (depending
on whether you believe the fans or the critics) between a wandering
photographer and a lonely Iowa farmer's wife, catapulted Waller to the
top ranks of popular authors. The book remained on the New York
Times bestseller list for three years, sold 12 million copies,
and was translated into 36 languages. In 1995, it was made into a successful
motion picture starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.
Waller's other books include One Good Road Is Enough (1990),
Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend (1993), Old Songs in a New Café
(1994), Border Music (1995), Puerto Vallarta Squeeze
(1997), and A Thousand Country Roads (2002). The Iowa-born
author said his books are so successful because he writes about "ordinary
people, the kind you meet in a checkout line at the hardware store."
Before hitting the literary jackpot, Waller worked as a college professor
(he taught management, economics, and applied mathematics), a business
consultant, a singer/songwriter, and a photographer.
Waller has hinted at his kind-of-libertarian sensibilities before. In
his book of essays, Old Songs In A New Café, Waller
wrote: "The overriding problem with our country, and our world
in general, is that we are, in large part, managed by incompetents.
Most of these are men who have spent their lives seeking power rather
than [seeking to understand] themselves."
--
Bill Winter |
|
Quotable
"I'm
kind of a libertarian, and I don't like big things, like big government,
big companies, and so on, who are leaning on me or on other people."
-- Robert James Waller in The Austin American-Statesman
(June 28, 2005)
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