Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Seattle's visual arts are also dynamic, as its cultural strands (from Native American
and Asian to contemporary American) meet and transfuse on canvas, in glass and in
sculpture.
Literature
In the 1960s and ΚΌ70s, western Washington attracted a number of counterculture
writers. The most famous of these (and the best!) is Tom Robbins, whose books, in-
cluding
Another Roadside Attraction
(1971) and
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
(1976),
are a perfect synthesis of the enlightened braininess, sense of mischief and reverence
for beauty that add up to the typical mellow Northwest counterculture vibe.
Having, among other things, a fondness for the Blue Moon Tavern in common with
Robbins, poet Theodore Roethke taught for years at the University of Washington, and
along with Washington native Richard Hugo he cast a profound influence over Northw-
est poetry.
Raymond Carver, the short-story master whose books include
Will You Please Be
Quiet, Please?
(1976) and
Where I'm Calling From
(1988), lived near Seattle on the
Olympic Peninsula. Carver's stark and grim vision of working-class angst has pro-
foundly affected other young writers of his time. Carver's second wife, Tess Gallagher,
also from Port Angeles and a UW alumnus, is a novelist and poet whose books include
At the Owl Woman Saloon
(1997).
Noted travel writer Jonathan Raban, who lived in Seattle for years then left, only to
return recently, has written such books as
Coasting
(1987),
Hunting Mister Heartbreak
(1990) and
Badlands
(1996). His novel
Waxwings
(2003) is an account of two families
of Seattle immigrants.
Sherman Alexie is a Native American author whose short-story collection
The Lone
Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
(1993) was among the first works of popular fic-
tion to discuss reservation life. In 1996 he published
Indian Killer,
a chilling tale of
ritual murder set in Seattle, to great critical acclaim. His recent
War Dances,
a collec-
tion of poetry and stories, won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.
The misty environs of western Washington seem to be a fecund habitat for mystery
writers. Dashiell Hammett once lived in Seattle, while noted writers JA Jance, Earl
Emerson and Frederick D Huebner currently make the Northwest home.
One peculiar phenomenon is the relatively large number of cartoonists who live in
the Seattle area. Lynda Barry
(Ernie Pook's Comeek, Cruddy)
and Matt Groening (cre-
ator of
The Simpsons
) were students together at Olympia's Evergreen State College.
