Author searches for past's fallacy
The Daily Pennsylvanian
March 30, 2006
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David Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, signs a copy of one of his books after speaking about his approach to writing biographies.
Photo by Alex Snyder/The Daily Pennsylvanian
Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss declared at Kelly Writers House last night that he "was afraid of writing books."
Despite this fear, Maraniss has been an accomplished reporter for The Washington Post for the last 30 years. In his speech, he described the process of writing his three published books, which include biographies of former President Bill Clinton and football coach Vince Lombardi.
Though Clinton was still president when Maraniss wrote his biography, the author said that he wrote about him as if he had served long ago.
"The only healthy way to write a biography is to assume the person is dead, even when he's alive," Maraniss said.
Using all the letters and archival facts he could find from Clinton's hometown in Arkansas, Maraniss said he compiled an honest appraisal of Clinton's "oversized ambition."
He attributed Clinton's successes to a combination of his "lying, cheating and difficult side, and his tireless idealistic personality."
For his second book, Maraniss left politics for former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi's town and life, which consisted of the "Green Bay Packers, God and family."
As with Clinton, Maraniss tried to "get to the coach's greatness by exploring how he was weak."
For his third book, Maraniss said he decided to combine two seemingly unrelated events to "capture the totality of the moment" of the Vietnam War.
A young Maraniss participated in one of the war's first major protests, at the University of Wisconsin on Oct. 18, 1967, at the same time that an American battalion was wiped out while on a 'search and destroy' mission half a world away in Vietnam.
After the battle, little signs and "thrilling connections" drove Maraniss, as well as the daughter of the American battalion's deceased commander, an American military hero and the Vietnamese regimental commander who defeated the battalion back to the battlefield. Maraniss centered his book around their stories.
In a question-and-answer session following his speech, Maraniss said that he tries to unravel the "fallacy of the innocent past" and explore the "commonality of human experience."
Maraniss said he would "search for the truth wherever it took him," which struck a chord with students in attendance, among them College seniors Caroline Rothstein and Jenna Statfeld.
I was "very inspired and moved by the talk," Rothstein said. Maraniss was a "very tangible role model."
Statfeld agreed, saying she thought Maraniss was "very genuine."