Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Remick.
Hi Jack, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My writing life began when I studied poetry at UC Berkeley with Thom Gunn. He taught me the essence of originality when he asked me why I was copying the style and substance of other poets–dead, of course. Jack, he said, when you inhabit another man’s universe it will always be smaller than the one you create for yourself.
After that wisdom, there was no going back to imitation. After years of work, experimentation, and exploration of the writing world–which involved three trips to South America and their exposure to both Indigenous and Colonial lifestyles–I returned home carrying a load of understanding and desire that had not driven me before. Life in South America gave me three novels: No Century for Apologies, which won Honorable Mention for the Hoffer Grand Prize; Gabriela and The Widow which was a finalist for the Book of the Year Award; as well as a Finalist for the Montaigne Medal and One Year in the Time of Violence, a novel that follows a Gringo living in the time of the Colombian Violencia with all its horror and political chaos.
I have been a college instructor, a grammar school teacher, a social worker, a community activist, a tunnel stiff, and a bus driver. My writing world expanded with each life experience until I was able to write a ground-breaking novel titled Citadel. Enraptured with fiction, I had ignored poetry until events unfolded which led me to write Josie Delgado, a Poem of the Central Valley and Satori. With each publication, I understood more of Thom Gunn’s wisdom. I have collaborated with many writers to produce work that has found a place in the Writer’s How-to Pantheon, but the major contribution is The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery, with Robert J. Ray.
On the heels of writing success, I entered the world of radio and have worked for several years with Marsha Casper Cook and her Michigan Avenue Media. There is a saying in the world of screenwriting–Be kind to the people you meet on your way up because you will see them again on your way down. That bit of wisdom has been my guide as I offer, free of charge, my weekly Masterclass in Interactive Rewriting. I met many writers on my way to my limited success and I am more than happy to share what I know with younger (sometimes older) writers anxious to see their work in print. Several of my students have published work that I do not hesitate to recommend in my reviews of said work. I continue to teach and to write.
My latest novel, Man Alone (2023) asks the question–what is happening to men in our culture? Why are so many men lost and alone? Why are so many young men rejecting education m favor of violence and the marginalized life? At this time, I am writing the follow-up novel to Man Alone–The Last of the Best–while at the same time reading the work of other writers and producing blurbs, reviews, and critiques. I think that it is my job and my duty to encourage, protect, and laud writers as they venture into the dangerous world of words.
A friend once told me that it is easier to rewrite history than to rewrite a novel. I believe that adage, but it doesn’t deter me from pursuing the ineffable and beautiful beyond reality that lies on the other side of experience.
This is an excerpt. You can read the Full Interview with Voyage Utah by Clicking Here.