New bio/story I wrote for Winesburg, Indiana, the collection I co-edited with Michael Martone.
Bryan Furuness was born in East Chicago, Indiana, a town whose identity crisis is apparent in its name. Is it Chicago or is it Indiana? He grew up on Chicago time watching the Chicago Bears play on Chicago television stations. At the same time, the town is clearly located in Indiana, a state which Bryan knew a great deal about thanks largely to his mother, who taught state history to her fourth graders and took Bryan along on all her trips to state parks and historical sites. So the answer is: Yes and yes. But also: No and no. No one from Chicago has ever counted East Chicago as Actual Chicago. And the rest of Indiana openly despises and disavows this strip of industrialized Indiana along the lake—referred to as “da region"—because of the unions, and left-leaning politics, and general lack of corn. (Another possible answer, given by a coast-dweller, would be: Who cares? You’re all Midwesterners.) Later, Bryan would set his novel, The Lost Episodes of Revie Bryson, in this no-man’s land.Eventually, Bryan would drift downstate to Indianapolis, though he set his novel, The Lost Episodes of Revie Bryson, in the no-man’s land of the region. Now, he teaches at Butler University, where he also serves as the advisor for Manuscripts, the undergraduate literary magazine. Next to his desk is a bookshelf containing a copy of every issue of Manuscripts dating back to 1934, including a few issues filled with stories from a young Michael Martone. Now he thinks the answer is yes and no and yes and no—the region like a steel ball held in perfect tension between two magnets with like poles.