Conversations with Andre Dubus

Over three decades celebrated fiction writer Andre Dubus (1936-1999) publishedseven collections of short stories two collections of essays two collections of previouslypublished stories two novels and a novella. While this is an impressive publishingrecord for any writer for Dubus who suffered a near-fatal accident mid-careerit is near miraculous. Just after midnight on July 23 1986 after stopping to assist twostranded motorists Dubus was struck by a car. His right leg was crushed and his leftleg had to be amputated above the knee. After months of hospital stays and surgerieshe would suffer chronic pain for the rest of his life. However when he gave his firstinterview after the accident his deepest fear was that he would never write again.This collection of interviews traces his career beginning in 1967 with the publicationof his novel The Lieutenant to his final interview given right before his deathon February 24 1999. In between are conversations that focus on his shift to essaywriting during his long recovery period as well as those that celebrate his return tofiction with the publication of The Colonel's Wife in 1993. Dubus would share aswell stories surrounding his Louisiana childhood his three marriages the writerswho influenced him and his deep Catholic faith.Olivia Carr Edenfield is an associate professor at Georgia Southern University.Her work has been published in Hemingway Review Southern Literary JournalResources for American Literary Studies and Explicator.