NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ Peter Guralnick, a novelist and biographer of Elvis
Presley and Sam Cooke, will teach creative non-fiction at Vanderbilt
University as a visiting professor during the spring semester of 2005.
Careless Love, the second of two volumes tracing the life of Presley,
won the Southern Book Critics Award for non-fiction. Dream Boogie: The
Triumph of Sam Cooke is set for release in September 2005. He has
published three acclaimed compilations of shorter pieces about
musicians and one novel about a blues singer, Nighthawk Blues.
Guralnick "has written about blues, country, rockabilly and soul with
the sweep and depth of a cultural historian and the boundless
enthusiasm of a longtime fan," wrote Alex Halberstadt of Salon.com.
Guralnick says he’ll push students toward "an elasticity of approach"
in their writing, disregarding established boundaries between genres
and forms. His books bring a novelist’s eye to non-fiction.
"It’s the same refusal to recognize categories I admire in musicians
like Elvis, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Duke Ellington," he said.
Guralnick will head a writing seminar on March 25-26 that will bring
writers Robert Gordon (Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy
Waters) and Wil Haygood (In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis
Jr.) to Vanderbilt to reflect on "the excitement of telling stories
about real people."
Cecilia Tichi, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English at Vanderbilt,
said Guralnick’s course will give Vanderbilt students the opportunity
"to learn writing under the direction of a master."
"Guralnick shows us, in particular with his two-volume biography of
Elvis Presley, how popular music justifies a depth of research that is
equal to that of our finest presidential historians," she said. "In an
age of glitz and disposable celebrity, Guralnick shows us the
importance of the authentic popular talent able to change the lives of
millions of people in all walks of life."
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu