Chérie Newman: The award-winning author James Lee Burke recently published his 36th book, titled House of the Rising Sun. Like many of his other books, this one was written in Montana, which he dearly loves.
James Lee Burke: I remember the first day we came into Missoula. It was in July of 1966. We drove through Hellgate Canyon and I told Pearl, I said “I’m going to kick the bucket here. This is it. This is the best place I’ve ever been. I miss it in one day. If I go one day away, I’m ready to come back.
CN: James Lee Burke grew up on the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast and didn’t experience commercial success as an author until he was nearly 50 years old. Before that, he did many jobs to support his family: pipeline layer, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, truck driver, social worker on Skid Row... He also taught at four universities, including the University of Montana.
I recently talked with Burke about his new novel. We started at the very beginning:
You dedicated House of the Rising Sun to the memory of John Neihart and A.B. Guthrie, and you wrote, 'There would probably be no American West without their work.' So do you mind saying more about that dedication?
JLB: Sure. I knew both men, and I’m really glad you drew attention to the dedication in the book because they are of enormous importance as writers and they were of enormous importance to me. John Neihart was my first creative writing teacher at the University of Missouri in 1957. But he was a mystic and the man who wrote The Cycle of the West, from which the story of Hugh Glass, the mountain man, and Jim Bridger, and Andrew Henry was… in effect he gave that story its legendary characteristic—he gave it an art form. And it was written all in poetic meter. I think the film that just came out with Leonardo DiCaprio was based on that story. Also Man Alone in the Wilderness with Richard Harris. But more importantly, Neihart wrote Black Elk Speaks. But every writer about the frontier—from Louis Lamoure to some of our contemporaries—me, Cormac McCarthy… I think they would all say Neihart opened the door. Everyone’s indebted to him. A.B. Guthrie, Bud Guthrie, was the first person we met when we met in Missoula. Pearl and I had just pulled into the faculty and student housing—we had an apartment—and I said I’m going to walk over to the tennis courts and see what’s going on and there was this man hittin’ on the wall and he introduced himself, said I’m Bud Guthrie and we played tennis. He was just a great guy. But I believe that The Big Sky is not only a homeric book, it’s as good as Homer. And I believe it’s as good as Ulysses.
CN: House of the Rising Sun is set in Mexico and Texas, but it was all written in Montana. After many years of maintaining homes in New Iberia, Louisiana, and Montana, Burke and his wife, Pearl, now enjoy living full-time on their ranch just outside of Lolo.
JLB: We try to spread bad rumors about it: the water’s terrible… it’s full of neo-Nazis… [laughs] to keep people out.
CN: That’s right. Now that you’re here we don’t need anyone else.
One of James Lee Burke’s books was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Others have been adapted for feature films, and a short film, Winter Light, based on one of his short stories, is up for an Academy Award.
Read Publishers Weekly's review of House of the Rising Sun.
Read what Kirkus Reviews had to say about House of the Rising Sun.
