Part two of This Writing Life's conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo begins with the idea of sequels: his new novel, Everybody's Fool is a follow-up to Russo's masterpiece, Nobody's Fool. What are the risks of continuing a story that is not just admired but loved? Did Russo intend to write a sequel to Donald 'Sully' Sullivan's adventures. What made him return in the first place? What was it like to revisit characters who were created over 20 years before?
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From here we moved onto:
- Russo's relationship with his father: 'It shouldn't have been surprising that he had more to say'
- Russo's relationship with Paul Newman, who played Sully in Robert Benton's film adaptation of Nobody's Fool
- what did Newman see in the character of Sully?
- 'I think Paul became a different actor after his son died'
- age and destiny: Russo and Sully
- 'At 67, I am trying to understand what has happened to me...I am beginning to see the shape of my life...How the fuck did that happen?'
- the comedy of life-changing moments: 'All the things in my life that have worked out for the very best...are the results of the stupidest things I could have conceivably done'
- Russo and his mother: success, failure and American road trips
Part 3 to follow.
