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Desmond Barry (far right)
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Desmond Barry, MFA'96, returned to Columbia's Butler Library--the place where he researched and wrote his first novel, "The Chivalry of Crime"--as the subject of a BBC documentary that began production last month. Barry created a literary stir in England and the U.S. last year with the publication of his novel exploring the myth of Jesse James. Published by Little, Brown and Company, the book comes out in paperback in March.
The novel grew out of an assignment Barry received during his first semester of Columbia's graduate writing program in a class titled "Plot, Characterization and Genre." Asked to produce a one-paragraph outline of a story he might like to write, Barry was struck by a line from the Pogues' song "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash-The Ballad of Jesse James." "I thought it would be interesting to write the story from the point of view of 'the dirty little coward' who shot Jesse James," said Barry. "The Chivalry of Crime" is the story of a young Welsh boy who meets Robert Ford, the man who killed Jesse James, and hears his story while they are in jail.
The BBC requested special permission to film in Butler, because the library played such an integral role in the research and writing of Barry's novel. "The standard collection has a lot of secondary material about the history of the West," said Barry, "and the special collections are fantastic." He also noted, "The reference librarians were extremely helpful--I can't say enough good things about them."
The half-hour documentary about Barry's literary journey will air in England early next year. Lucie Donahue, the producer, said, "Not many contemporary Welsh novelists achieve that level of public recognition. Also, it's an inspirational story in that Barry succeeded as a writer a little later in life." She also noted England's fascination with the American Wild West.
Barry, who was born and raised in Wales, lived and worked in Italy and traveled extensively in Asia before making his home in the U.S. in the mid-1980s. He wrote poetry and fiction and first came to Columbia as a result of the urging of his wife, an American, who saw an ad in "The New York Times" for the summer course in the writing program.
The three-week course inspired Barry to apply for Columbia's two-year graduate program. He was accepted, and as part of his training in the Columbia School of the Arts Writing Division, Barry received a fellowship to work as a research assistant to author Peter Carey. "I learned a lot about turning history into fiction from him and he critiqued my work, as well," said Barry. His former teacher is now a fan, who describes "The Chivalry of Crime" as "a tour de force."
Barry has just sold his second novel, set in his hometown in Wales, to Jonathan Cape, a division of Random House. It will be available in January of 2002.
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