William Gay (on the right) pictured with Richard Flanagan
William Gay
1943-2012
On October 28, 1999, William Gay came to read at Square Books
soon after his first novel, The Long Home, had been
published by MacMurray & Beck; he was then fifty-five years
old. One could say Gay was a shy man, but he easily found
company among the literary and music subculture in Oxford, as well
as in its many watering holes. Oxford was a short drive from
William's home in Hohenwald, Tennessee, where he had been a
laborer, mostly hanging drywall, in this small town of fewer than
4,000. He made frequent visits to Oxford, often staying many
days at a time. He was unassuming and soft-spoken, and had, in
addition to his broad acquaintance with literature, an
encyclopedic knowledge of music and a wry, subtle sense of
humor. We immediately took to him as one of our own. Likely
because he came to writing late in life, and for so long had been
such an avid reader, his novels and stories were perhaps greater
than those of many more experienced authors. William appeared at
Square Books -- and gave wonderful readings -- for all his
subsequent books: Provinces of Night (2000), I Hate To
See That Evening Sun Go Down (2002), Wittgenstein's
Lolita / The Iceman, and Twilight (2006).
Hohenwald will be remembered as the place where Meriwether Lewis
ended his own life, the location of The Elephant Sanctuary (the
largest natural habitat area for elephants in the U. S.), and the
home of William Gay, a great writer and a dear friend to many of
us in Oxford.