Interview with David B. Dick, January 19, 1998

Partial Transcript: This is an oral history interview with David Dick being conducted by Linda Beattie for the Kentucky Writers Oral History Project.

Segment Synopsis: The interviewee and interviewer are introduced and the time and location of the interview are given.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; North Middletown (Ky.); Oral history; University of Kentucky

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: --s your full name and where and when were you born?

Segment Synopsis: Dick gives his full name and when and where he was born, and then discusses his family history: where his parents were born, how they met, and their married life before him. His father was in WWI and upon returning from the war went to medical school, became a doctor, and died a year after Dick was born. He also tells the story of how his grandmother was born in a jail because his great grandparents just happened to live there.

Keywords: Cincinnati (Ohio); Elizabethtown (Ky.); Kentucky; Louisville (Ky.); North Middletown (Ky.); WWI; World War I

Subjects: Families.; Genealogy; Kentucky.; World War, 1914-1918

Partial Transcript: So, my father, William Breckinridge Crouch, Jr., his mother was Cynthia.

Segment Synopsis: Dick tells the life story of his paternal great-grandmother and how this woman, Cynthia, generated a book idea of his--a woman who lost her son and husband to a cholera epidemic, described as God's wrath at the time, who got remarried, had seven children, and died at age 34/35.

Keywords: Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; North Middletown (Ky.); Paris (Ky.)

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Families.; Genealogy; Kentucky--In literature.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: Although, I did ask, um, a little bit about my father dying so young.

Segment Synopsis: Dick discusses his frankness about his father's probable alcoholism in comparison to his relative. From there he further explains his father's drive to be a doctor and time at university as a young dad.

Keywords: Alcoholism; Kentucky; Kentucky Wesleyan College; Kentucky writers; Literature; University of Cincinnati; West Virginia; World War I

Subjects: Alcoholism.; American literature--Kentucky.; Kentucky Wesleyan College; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Prohibition.; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. College of Medicine; West Virginia.; World War, 1914-1918

Partial Transcript: But, it's not funny to me.

Segment Synopsis: Dick discusses his own views on prohibiting alcohol or tobacco, how he raises tobacco, and being sober. He puts his soberness down as the reason he wrote five books in five sober years.

Keywords: Alcoholism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Prohibition; Smoking; Tobacco; Wendell Berry

Subjects: Alcoholism.; Berry, Wendell, 1934-; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Literature.; Prohibition.; Smoking.; Tobacco.

Partial Transcript: Did you have, um--do you have, brothers and sisters?

Segment Synopsis: Beattie inquires about Dick's siblings and he gives the stories of his two sisters who are 4 and 8 years older than him. From there he discusses his and his family's lives after his father's death, his mother's remarriage, and his reconciliation with his ex-stepfather, to whom he became very close. He also spent a lot of time with his uncle's family.

Keywords: Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; North Middletown (Ky.); Smoking

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Families.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Smoking.

Partial Transcript: Then, after I started in the first grade, I, uh, went to North Middletown to Bourbon County to begin the first grade.

Segment Synopsis: Dick starts talking about his education and early fascination with Mark Twain, how it grew and changed over the course of his life. He describes his family as very supportive and smart, but ignorant in regard to knowing what he should do to be a writer.

Keywords: Education; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; North Middletown (Ky.); Wendell Berry

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Berry, Wendell, 1934-; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: But, uh, did you think you wanted to be a writer in elementary school?

Segment Synopsis: Dick gives an account of some of his early publishing, and from there he and Beattie launch into a discussion of societal changes centered around electronic advancements, and how he went into media to attempt to combat that.

Keywords: Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Poetry; Publishing

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Poetry.; Publishers and publishing.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: One of the things that I've discovered recently from Wallace Stegner, who I really come to enjoy immensely.

Segment Synopsis: Dick discusses the importance of literature for self-discovery, and the ways his life has improved the further he steps away from the conventional life.

Keywords: Education; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Education.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: If I get up at four o' clock in the morning and get to my computer--I do use a computer to write. I am not opposed to computers.

Segment Synopsis: Dick discusses the similarities between his teaching method and his writing method--to "get something onto the screen" and work from there. He also mentions his personal dislike of workshops, and the source of his creativity.

Keywords: Education; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Education.; Kentucky--In literature.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: Since you have referred already to your dreams and your, uh--the parallel you think is there or maybe the impetuses they have for your creativity, uh, how do you view creativity?

Segment Synopsis: Beattie inquires about Dick's views on the source of creativity, which he puts down to the subconscious bringing things to the attention of the consciousness, and that this is best done without alcohol or other drugs.

Keywords: Creativity; Education; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: I don't know if, if you feel driven to do what you do.

Segment Synopsis: Beattie asks whether or not Dick has a "need" to write and how driven he is. He answers that he's driven possibly more than he thinks, but that he's still lazy, and that it took him so long to actually write fiction. He also talks about his time writing for "General Hospital" and "Dead on Arrival" and how it influenced his ability to write fiction.

Keywords: Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Television writers

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: Two and a half years at UK in the English department, I was doing okay.

Segment Synopsis: Dick explains why he joined the navy and how he wound up as a teletypewriter repairman because it was the closest job to a writer they could find for him as an enlisted man.

Keywords: Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Korean War; Literature; Teletypewriters

Subjects: Cryptography, steganography and data security; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Korean War, 1950-1953.; Teletypewriters.

Partial Transcript: So then--but I knew that I wanted to go back to the University of Kentucky.

Segment Synopsis: Dick mentions his trouble understanding Victorian poetry as an undergraduate, but was able to understand it when he picked it up again randomly at age 40. He then goes on to talk about his time after earning his undergrad degree working as a salesman in Shillito's Department Store in Cincinnati, how he was terrible at that job, and how he got fired.

Keywords: CBS; Cincinnati (Ohio); Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Robert Browning

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: So then I came limping back to--(coughs)--University of Kentucky--or Lexington and University of Kentucky.

Segment Synopsis: Dick clarifies the given timeline, that he'd spent about a year in graduate school before going to Cincinnati to be a salesman, a job he held for a year before returning to Lexington in 1958 to sell typewriters against IBM, a job he left amicably. Then he went back to school. By this point he had a kid and another on the way. He got a scholarship and a job as a radio announcer, which he gives an anecdote about.

Keywords: Jobs; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Work

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Employment--Kentucky; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: Alright, before we, um, talk more about your career, you'd referred to your first marriage.

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about his first marriage, and his time with his first wife's parents and the sort of people they were, being Sicilian immigrants. He goes onto talk about his children from that marriage and their own children.

Keywords: Bourbon County (Ky.); Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; North Middletown (Ky.)

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Families.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Marriage

Partial Transcript: And, rather quickly, I married my present wife, Eulalie.

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about his marriage to his second wife and his time traveling for journalism--covering Jonestown, Caracas, Beirut, and others, a job he thinks would have actually killed him if he'd stuck with it much longer. He goes onto explain his time teaching and administrating and how that led to a revelation that he should be writing instead of teaching.

Keywords: Beirut; Caracas; Jonestown; Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: And after you returned to Plum Lick, this is when your daughter, uh, by your second marriage was born, is that correct?

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about his daughter, Ravy Bradford, from his second marriage, and a second cousin of his who wrote the play that the musical "Chicago" was based on.

Keywords: Children; Daughters; Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Families.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: --interested in it, I can talk about it some more.

Segment Synopsis: Beattie inquires about Dick's sense of place in his writing and the importance of his farm to him. He says that he doesn't consider himself a recluse like Thoreau or Wendell Berry, and then goes on to talk about his former sheep keeping and current tobacco farming.

Keywords: Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; New Orleans (La.); North Middletown (Ky.); Wendell Berry; Woodville (Miss.)

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Berry, Wendell, 1934-; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: So, uh, uh, we, we are not hunkered down.

Segment Synopsis: Dick briefly talks about his attempt to be a voice for Kentucky and Beattie inquires what it means to him to be a Kentuckian. He says it's essentially the same as being from any other state, but is different to him, someone he considers better exemplified by James Still than Jesse Stuart.

Keywords: James Still; Jesse Stuart; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Publishing

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: As I have said in one of the books, and I guess maybe it was "The Quiet Kentuckians," I am horrified and just awfully upset about, uh, "The Kentucky Cycle."

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about his dislike for the series of short plays "The Kentucky Cycle," his aid to other Kentucky writers, and talking about his own books, including the improved finances resulting from their opening Plum Lick Publishing.

Keywords: Jesse Stuart; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Robert Schenkkan; Thomas Hardy

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Appalachia; Appalachian Region.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Schenkkan, Robert, 1953-

Partial Transcript: Uh, you, I understand, also run two weekly newspapers in Kentucky--

Segment Synopsis: Beattie inquires about his work running newspapers, and Dick talks about the work he put in. He also mentions the importance of "two newspaper towns" but considers them an ideal rather than a reality to pursue oneself.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Newspapers.

Partial Transcript: I was writing a column, by the way, called, "Our Kentucky."

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about his column writing, his column's wide demographic, how it doesn't make as much money as he thought it would, and a particular column he wrote about Kentucky rivers and the actual meaning behind that column.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Publishing

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Literature.; Newspapers.; Publishers and publishing.

Partial Transcript: Um, we have--or you have, refer, referred to your career at CBS, that...

Segment Synopsis: Dick tells the story of covering George Wallace's presidential campaigns.

Keywords: George Wallace; Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Wallace, George C., (George Corley), 1919-1998

Partial Transcript: Um, I was wondering, personally, what did you think of George Wallace?

Segment Synopsis: Beattie inquires about Dick's personal thoughts on Wallace, who was pro-segregation but a job creator and so was elected multiple times by a majority of Black Alabamans. Dick explains that it's very complicated, how he hated what Wallace stood for, and yet Wallace did eventually recant his racism entirely.

Keywords: George Wallace; Journalism; Lawrence Pierce; Literature; Racism; Segregation

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Racism.; Segregation.; Wallace, George C., (George Corley), 1919-1998

Partial Transcript: But, see, he, he would be a good example of something I used to tell journalism students.

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about the importance he perceives in a journalist not participating in what they cover, saying that front page stuff should be objective, but that op-eds have their place.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Newspapers.

Partial Transcript: Speaking of "what happened," in another part of your career, when you covered the Jonestown massacre, um, can you describe briefly what--how that experience affected you?

Segment Synopsis: Beattie inquires about his coverage of the Jonestown massacre. Dick briefly describes the horror of flying above it and then goes on to talk about a piece he wrote about "when a congregation becomes a cult," listing five factors: authoritarianism, losing your individuality, charismatic behavior, sex/drugs, and so-called "ultimate truth."

Keywords: Cultism; Cults; Jim Jones; Jonestown; Jonestown cult; Jonestown massacre; Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Jonestown (Guyana); Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: Actually, returning to your reference to your book, "A Conversation with Peter P. Pence"...

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about the experience of being diagnosed with and having prostate cancer, and then speaks frankly on the importance to him of his sexuality and sex drive, and how that ties into his passion for creative endeavors.

Keywords: Cancer; Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; Prostate cancer

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Cancer.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.; Prostate--Cancer.

Partial Transcript: This, this is true.

Segment Synopsis: As an extension of the previous segment's discussion of passion, this segment talks about Dick's thoughts on philosophy of education and life philosophy in general, which is highly individualistic.

Keywords: Booker T. Washington; Education; Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Education.; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: I must say, that this is, um, this is such an exciting time in my life.

Segment Synopsis: Dick talks about his life with his wife, how wonderful he considers it, their plans for the future, and their present raising tobacco and cattle on their farm. Beattie then goes on to ask about his past in journalism as a whole, and he says it was good, but that ultimately what he needs to be doing is writing creatively rather than teaching journalism.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: And the last question I have is, that, um, so many people, much less institutions, um, try to, uh, define the differences or identify the differences between journalism and, um, other types of prose...

Segment Synopsis: Dick discusses ideals for journalism, seeming to describe it as a perfection that is striven for but never reached, even though some people come close. From there, he goes on to discuss his ideals for writing as a whole, down to the language itself and then to the audience for which he strives.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.

Partial Transcript: Is there anything that we haven't discussed that you think is important for people to know about you as a person or as a writer?

Segment Synopsis: Dick gives concluding remarks on his attempts to spend his time as best he can, which involves being careful of what he reads, spending time writing rather than listening to UK basketball games, and being the best person he can.

Keywords: Journalism; Kentucky; Kentucky writers; Literature; North Middletown (Ky.); Oral history

Subjects: American literature--Kentucky.; Dick, David, 1930-2010; Journalism.; Kentucky--In literature.; Kentucky.; Literature.