Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Bobbie Ann Mason holds a unique and surprising title in the literary world. After the New Yorker ran excerpts of her novel In Country that included raw, unedited language by a character who is a Vietnam vet, Mason "became the first writer to use the word 'f—k' (the f-bomb) in the New Yorker." If you ask us, that sounds like a pretty sweet conversation starter. (Source)
Just like most of Germany, it looks like Bobbie Ann is a Springsteen fan. In an interview in the New York Times, Bobbie Ann Mason says, "Writing is my version of rock and roll . . . I identify with Bruce Springsteen's songs . . . I like the way his songs are stories with characters. He writes about the disintegration of lives due to social forces. But his people keep striving, hoping.'' Rock on, Bobbie Ann, rock on. (Source)
As a teenager in the 1950s, Bobbie Ann Mason became the national president of the fan club for a Kentucky musical group called the Hilltoppers, and traveled with her mother by car to their shows in the South and Midwest. Looks like Bobbie Ann Mason has been going hard for more than half a century. We wonder if that's where she got some of her inspiration for the character Leroy. (Source)