A Character by Any Other Name...

Abstract

name problem in Frenchtown Summer I was very much aware as I wrote this free-verse story that I was drawing on my own boyhood-people I know, stories I had heard, legends that had fascinated me throughout my life. I instinctively disguised characters and events as I wrote, but I was constantly aware of the autobiographical elements. The thought occurred to me: should I begin all over again and make it strictly autobiographical, actually a memoir? The particular question was emphasized when I arrived at the point where the narrator needed to be named. The temptation was to call him Bobby, which is what I was called growing up (and which some of my old friends still call me). Then I thought, Why not call the boy Robbie? which is a nickname for Robert and yet a name that was not identified with me. For some reason, I resisted Robbie. If I was going in that direction, why not call the boy Bobby and be completely honest about it? I finally chose Eugene. How did Eugene pop out of nowhere? That wasn't really how it happened. There are writers whom I reread constantly. The novels of Graham Greene are like textbooks to me. I never fail to re-