Errol Lincoln Uys
http://www.erroluys.com
How
did you come to write "RIDING
THE
RAILS:
TEENAGERS
ON THE MOVE
DURING
THE
GREAT DEPRESSION"?
The
book is a companion volume to the documentary, Riding the Rails,
made by my son, Michael, and his wife, Lexy. When Michael and Lexy began
work on the film seven years ago, their first step was to get a notice
published in Modern Maturity, official magazine of AARP, the
Association of American Retired Persons. They asked for stories from
former boxcar boys and girls. They hoped for 100 or so replies. They
received 3,000 letters. I had access to the letters plus 500 follow-up
questionnaires and the transcripts of the filmed interviews.
What
touched you most about the letters?
The
total sincerity and honesty in the recollections of the boxcar boys
and girls. Whether they rode the rails once or twice or hopped freights
endlessly searching for jobs, the experience profoundly affected their
lives. Not only when they were kids, but in shaping their character
as adults. What struck me especially was the simple pride of letter
writers in looking back on those hard times and how they handled them
as mere children.
Describe
some of the ways in which they coped with life on the road?
"Street
smarts," we call it today. Many took off with little but the clothes
on their backs. "I left home with 2 loaves of bread and 2 pounds
of Romano cheese," says one letter-writer. Hunger quickly drove
a boy or girl to beg for food at stores and at the back doors of houses.
Sometimes they went away empty-handed. Many tell of going two or three
days without a bite to eat.
Coping
with fear and loneliness was as tough as trying to get something in
their bellies. "More than once I cried. I felt so sad, so utterly
alone," said one former rider. "What kept me going was the
freedom of it — the desire to see what lay on the other side of the
mountain."
What
perspective do these stories bring on the Great Depression?
We
see the decade of the Great Depression entirely through the eyes of
young men and women growing up on a landscape of ruin. We ride the rails
with them, setting out from homes shattered by unemployment and poverty
and hitting the road. We learn of their struggle to survive on the streets
of America and know their bitter disappointments, their sense of loss
of childhood, their frustrations at the lack of opportunity. "When
I think of all this traveling across the land, searching for the things
we had lost, there is a place inside my chest that still hurts,"
recalls one rider.
What
does the book tell about America?
The
story of the boxcar boys and girls reveals nothing less than the spirit
of America — youthful optimism, the will to make the best of things,
the love of freedom. The Great Depression was a heinous time that left
deep scars. Letter writers express life-long fears of going broke again.
When they left the rails and got a hold on their lives, they never let
go. Many tell of keeping the jobs they found for 30 or 40 years. And
the girls they met, too: many write joyously of their enduring devotion
to the sweethearts they married when they settled down. None speak of
the pluck and courage they showed in going to seek a better life. —They
are the forgotten heroes of our century.
Could
you share some details about your writing? How did you begin your career?
I
wrote my first book at 10. It was 40 pages written on the back of worthless
stock certificates thrown out by my parents. At 16, I finished a full-length
novel. I still have a slew of rejection slips for my effort. But that
manuscript landed me my first newspaper job when I sent it along with
my application for work as a cub reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Of course, it also meant that I would spend the next 15 years as a reporter,
features writer and editor.
You
worked with James A. Michener on his South African book, THE
COVENANT?.
Yes.
I had started work on a South African novel before meeting Michener and it was clear that we were thinking along similar lines. I spent two years working with him, including four months during
which I lived at his Maryland home. We put our heads together on every
aspect of the book, from the plotting to the final manuscript. -- What
I gained above all was the faith that I could go out and write a vast
historical novel like Michener.
Why
did you choose BRAZIL
as your subject?
I
came from South Africa where racism was entrenched. Brazil was a land
where the races mixed from the beginning. I was personally drawn to
find out why the Brazilian "thing" was so different. I was
also appalled to discover how little people in the United States knew
about their biggest neighbor to the south. It was — and sadly remains
— a lack of understanding similar to what proved disastrous for the
different communities of South Africa.
How
did you write BRAZIL?
I
gave up my job as an editor at Reader's Digest. I spent the next
five years working on Brazil. I traveled 15,000 miles by bus
to do my research in Brazil and then returned to the U.S. to begin writing.
After a year's leg-work and with 200 pages in hand, I got an advance
from Simon and Schuster. The original manuscript was 2,700 pages or
three-quarters of a million words written in long-hand on kid's scribbling
tablets. When it was published in the U.S. in 1986, Brazil was
1,000 pages.
What
matters most to you about writing?
Whether
I am writing fiction or non-fiction, I strive to understand, to feel
and touch the lives of people I write about. It is a rare privilege
that writers have. It is also a deep responsibility.
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