Kent Haruf

Alan Kent Haruf (/hɛrɪf/, rhymes with sheriff; February 24, 1943 – November 30, 2014) was an American writer. Born and raised in Colorado, Haruf attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and also received a master's degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Nevertheless, Haruf struggled to find success as a writer. He spent years teaching English at the high school and college level, in addition to stints as a janitor, construction worker, and farmhand. Haruf's first works accepted for publication came at age 41, in 1984, and he ultimately published six novels and a number of short stories. All of his works were set on the High Plains of Colorado, mostly in the fictional town of Holt. Although his first two novels, released in 1984 and 1990, received critical praise, commercial success eluded Haruf until the publication of Plainsong in 1999, which gained wide recognition and bestseller status. He followed it up with two sequels, Eventide (2005) and Benediction (2013).

Throughout his career, critics praised his authentic portrayals of rural life, his spare and elegant prose, and his attention to the beauty found in ordinary things, although he was occasionally criticized for redundancy. In early 2014, Haruf was diagnosed with an incurable lung disease and wrote his final book, Our Souls At Night, while ill; he died that November. The book was published posthumously and adapted into a film. 5280, a Denver magazine, wrote in 2015 that Haruf is "widely considered [to be] Colorado's finest novelist", while the Dublin Review of Books called him "one of America's finest writers ... both uniquely American and profoundly universal."

Alan Kent Haruf was born in Pueblo, Colorado on February 24, 1943, one of four children of Eleanor and Louis Haruf. He was born with a cleft lip, and his family's community raised money for a pair of surgeries at Children's Hospital in Denver. The first operation partially addressed the issue, but the surgeon died in a plane crash before a planned second operation, and it never took place. As Haruf's father worked as a Methodist minister, his family moved frequently when he was a child, and he spent time in several small towns in northeastern Colorado before graduating from Cañon City High School in 1961. As a youth, Haruf aspired to be a rancher, following in the path of both his grandfathers.

Haruf attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and studied biology before encountering Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner's writing. He graduated in 1965 with a B.A. in English. He subsequently spent two years in the Peace Corps teaching English in Turkey while writing short stories, which he later described as "a good experience for me but of little value to the Turks". He and his first wife, Virginia 'Ginger' Koon, married in 1967, after he returned to the United States. He briefly attended an English graduate program at the University of Kansas, but withdrew during his second semester. During the Vietnam War, Haruf was drafted into the military, but as a conscientious objector, served instead at the Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver and an orphanage in Montana. He and Koon had three children, all daughters.

Haruf struggled to find success as a writer, and instead taught high school English in Madison, Wisconsin and in Colorado. He sought to attend the well-known Iowa Writers' Workshop program at the University of Iowa, but was initially rejected. Nevertheless, he moved his family to Iowa City and began working as a janitor while submitting more stories to the program—he was eventually accepted. He graduated from the program with an MFA in 1973. Haruf was influenced by his professors and classmates in Iowa, including Seymour Krim, Vance Bourjaily, John Irving, and Dan Wakefield. For his thesis, Haruf produced a novel, which Harper & Row expressed interest in publishing. However, they balked at the finished work, which was also rejected by other publishers. In later life, Haruf stated that he agreed that the novel "didn't deserve" publication.

Haruf took a position as an assistant professor at Nebraska Wesleyan in 1976, and wrote during the summers. In this period he also worked on a chicken farm and as a construction worker to earn a living. He did not succeed in selling his writing until 1984, at age 41, when a short story was accepted at Puerto del Sol. The same year, he connected with agent Peter Matson through Irving. Matson sold Haruf's first published novel, The Tie That Binds, to Holt Rinehart & Winston, and it came out in the fall of 1984. The novel brought Haruf some recognition, but did not sell well. His second novel, Where You Once Belonged, published in 1990, also received critical praise but produced even poorer sales, leading him to "despair" at his finances. In 1991, Haruf began teaching at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and was able to devote more time to writing. Haruf and Koon separated in the late 1980s and divorced in 1992. He and his second wife, Cathy Dempsey (née Shattuck), had been friends in high school and reconnected at their 30th class reunion in 1991. They married in 1995 and initially lived in Murphysboro; they later moved to a house near Salida, Colorado.

Haruf's third novel, Plainsong, published in 1999 by Alfred A. Knopf, brought him commercial success, along with further critical attention. It was first noticed and promoted by independent bookstores, before being praised by Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. A limited marketing campaign from Knopf followed, but the company (and Haruf's editor Gary Fisketjon) attributed most of Plainsong's success to word of mouth. The novel had sold more than 800,000 copies by 2004 and was described by the Wall Street Journal as a "runaway bestseller". Haruf was thereafter able to write full time. He did not much enjoy the attention he received, telling an interviewer "I can fumble my way through interviews—but I'd much rather leave myself out of it... I prefer to be anonymous." One journalist, describing Haruf at a book luncheon, noted that "he wears the mantle of success as though it were an itchy sweater." Haruf and Cathy soon moved to a cabin in Salida, Colorado. His fourth novel, Eventide, was published in 2005, followed by Benediction in 2013.

In early 2014, Haruf was diagnosed with incurable interstitial lung disease. Inspired by his relationship with Cathy, he wrote the first draft of his last novel, Our Souls At Night, in around 45 days. The couple revised it together, and he sent it to his editor in September. He continued working on the novel until just days before his death, assisted by Cathy. On November 30, 2014, Haruf died of his lung condition at his home in Salida at the age of 71. Our Souls At Night was published posthumously.

All of Haruf's novels (though not all of his short stories) take place in the fictional town of Holt, in eastern Colorado, based on Yuma and other towns he grew up in. Haruf wrote using a manual typewriter. Before starting work each day, he would read a passage from another author that he admired. Beginning with Plainsong, he would then obscure his eyes with a stocking cap and blindly produce a stream-of-consciousness first draft. Subsequent drafts would add punctuation and other flourishes. While living in Salida, in the last phase of his life, Haruf wrote in an adapted tool shed on his property.

His deepest influences were Faulkner, Hemingway, and John Steinbeck, with one article describing them as a "holy trinity" for Haruf; he collected some Faulkner memorabilia and considered Faulkner's story "The Bear" his favorite work. Haruf also took inspiration from his lifelong habit of eavesdropping on friends and strangers alike, describing himself as "relentless." Haruf told an interviewer in 2014 that he wanted to achieve "what Chekhov did, to show the beauty and the significance of ordinary people and ordinary moments." He rejected characterizations of himself as a regional writer, telling a journalist that he hoped "there's something universal about [my] stories". His papers and drafts are held by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

Haruf's first novel, The Tie That Binds (1984), focuses on an elderly resident of Holt County, Edith Goodnough, after she comes under suspicion of murder, and is narrated by a neighbor of hers. Charles Michaud, in the Library Journal, wrote that the book was "in the tradition of Hamlin Garland and Willa Cather" and praised the "simple, engaging style." Perry Glasser, reviewing the book for the New York Times, commented on the "rhythmic, evocative language" and noted its accuracy about farm life, summarizing the work as a "fine first novel". In a less positive retrospective review, Joyce Carol Oates described the book as "both touching and exasperating", adding that Haruf "shrinks from assessing, still less questioning" Edith's choices. The Christian Science Monitor also reviewed the novel positively, commenting that "the voice of his narrator reverberates after the last page."

Where You Once Belonged, Haruf's second novel, was released in 1990 and centers on Jack Burdette, a former athlete and manager of Holt's grain elevator, as narrated by the editor of the fictional Holt Mercury newspaper. Writing for the Library Journal, Joseph Lewandowski described it as a "brief, unhappy novel" which was nevertheless effective. Richard Eder of the Los Angeles Times praised Haruf's prose as "spare and straightforward" yet resulting in "extraordinary poetry", concluding that the novel was "stirring and remarkable." Newsday's Dan Cryer summarized Where You Once Belonged as "a beautifully told parable—simple and stark and true." The Boston Globe's Amanda Heller wrote that Haruf "has the keen eye of a satirist and the tragic sense of a master dramatist." In contrast, Ursula K. Le Guin referred to Where You Once Belonged as "fairly conventional", while Oates, writing in 1999, felt it was "an adroitly written narrative" that was weakened by its portrayal of Burdette, an "illaudable subject."

Fellow author Ursula K. Le Guin (left) felt that Haruf was "stunningly original", while Joyce Carol Oates (right) criticized one of his novels for "unabashed sentimentality".

Plainsong, published in 1999, follows the stories of several Holt residents, particularly Maggie Jones and Tom Guthrie (both schoolteachers), Victoria Roubideaux (a pregnant teenager), and the McPheron brothers (isolated ranchers). It received rave reviews from critics and became a bestseller. Verlyn Klinkenborg of the New York Times called the book "so foursquare, so delicate and lovely, that it has the power to exalt the reader". Michiko Kakutani added that it was a "compelling and compassionate" novel, praising its authentic portrayal of rural life and "spareness" of language. Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book was a "stirring meditation on the true nature and necessity of the family... honest and precise." Chris Waddington of the Minnesota Star Tribune felt that the "steady, hymnlike unfolding" of the story along with the "unornamented yet elegant" prose brought to mind "the underlying cadences and accumulative force of the King James Bible." Poet and academic Ann Fisher-Wirth compared Plainsong to Cather's My Antonia, noting their sensitive treatment of "sexuality, pregnancy, and birth as natural processes." Oates, writing for the New York Review of Books, took a less positive view, criticizing the book for "unabashed sentimentality" and describing it as a "fantasy to confirm our threatened sense of old-fashioned social cohesiveness", although she did concede that in some passages "the language of Plainsong truly sings."

Plainsong peaked at #10 on the New York Times Paperback Bestseller list. The novel won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award and the Maria Thomas Award in Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Plainsong was adapted into a movie by Hallmark in 2004 starring America Ferrera; although it received mostly positive reviews and high ratings, Haruf did not care for it. He called it "pablum" and opined that his letter to the director saying "everything they should not do" had been comprehensively ignored.

In 2004, Haruf published a sequel to Plainsong entitled Eventide. Library Journal described the prose as "crisp" and the novel as "honest storytelling that is compelling and rings true." In a more negative review, Jonathan Miles of the New York Times dubbed it overly similar to Plainsong, labeling it a "repeat performance" and arguing that the book's readers were comparable to Pottery Barn shoppers. Although Kakutani also noted commonalities with Plainsong, she assessed Eventide, with its "understated prose" and "simple, laconic" dialogue, as having "the haunting appeal of music... and the lovely, measured grace of an old hymn." Publisher's Weekly felt that the book was "as lovely and accomplished as its predecessor", calling it "an uncommonly rich novel." Booklist's Donna Seaman also praised Eventide, lauding Haruf as "a master of restraint and a writer of remarkable tenderness and dignity."

Haruf's penultimate novel, Benediction, was published in 2014. The book focuses on the final months of Holt's hardware store owner, "Dad" Lewis, who has incurable cancer. Noting its post-9/11 setting, Paul Elie of the New York Times held that Haruf used the book to dispel the idea that Holt was "outside the stream of current affairs", and felt the novel was ""affecting but transitional... genuine but incomplete." The Denver Post's reviewer, Tucker Shaw, wrote that "Haruf has an extraordinary grasp of quiet" in his review, which summarized the book as "a masterful look at end of life". Kirkus Reviews criticized Benediction, arguing that while Lewis' story had "dignity and gravitas", other plotlines were "contrived" and redundant. Brad Hooper of Booklist described it as a "a story elegant in its simple telling and remarkable in its authentic capture of universal human emotions."

Haruf's final novel, Our Souls at Night, was published posthumously in 2015. The book centers on the relationship between Addie and Louis, two elderly and widowed neighbors who begin spending nights together to fight loneliness. Joan Silber of the New York Times described it as exemplifying Haruf's "great subject, the struggle of decency against small-mindedness." Ann Hulbert, writing for The Atlantic, reported that Our Souls At Night "delivers a retort to critics who yawned that Haruf was stuck in his homespun ways", adding that he "triumphantly succeeds in having the last word." The New Yorker described the novel as a "delicate, sneakily devastating evocation of place and character." The Washington Post's Ron Charles praised Our Souls At Night, writing that it is "such a tender, carefully polished work that it seems like a blessing we had no right to expect." In translation by Fabio Cremonesi, Haruf's works, starting with Our Souls At Night, became bestsellers in Italy beginning in 2017. The novel was adapted in 2017 into a film by the same name, directed by Ritesh Batra and starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.

Fellow author Le Guin described Haruf as "a stunningly original writer" in her 2019 book, Words Are My Matter; she noted that "he writes about girls and women with tenderness and without idealisation, as individuals." Joseph Powell of Central Washington University commented on the authenticity of Haruf's depictions of rural life, contrasting Plainsong with other works that use rurality merely as set dressing. Literary critic Jeffrey Folks placed Haruf within the tradition of literature rooted in conservative values, listing Haruf's approach to spirituality, his "faith in human existence as purposeful and good" and belief in "the need for responsible behavior" as evidence. Further afield, the Dublin Review of Books called Haruf "one of America's finest writers... both uniquely American and profoundly universal."

• Haruf, Kent (1984). The Tie That Binds. New York City: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 0030719798. OCLC 43540387.
• Haruf, Kent (1990). Where You Once Belonged. New York City: Summit Books. ISBN 0671659030. OCLC 20134062.
• Haruf, Kent (1999). Plainsong. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780375406188. OCLC 41272953.
  • Adapted into a movie by Hallmark in 2004.
  • Adapted for the stage by the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2008.
• Haruf, Kent (2005). Eventide. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780375725760. OCLC 60502211.
  • Adapted for the stage by the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2010.
• Haruf, Kent (2013). Benediction. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780307959881. OCLC 795758098.
  • Adapted for the stage by the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2015.
• Haruf, Kent (2015). Our Souls At Night. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9781101875896. OCLC 898273147.
  • Adapted into a movie by Netflix in 2017.

• Haruf, Kent (1982). "Now (And Then)". Puerto del Sol. 17 (Spring/Summer).
• Haruf, Kent (1986). "The Autopsy of Sam Adams". Grand Street. 5 (Spring): 7–18. doi:10.2307/25006862. JSTOR 25006862.
• Haruf, Kent (1986). "Private Debts/Public Holdings". Grand Street. 6 (Autumn): 18–32. doi:10.2307/25006924. JSTOR 25006924.
• Haruf, Kent (1982). "Dancing". Prairie Schooner. 66 (Summer): 53–65. JSTOR 40633046.
• Haruf, Kent (1994). "Inside T.O. Judy's Mouth". Gettysburg Review. 7 (Summer): 483–95.

• Haruf, Kent (November 20, 2000). "To See Your Story Clearly, Start by Pulling the Wool Over Your Own Eyes". The New York Times.
• Haruf, Kent (December 25, 2004). "A Life on the Plains". The New York Times.
• Haruf, Kent (2009). "Any Man's Death". Granta. Work (109): 91–96.
• Haruf, Kent (November 13, 2014). "The Making of a Writer". Granta. Essays & Memoir. Fate (129).

• Haruf, Kent; Brown, Peter (2008). West of Last Chance. High Plains. New York City: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393065725. OCLC 123912661.

• Meet the Writers – profile at Barnes & Noble
• What the Critics Say About Kent Haruf – Creighton University