It does speak volumes that the remaining loud and vocal critics are those who have distorted or misread various plot points and making cliches from them, in order to make the point that I did not write about "The Ennis we love."
Hello Louise.
First may I wish you luck on your interview.
As you know I am very interested in the ideas and motivations behind your story The Laramie Saga. Iwonder if I could ask you about this comment:
the man whose biography I used as a partial model in "Taking Chances" did as well, even in the midst of grieving the tragic death of his childhood sweetheart. Those people who say that this could not be "the Ennis we love" because he fell in love overnight, and because he changed and grew, and came out - invalidates all of those (all of us) who have had these experiences,
I was wondering why you chose to use an existing real-world person (who presumably has a slightly different life to the character Ennis) to base your Ennis upon? I have found him to be a rich character, well fleshed out and full of many hinted at aspects and potentials. As such it interests me why you chose another person to model your character and his experiences upon.
If the criticism being levelled is that it is not Annie Proulx's "Ennis" being presented in the
Laramie Saga, doesn't the fact that you based the character upon the life of someone else (as opposed to the work of AP) lend validation to this criticism?
Thank you for your time and consideration in addressing this interesting question.