Bill Holm, Carol Bly, Jon Hassler .

Tuesday, November 16, 1999

Bill Holm, Carol Bly, Jon Hassler . . . three of Minnesota’s literary treasures.

Holm’s "Faces of Christmas Past," Bly’s "An Adolescent’s Christmas" and Hassler’s "Keepsakes and Other Stories" are on serious readers’ shopping lists this holiday season.

In Hassler’s case, at least, they are for all seasons.

The man wove his spell Sunday afternoon at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Austin.

Like a comfortable pair of shoes, he fit the occasion perfectly.

Like the unexpected sound that produces a sense of deja vu, of having passed this way once before, his words fell, not on deaf ears, but an audience thirsting for more.

The occasion was a fund-raiser for the St. Olaf Lutheran Church Foundation and judging by the filled pews in the beautiful sanctuary, that goal was accomplished.

But Dr. James V. Herrick, president of the foundation’s board of directors and an unabashed Hassler fan, would have been satisfied if Hassler and he were alone.

It is that sense of intimacy, that Hassler is writing for the reader that makes his fans’ affection so unswerving.

Before Sunday afternoon’s reading, Don Hodapp confessed he was "excited" to be able to hear Hassler read from books he has read. "When he writes about his childhood at Plainview, I feel I know those people," Hodapp said.

Then, Hassler was introduced and proceeded to cast his spell from a lectern in front of the church altar.

A native of Rose Creek, his parents are buried in Calvary Cemetery at Austin.

Now retired as an English professor at St. John’s University, Hassler has written 11 novels. His latest, published by Afton Historical Society Press) is "Keepsakes and Other Stories." It is a collection of seven short stories written two decades ago and most of them autobiographical.

Before "Keepsakes," there were "Staggerford, Simon’s Night, The Love Hunter, A Green Journey, Grand Opening, North of Hope, Dear James, Rookery Blues, the Dean’s List, Four Miles to Pincone" and "Jemmy."

Now 66 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he does, indeed, look the part of a rumpled college professor, giving still another lecture.

There is profanity peppered amidst the simple profundities he writes and then speaks.

Eighty-five rejection slips came before the first acceptance by a publisher. Now, they seek him out for another book and it must feel good.

When he started writing, he wrote short stories, because "sitting in a chair all day to write a novel was too long to me."

But, oh what sweet – make that bitter-sweet – stories he writes. Laced with humor, offering surprises along the way, developing characters, twisting plots and all the while mining memories of his own.

Stories about playing "chase" as a child growing up in Plainview had people nodding their heads in recognition of warm summer evenings when everyone came to town.

He does not apologize from drawing upon his own life for ideas and inspiration. "I think we all should write our memories," he said. "Memories breed memories as you write."

What stymies this author? "My secondary characters come to my mind as I need them" he said. "Characters come easy for me. It’s plot devices that give me fits."

William Trevor is a favorite writer of Hassler’s So is Alice Munroe and there’s a new writer from Illinois that has a book entitled "Plains Song" that also comes highly recommended by Hassler.

But, Hassler has no favorites among his own works. "They’re like kids. You don’t have a favorite. You like them all," he said.

Later, he relents and confesses that "Staggerford" may be his personal favorite. "It was my first book and it’s close to my heart for that reason," he said.

Comparing "Grand Opening" to the gospel lessons of the Bible is not entirely a stretch of the imagination. Dodger Hicks, portrayed as a "an outcast" in the book was inspired by a real-life friend of Hassler’s, Satch Hays.

Hicks-Hays is betrayed in the book as Hassler said he was in real-life and told he can no longer be a friend for spurious reasons founded in small town prejudices from another time.

Accepting, even loving, and not betrayal is a challenge to be pursued by everyone all the time. "That’s our job in life," Hassler said, "to love one another and follow the example of Jesus."

During the question-and-answer session, a female voice announced a "conversion" of a sort. After earning a literature degree, she said, "I was kind of a snob" and wouldn’t read "just anything." After reading Hassler’s short stories, "You’re writing changed my mind," she said.

Every writer should be so lucky to have that kind of impact about something in life.

Every Hassler reader, too.