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Jersey, sung and writ boldlyBY KELLY EBBELSSTAFF WRITER

What do "Thunder Road,""The Red Wheelbarrow," and"American Pastoral" have in com-mon?

Scholars may ponder on, butthe simple answer is that theBruce Springsteen song, theWilliam Carlos Williams poem,and the Philip Rothnovelwere allborn of New fersey.

The final two lectures in aseries called "fersey: A Sense ofPlace," offered at Montclair StateUniversity, will feature discus-sions on the three. Louis Masut, aprofessor of history and Americanitudies at Rutgers University, willbe discussing Springsteen in a lec-ture titled "Talk About a Dream:e*.i spri"gsteen's American 'My WOfk haSVision - from New lersev to the r , , - r

Nov. 9 discus-sion will be ledbv Neil Bald-rfin, director ofthe CreativeResearch Centerfor MSU and anauthor of abiog-raphy onWilliams called

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"To All Gentleness." As Baldwinexplained, Williams was "com-pletely dedicated to the life andthe people and the stories of Newfersey," noting his book of poemsabout Paterson, and other worksthat mention Clifton, even the"filthy'Passaic River.

Baldwin said his lecture wouldbe "homage to a hometownhero."

The Roth portion of the finallecture will be led by famesBloom, professor of English atMuhlenberg College. Bloom, anEssex County native, like Roth, isan editor at the Philip Roth Soci-effs publication.

Bloom explained that few oth-er great writers had such a shongconnection to place in their workas Roth did - and yet that Roth's

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On Nov. 7, from 4 to 5 p.m. atthe Cohen Lounge in DicksonHall, will be a combined lectureonWilliams and Roth, titled "Thelocal is the only universal:'William Carlos Williams in Newfersey," and "Philip Roth:Newarkand Beyond."

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meaning, in a way."Masur has just released, with

co-editor Christopher Phillips, aneponymous book, a selection ofinterviews that Springsteen hasconducted over the course of hiscareer. One of Springsteen'squotes came to Masur's mindwhen speaking with The Mont-clair Times: "My work," Spring-steen said in a press conference inParis last year, "has always beenabout judging the distancebetween American reality and theAmerican dream."

Masur said he is interested in"the development of Springsteen'sideas of commitment to commu-nitv ... You can hace an entire arcin ierms of his commitment bothas an artist and as an activistthrough his 40 years of inter-views."

Also of interest to Masur is the"sense of place in Springsteen'smusic - and these notions of bothescaping and somehow finding away back home again."

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- free and opento the public -has been broad,explained organ-izer VictoriaLarson, directorof the Instituteforthe Humani-ties at MSU:each lecture hasfocused on

ed it, never stay-ing "provincialor parochial."

Bloomrecounted anamusing quoteof Roth's fromhis 1986 novel,"Counterlife,"that, even if a

% either Dramatizing, Living, Paint-ing, Singing or Writing fersey.With "Dramatizing |ersey," theseries bit the bullet and examinedthe TV series "Jersey Shore";with"Living," it looked at utopiancommunities in 19th- and 20th-century New Jersey; and with"Painting," it looked at GeorgeInness.

Larson, originally from Eng-land but a 25-year resident ofNew fersey, was, once she accli-mated to life here, struck withhow stereotypes didn't match upto the reality of the multifacetedqualities coming from the state.

"There's so many layers to it,really," Larson said of NewJersey."There's sort of multiple layers of

New Jersey writer has written 50boolis and won a Nobel Prize, thehighest form of praise in the statewill be having a rest stop namedfor you on the New fersey Tum-pike. "For a New fersey novelist,"Roth writes, "that's as muchimmortality as it's realistic to hopefor."

Lanon said the point of the lec-tures was a "questioning of pre-conceived notions, giving a sec-ond thought to a set of associa-tions and stereotypes that youmight take for granted.

'ilt's a sort of series of investiga-tions. It could be expanded infi-nitely if we had the time and theresources," Larson said. "Eachone really is just the tip of the ice-berg."

Contact Kelly Ebbels atebbels@northjersey,com

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