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Never Fade Away
In William Harte€™s Never Fade Away an English Department offers writing courses that jettison from school immigrant and minority students who cane€™t meet the departmente€™s narrow standards of competency. The students have entrance-level SAT scores, but theye€™re disappearing in droves through the trap-door of their introductory English classes.
An untenured and unruly instructor refuses to cooperate when the Department fails one of his students, a Vietnamese math major with a genius for storytelling. The teacher manages to keep the woman in school, but is fired for his defiance. To fight back he files a grievance, which mushrooms into a public hearing. From day one interested students cram the auditorium.
The story in Never Fade Away is told through alternating entries from two journals. One is kept by the teacher, a Vietnam vet and novelist; the other by the student he defends, a refugee from South Vietnam devoted to her studies, to Buddhism, and to her familye€”alive only as ghosts. Privy to the paire€™s intimate thoughts, we watch a deep symbiotic friendship develop. Their involvement reaches a crux at the hearing, when their relationship is painted as a romance, and teacher and student are forced to examine the basis of their friendship.
An untenured and unruly instructor refuses to cooperate when the Department fails one of his students, a Vietnamese math major with a genius for storytelling. The teacher manages to keep the woman in school, but is fired for his defiance. To fight back he files a grievance, which mushrooms into a public hearing. From day one interested students cram the auditorium.
The story in Never Fade Away is told through alternating entries from two journals. One is kept by the teacher, a Vietnam vet and novelist; the other by the student he defends, a refugee from South Vietnam devoted to her studies, to Buddhism, and to her familye€”alive only as ghosts. Privy to the paire€™s intimate thoughts, we watch a deep symbiotic friendship develop. Their involvement reaches a crux at the hearing, when their relationship is painted as a romance, and teacher and student are forced to examine the basis of their friendship.
208 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2002
25 people want to read
About the author
William Hart
5 books106 followersWilliam Hart is a novelist and poet living in Los Angeles. After earning a doctorate in English from the University of Southern California, he taught college writing courses in LA and wrote. Now he writes--fiction mostly--while helping produce the documentaries of filmmaker Jayasri Majumdar, his wife. Hart's work has appeared in several hundred literary journals, commercial magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, and fourteen books. A pair of one-hour documentaries from Hartfilms aired nationally on PBS, the latest receiving Emmy nominations.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 21, 2011
I really enjoyed Never Fade Away by Bill Hart. The characters sucked me in immediately, and their adversaries were eminently unlikable. If this book is any way an accurate reflection of how immigrants were treated within the State Colleges of California, I pray that the situation has since changed.
One of the tests of a good book is how it yanks emotions and empathy out of the reader. By this standard, Never Fade Away is awesome.
One of the tests of a good book is how it yanks emotions and empathy out of the reader. By this standard, Never Fade Away is awesome.
November 24, 2013
Loved it. The two character narrative format was addictive. The people real and the end not at all disappointing. I was wondering how Hart would get himself out of it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews