WHAT DOES HE WRITE?
Poetry, fiction and scholarly works.
WHAT BOOKS HAS
HE PUBLISHED?
“A Bibliography of Modern British Novelists,” “Gore Vidal: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography,” “Truman Capote: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography,” “Views from a Window: Conversations with Gore Vidal” (translated into Spanish and French), “The Devil’s Rood” (co-authored with four of his students) and Collected Word Paintings, a book of poetry.
WHAT IS HIS FASCINATION WITH GORE VIDAL?
“Vidal is considered the greatest living writer of essays.”
WHY WRITE A NOVEL WITH YOUR STUDENTS?
Stanton was inspired by Ken Kesey, the author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” who wrote the novel in conjunction with 13 of his graduate students. “The Devil’s Rood” (rood in Old English means cross) chronicles America’s first serial killer, Herman Mudgett, who killed hundreds of people in the 1890s. “That idea was an experiment that I introduced in my creative writing class. So, for the next six years I wrote that book and it was the No. 1 book in Florida throughout the summer of 2000 when it first came out [according to Amazon.com.] There are 47 characters in that novel. I wrote the serial killer part and 10 other characters. It’s written in dramatic monologue form [like hearing one end of a telephone conversation]. It involves the reader by having them fill in the gaps. It’s sort of a cult novel.”
WHY USE THE DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE FORM?
“I like creating new formats.”
DOES HE ASPIRE TO WRITE THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL?
“No. In his time, Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’ was the great American novel. However, it doesn’t end there. You’re going to have Ernest Hemingway come along, Then [F. Scott] Fitzgerald comes along, then [William] Faulkner.”
IN THE WORKS
Stanton recently co-authored another book, “Dangerous Words,” with one of his former students, Kathryn Lively. The fictional work was composed by the two entirely through mail correspondence. Other writings to be published in the near future include “Gore Vidal: A Merippean Satirist” and “Trapped in America: A Memoir in the Form of a Conversation Among Twelve Imprisoned Selves.”
WHAT IS “DANGEROUS WORDS” ABOUT?
“Two killers who meet at a seminar in New Orleans on how to write a serial killer novel. They’re not aware of the fact that each one of them is a killer. At the end, and I won’t give the ending away, one of them kills the other one. Serial killers interest me because they’re such outsiders.” The novel will initially be available only over the Internet via dollar downloads. Special software is required to read the download, but the software is free.
WHY GO WITH AN E-BOOK PUBLISHER?
“One reason is to see what I can do with that medium. Like any artist, you want to stretch the medium. The other thing is that the royalties will be 50 percent. The only thing I’m turning over is print rights for two years. Third, I wanted to find out if it would be worthwhile for my students. For me, this is a big experiment.”
A MODERN TALE OF RAGS TO RICHES
Persistence has allowed Stanton to enjoy literacy successes later in life. A high school dropout at 16, Stanton married at 17 and became a father by 19. He worked in factories, delivered mail and sold pretzels on the street corners of New York City. His desire to teach, and be taught, drew him back to school where he embarked on a career of teaching and writing. “A lot of academians go from high school to college to graduate school then to teaching. My connection is more with the working class.”
EDUCATION
Stanton graduated from Hofstra University on Long Island where filmmaker Francis Ford Copolla also studied. He earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts.
APPLE FOR TEACHER
In addition to his current position at JU, Stanton has taught at the University of Massachusetts, Bishop Kenny High School, Flagler College and Southside Skills Center. He has also worked as an adjunct instructor at Florida Community College at Jacksonville.
WHY TEACH?
“I have a burning passion to teach. I want to share ideas with other people. The Greek word for educate is to free the mind. The idea of teaching to a test is anything but freeing the mind. It limits the mind. If you free your mind, you’ll get a lot more out of the experiences in life. Imagination is what gives us our humanity.”
WHAT’S MOST REWARDING ABOUT WHAT HE DOES?
“I have learned about myself. As a teacher, I am constantly observing my students to find ways to reach them.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING?
“Reaching the reader or reaching the students in my classroom. The challenge is to try to understand people, and as a teacher, to free their minds so they can explore the world outside themselves.”
WHAT HOBBIES DO
YOU HAVE?
“I’m interested in astronomy, bird watching and gardening.” His favorite movie is the original “Body Snatchers” and for television, it’s “The Sopranos.”
— by Monica Chamness