The Elm City and Yale through a writer's eyes

Local author Alice Mattison speaks about New Haven, its characters, and a world of coincidences

Courtesy William Morrow Alice Mattison

Alice Mattison is a well-known author who lives in New Haven. She has written several books set in the Elm City, filled with interesting characters who are not all too different from people you might meet during your years here.

Mattison was born in Brooklyn, and took degrees from both Queens College and Harvard Graduate School. She has lived in New Haven since 1972 and has taught creative writing classes at Yale intermittently.

Her most recent book, Men Giving Money, Women Yelling, is a collection of intersecting short stories about New Haven characters, structurally similar to the Robert Altman movie Short Cuts. Its characters, like those of New Haven, appear and reappear in unexpected places.

Mattison is also the author of Hilda and Pearl, Animals (poems), The Flight of Andy Burns, Field of Stars, and Great Wits, all of which are available at most bookstores.

The Yale Herald: Why have you chosen to live in New Haven for so long?

Alice Mattison: There is a lot I like about New Haven. I like that I can easily get to both New York and Boston, and I like New Haven's smallness. That is, I really like New Haven, geographically. I find that it is a "punctuated" city, bounded by the Long Island Sound, East Rock, and West Rock. I like the parks here. And I like the diverse and interesting people that live here. I have especially noticed that there are many interesting and wonderful women who come here often because of Yale, often because of a man who went to school here, but then they get divorced and it's the woman who chooses to stay in New Haven. I also like--despite the contrary views of many people--the New Haven school system. Three of my children went to school here.

YH: How would you characterize New Haven?

AM: It's a small city, in the sense that it's full of neighborhoods and you can also take a long walk and see most of it, but at the same time, it's a city that is not always so safe. It's not a place where you would wander around alone at night; you must keep your wits about you. It's also a city with a lot of surprising contrasts and diversity--including educational, economic, ethnic, and religous diversity. Basically, New Haven is a small city that will reward with exploration.

YH: Has New Haven life influenced your writing?

AM: New Haven has given me subject matter that is interesting and comprehensible enough that I could deal with it. [Unlike] New York, where I grew up, which is a city so big that you really don't come across many of the same people more than once, New Haven is small enough that you often--surprisingly and coincidentally--come across the same people, in all directions. I like the oddness of New Haven and the many coincidences that occur here. You learn of a person--like a dentist--in one direction and then come across him in another direction--like at his son's baseball game or a school play.

Courtesy William Morrow

YH: How have the characters of New Haven influenced or inspired your characters?

AM: Like many of the people living in New Haven, my characters are surprising and iconoclastic. For example, I live on a block where there is a store called Wedding Dress Drycleaners (a drycleaner that specializes in cleaning wedding dresses). You look in the window and there are always people shouting as they iron the ruffles on the gowns laid out in front of them. I also volunteer at a soup kitchen where I constantly hear conversations between such diverse people as a world-famous psychiatrist and a welfare recipent there doing community service. And when you constantly come across such a variety of interesting and unusual people, it gives you the imaginative permission to create characters that can "live up to" these real people.

YH: What do you think about Yale-New Haven relations?

AM: Well, New Haven wouldn't be much without Yale's presence. Most of the bookstores, restaurants, and interesting people wouldn't be here if Yale weren't. Yale draws people who settle here, and stay. Also, the political tensions between Yale and New Haven residents have improved since Richard Levin, GRD '74, became president.

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