A year ago today: Dallas Writers Have Been Searching for Larry McMurtry's Ghost Years Before His Death.
His work has influenced journalists and authors across the nation. Michael J. Mooney, ais one of the best novels ever written,” Mooney said. “But he was also a visionary and inspiration, a true lion of letters. He’s gone, but his books, movies and influence will live forever.”
The summer writing program was under the direction of George Getschow, a retired UNT professor who knew him quite well, and who could not be reached for comment. Getschow chose Archer City as a yearly destination because of its rich literary spots and natural scenes. Christian McPhate, also a UNT teacher, experienced Archer City and its people many times, but never met McMurtry.
“One assignment was to just observe the town and bring back a scene, so I skulked around and finally went and sat in the ruins of the old movie theater,” said Dianna Wray, an award-winning writer and editor who traveled to Archer City as a student in the 2008 and 2009 summer programs. “And I imagined all the movies that would have been shown there and what the place must have meant to McMurtry when he was growing up in Archer, and I wrote about that.
“He has, like, this private library, which is out behind his house where he has all kinds of rare books,” Rodrigue said. “One of my favorite memories of Larry is when we’d be in town for that class, he’d leave the bookstore open all night and we got to tour his family home where he wroteMcMurtry’s beloved bookstore made the perfect setting to capture the McMurtry myth, sometimes as he stocked books.