Sam Brumbaugh, Class of 1988 - Writing Fiction: A different kind of life

Brumbaugh believes the variety and depth of his Trinity education prepared him well for his career. He was particularly influenced by Samuel D. Kassow ’66, Charles H. Northam Professor of History. “He would make these wonderful digressions that said so much about Jewish life in Russia and in eastern Europe [before] World War II,” says Brumbaugh. “Every time he was lecturing you could tell that he truly enjoyed what he was doing. He taught history in a way that had flesh and bone to it.”

Within the creative writing program, Brumbaugh says he had teachers who were both patient and demanding. The late Hugh Ogden, professor of English and poet, was especially important to him. “[Hugh] had great friends, like Wendell Berry, who would come and talk,” Brumbaugh recalls. “[Hugh] would sit and talk with some great writer like Berry . . . they would talk in very interesting, very funny, and very intellectual ways about something like a cab ride . . . just talking off the cuff.”

Brumbaugh, whose second novel, Restoration Rain, will be published in late 2008, continues to work outside of writing for pragmatic reasons. “It’s just very difficult to make a living writing literary fiction,” he says.

But it’s a life that allows Brumbaugh and his family to split time between homes in Northampton, Massachusetts, and New York City. Asked what he hopes to be doing five years hence, he doesn’t hesitate a bit.

“I’ll be happy just writing and spending time with my kids,” he says.

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