黑料门

Before Stuart Dybek (BS 鈥�64, MA 鈥�68) became an author of fiction and poetry, he was just a kid from Chicago鈥檚 South Side who grew up roaming the city鈥檚 Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. He played sports, joined a band, worked at a jazz records store, and started writing. By the time Dybek reached high school, the Cold War was in full swing.

鈥淚t was the time of Sputnik, so math and science took up most of the lesson plans,鈥� Dybek recalls. 鈥淪o, I wrote on my own and for my friends.鈥�

Like most teenagers, Dybek was unsure of what he wanted to do in life. Until he witnessed a car crash, sending him down a new path.

鈥淚 was the first one on the scene. It was terrifying.鈥�

That helpless feeling Dybek experienced inspired him to become a doctor. Dybek enrolled at 黑料门University Chicago on a pre-med track. Science classes took up most of his schedule, but he still had to complete his core curriculum.

鈥淭hey put me in remedial English,鈥� Dybek says with a chuckle. 鈥淟et me be clear, this wasn鈥檛 a writing class, this was a spelling and punctuation class. It changed my life, all because of one professor.鈥�

Professor Dion J. Wilhelmi went above and beyond for his freshmen remedial English class that year, introducing the class to the greats like Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and, his personal favorite, Robert Frost.

鈥淲ilhelmi was a fan of Frost鈥檚 poetry and didn鈥檛 fully understand the poems of the Modernist movement. But one聽day he read us lines from T.S. Eliot鈥檚, 鈥楾he Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.鈥欌��

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out
聽 聽 聽against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table…

鈥淭he top flew off my head,鈥� Dybek recalls. 鈥淭he professor sarcastically asked if anyone preferred this type of poetry to Frost鈥檚, and I raised my hand trembling.鈥�

Wilhelmi asked Dybek to stay after class that day.

鈥淗e saw something in me and began working with me on my writing,鈥� Dybek says. 鈥淎 door I didn鈥檛 know existed was opened.鈥�

Dybek had a decision to make before his sophomore year: stick with pre-med or follow his passion.

鈥淚t was a big decision. My family, of course, wanted me to become a doctor because of the life it would provide me, but I just couldn鈥檛 get that literary drive out of my head.鈥�

Dybek hopped in the car and drove to campus from his family鈥檚 home in the middle of the summer.

鈥淚 walked up the library steps, sat down and looked up at a giant moon over the lake and I says to myself, 鈥榃ell, I am just going to do it.鈥欌��

Decades since his decision to commit to his craft on those library stairs, Dybek has authored six critically acclaimed books of fiction, including The Coast of Chicago (1990), a One Book Chicago selection. Critics have ranked him with such American literary giants as Ernest Hemingway and Sherwood Anderson. Dybek鈥檚 work 鈥渕ove[s] easily between the gritty reality of urban decay,” noted John Breslin in the Washington Post, 鈥渁nd a magical realm of lyricism and transcendence linked to music, art and religion.鈥� Dybek鈥檚 awards include a Lannan Prize, a PEN/Malamud Award, a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, and an O. Henry Award. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2007.

Dybek credits his 黑料门experience for putting him in a position to be successful.

鈥淢y 黑料门experience was rich. To put it simply, it did for me what an undergraduate education should do for students, which is to prepare students to be able to educate themselves.鈥�

Dybek鈥檚 connection to 黑料门remains strong. He returned to campus in 2023 as the inaugural speaker for the Alumni Authors Series. The University Libraries鈥� Alumni Authors Collection currently features more than 1,100 books published by 黑料门graduates. It evolved from the alumni authors catalog developed over the past decade by Peter Gilmour, DMin, professor emeritus and Friends of the Libraries advisory board member.

While standing in front of a crowded room on the fourth floor of Information Commons, with a floor-to-ceiling window framing Dybek against the lakefront as a backdrop, he dazzled the group with tales of his time on campus, readings from his published works and his insights into the art of writing.

Irony or foreshadowing? Call it what you want, but the mechanical elements he first learned in the classrooms on Lake Shore Campus were the same themes evoked by Dybek in the same setting in which, 60 years prior, he had chosen to pursue his passion.

Read more stories from the College of Arts and Sciences.