Kent Haruf—Introduction

I’ve seen Plainsong in countless book stores since it was published in 1999 and came close to being enticed to read it based on the title, book cover, and cover blurbs.  I only recently read it after a comment from a respected colleague and friend praised Benedition, noting it as the third in a trilogy starting with Plainsong.  Based on this recommendation I undertook reading the trilogy and, being so moved by the author’s style and content, promptly moved on to the first and second books he wrote.  While looking for more, I encountered the sad news that Kent Haruf died at age 71 in 2014 and that a final novel, Our Souls at Night, was written while he was dying, and published in 2015.

I offer four articles on this body of work, all written after reading his entire fiction repertoire in the following order: