ГНЕ
STATE WE RE IN
Dick Walser’s Love
Of Our Literary Heritage
I fit could be said of any man, Rich¬
ard Walser — who died in late No¬
vember at the age of 80 — had a
“calling" to research and proclaim the
literary heritage of North Carolina.
As a boy in Davidson County he was
surrounded by a considerable collec¬
tion of North Carolina books and his¬
tory books owned and loved by his fa¬
ther, state Attorney General Zeb
Vance Walser. Continued through the
life and career of Richard Walser, this
devotion was reflected in most of the
30-odd books written or edited by him.
numerous articles both popular and
scholarly in various journals and in
numerous personal appearances at
schools, clubs, civic organizations and
writers groups.
His sense that North Carolina au¬
thors were not generally recognized
and given due credit was also a power¬
ful incentive. Dick Walser preached
this state’s literary heritage at a time
when a great many Tar Heels didn't
even know we had one. There was the
Chapel Hill professor who. when told
Walser wanted to do his thesis on
North Carolina writers, asked. “Have
there been any?”
Walser persisted, and his doctorate
had to wait until last May, long after
he concluded a distinguished career
as a professor of English at North
Carolina State University. But in the
meantime his learned peers accorded
him the highest recognition of his
Held, an array of awards and honors
too numerous to mention here, capped
by his honorary doctorate at N.C.
State last May.
On that occasion. Davis Herbert
Donald, a Harvard University profes¬
sor, wrote: “Professor Walser is, then,
a major figure in the field of American
literature, and the towering emi¬
nence in the field of (Thomas) Wolfe
studies ... an outstanding scholar, a
great teacher and an invaluable col¬
league."
Richard Walser’s influence was rec¬
ognized at every level of literary en¬
deavor. For The State he was a valued
friend, whose counsel was often
sought and gladly given and whose
immense knowledge of North Caro¬
lina was happily shared with The
State’s readers. His dozens of articles
in these pages, starting in 1947 ("Ten
Famous Tar Heel Books") and con¬
tinuing through last November ("The
Prolific Hugh Zachary"), include sto¬
ries about North Carolina authors
from Thomas Harriot to Thomas
Wolfe, reviews of their books and a
variety of subjects (“Why We’re Tar
Heels," “Literary Firsts," “Some New
Zeb Vance Stories") that wonderfully
reflect The State’s flavor.
Dick Walser even tried his hand at
one of The State’s ubiquitous quizzes,
a geography puzzle with bits of rhym¬
ing verse for clues, and in a delightful
1953 article he proposed “A North
Carolina Literary Tour," a rambling
four days of shrine-sampling, hitting
the high spots from Asheville to
Roanoke Island. The literary tour is
still a good idea, especially when pur¬
sued with the joyful gusto that was a
Walser trademark throughout his
long, busy life.
A unique and invaluable North
Carolinian was Richard Gaither
Walser — teacher, scholar, author
and a great friend of many.
— Bill Wright
Richard Walser in a promotional photo from the University of North
Carolina Press at the time Short Stories From The Old North State,
which he edited, was published.
The Stale/Jamun K9
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