Robert Altman's Nashville
By Curtis Smith
If we’re lucky, and keep our eyes and hearts and minds open, we might discover a work of art that follows us through our lives. Perhaps it hits one way in our youth, then, decades later, colors another corner of our soul. In these essays, nearly forty years since first watching Robert Altman’s masterpiece Nashville, Curtis Smith explores the world of 1975 and how the movie’s tides remain with us. As he examines the American landscape of politics, fame, violence, sex, and celebrity, he also turns his focus inward, using the movie as a lens to understand his own evolution as an artist and person.
Notices
“Reading Curtis Smith’s reflections on Nashville shifted and deepened my understanding of the film and its director, of the power of movies and art, and of the intersecting paths of individual lives and cultural touchstones. I’m grateful to Smith for sharing this account of his journey to, from, and around Robert Altman’s 1975 masterpiece, and I’m optimistic Smith’s remembrances will similarly inspire others to more fully experience and remember themselves and Altman.”
—Mark Minett, author of Robert Altman and the Elaboration of Hollywood Storytelling
Curtis Smith has published over 125 stories and essays, and his work has been cited by or included in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best American Spiritual Writing, The Best Small Fictions, The Best Microfictions, and the WW Norton anthology New Micro. He’s worked with indie presses to put out eight novels, six story collections, two essay collections, and one book of creative nonfiction. He lives and works in Pennsylvania.