GRAND VALLEY ECHO • Mid-May / Mid-June 2010, Page 9
N E W
B O O K
‘Elephant herds and great white birds’ Eric Madeen’s first novel makes local mom proud By Carrie Click, Echo editor
It’s easy to remember that May is the month of Mother’s Day when you listen to Anne Madeen talk about her son, Eric Madeen. Anne just brims with motherly pride about Eric’s first novel, which he self-published in 2009. Eric’s parents, Bud and Anne Madeen, live in the Grand Valley area during winters. The book, “Tanga, A Novel of Forbidden Love in an African Village,” is fiction. Even still, much of the book’s story comes from the two years Eric, now 52, spent during the early ‘80s volunteering with the Peace Corps in Gabon, a small country in west Africa. At the time, Eric, then in his early 20s, had just completed a degree form the University of Arizona. After graduation, he left the U.S. to build a school in the rural village of Djidjidi, Gabon. Fast forward a couple decades. Several years ago, with his Peace Corps years far behind him, Eric was working on his master’s in fine arts from San Diego State University when his novel began to form in his mind. He began writing “Tanga,” which he says comes from his actual experiences – and his imagination. “Tanga” tells the story of a
Peace Corps volunteer named David Fields who falls in love with an African woman. It also provides a wealth of information about African life.
A book club selection Eric’s novel was recently selected for a Parachute/Battlement Mesa book club. The book club spun off of a local tennis club, of which Anne belongs. Each month, the book club chooses a book to read and to discuss together. April’s selection was “Tanga.” “[I] enjoyed the descriptions of the culture and the land,” wrote Parachute Mayor Judy Beasley, a member of the club, after reading “Tanga,” “and the colorful, interesting characters.” “I have more respect for the Peace Corps,” wrote book club member, Beanie Bransman. “I never realized what they went through.” The effects of colonialism in Africa struck Peggy Rawlins, also a book club member. “The curse of European colonialism on Africa’s people is woven all through [the] book,” wrote Peggy.
An author and a professor Anne is an unabashed champion of her son’s work. “[Reading this book] has brought back incredible memories of when we visited Eric,” Anne says. Bud and Anne traveled to Gabon while Eric was in the Peace Corps. She recognizes many of the customs, wildlife and people she saw while in Africa when she read her son’s book. “[I love] the descriptions of the beautiful hotel built by the French, the countryside, the elephant herd, and the great white birds with giant flapping wings,” Anne says. “I remember wondering what it would be like to fly, similar to the sensations created by the birds here in Parachute.” Anne has kept yellowed and worn newspaper clippings from 1983 from Elgin, Ill., the Madeens’ original hometown, featuring Eric when he first returned from his African Peace Corps stint. Those clips are mingled with 2009 articles about the publication of “Tanga,” printed in the same Elgin paper last year. Now living in Japan with his wife Julie and their two young children, Hunter and Addisyn. Eric is an associate professor of English at Tokyo City University. “Tanga” is available at the Parachute Library. The book is also available on amazon.com.
Top, from left, Eric Madeen in a recent photo with his parents, Bud and Anne Madeen. Lower right, the cover of “Tanga”. Lower left, a collection of photos from Bud and Anne’s trip to visit Eric in the early ‘80’s.
Photos courtesy of Bud and Anne Madeen.