Q & A with

David Michael Kaplan

In March of 2003, author David Michael Kaplan made a virtual visit to an English Composition II class at Northwest Arkansas Community College. Here are the questions students from Linda Lovell's, Mary Hubbard's, and Tim McGinn's classes asked, with responses from Mr. Kaplan.

Mr. Kaplan is on the faculty at University of Loyola, Chicago

From the Illinois State Library:

"David Michael Kaplan is an associate professor of English at Loyola University in Chicago. He has written award-winning short stories that are compiled in his book, Comfort. The book begins with a piece entitled "Doe Season," which was selected as one of the best American short stories of 1985. . . . Kaplan won the Nelson Algren Award for short fiction in 1999 for "Bamboo."

"Doe Season" is not available online. It can be found in the anthology Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Eds. Kirszner, Laurie and Stephen Mandell. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1991. 3rd Edition. 342-54.

"Bagpipes," is another story by David Michael Kaplan, published on the Web in a 1996 issue of Mississippi Review (This link goes to the current issue of the magazine.)

On "Doe Season"

These six questions focus on one particular scene, and Mr. Kaplan gave one response.

B. Berryhill:

Was the meeting between Andy and the deer the night she shot it a dream? Why was her hand weakened from it? Was this psychosomatic?

E. Suggs:

When Andy tells of waking up and the deer coming to her, why does the story not say she was dreaming?
P.J. Devor:

What is the symbolism of Andy putting her hand on the doe's heart?
M. Nicholas:

Why did they have to explain the part where she put her hand in the deer's wound? Was it a dream or did it really happen?
E. Harrison:

Did Andy really reach in to touch the doe's heart or was it a dream?
R. Mills:

What is the symbolism of holding the deer's heart in her hand and not being able to pull away from the wound?
David Michael Kaplan

Is this a dream or not?  I think it's both a dream and real in the way that some powerful imaginative experiences can seem AS IF real--think of young children with their imaginary friends.  So I think this experience is sort of a waking dream for Andy --more real than a dream certainly, but also not REALLY real to an outside observer.

What about the heart? Well, I think she feels the heart because she wants it to still be alive, despite her wounding it, and so she feels compelled to feel it. But it traps her (psychologically, I guess you could say this is her guilt coming out) and then wounds her. It's kind of an imaginative projection for her of a wish fulfillment (that the deer be alive) coupled with the unconscious realization that it is dead, and the guilt that arises from that.  Of course, this is all tied in with growing up--to grow up you do have to learn to accept consequences, which is to be "wounded." And because it's blood that's involved, there's of course the menstrual overtones (another aspect of growing up for Andy, which she will soon experience)--she's already experiencing the conflict between her father's male world and the feminine world of her mother, toward which she is inexorably heading.

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This interview, given in March, 2003,
has been edited for continuity and spelling.

Web page author and instructor: Dr. Linda Lovell
This page was last updated on 04/02/2007.