I got to know Martin (Marty) Settle during the years that he taught in the English Department at UNC Charlotte. During one of our conversations in the faculty/staff lounge, Marty and I discovered that we share an interest in Mark Twain. He mentioned to me that he, like Twain, grew up in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River. He talked about how as a child he identified with the boy characters in Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He said that he hoped to write about his childhood experiences someday when he had more time to devote to writing. Well, that time is now.
Since retiring from teaching in 2010, Marty has focused on writing and various other creative endeavors. His latest publication is a memoir about his growing-up years. Titled This Little Ichnolite of Mine: A Memoir, the book was just released by Legacy Book Press. I contacted Marty and asked him for more information about his memoir. Here is what he sent to me:
The first question people ask me about my book is, “What’s an ichnolite?” An ichnolite is a fossil footprint, and I took the word from an Illinois artist that loved decay as much as I do – Ivan Albright. He has a painting called “This Ichnolite of Mine,” which displays his love of old worn things.
My memoir is about my childhood in a small city on the Mississippi River during the 1950s and ‘60s. Quincy, Illinois, was part of the rust belt when I was born and had seen its golden age pass by in the riverboat era. However, to me and my friends, all the abandoned buildings, the rusted junk, painted-peeled porches, and brick streets with hitching posts represented a land of enchantment. In addition, we had the river with its mythology of Huck Finn and Hogback Island for exploration and eating turtle eggs. Quincy, also, had plenty of woodlands surrounding the city, which were places to build camps and encounter the fascinating behaviors of creatures that did not live in the city.
Besides how children played in my time, I have devoted a number of chapters in Ichnolite to my colorful relatives. River towns tended to be rather independent and lawless and, participating in this frontier spirit were my ancestors, who were bootleggers, gamblers, and barkeeps. At one time in Quincy, I had five uncles and one aunt, who ran bars. I was raised behind bars, and I got to hear some of the finest storytellers around. I include a lot of these tall tales in the book.
Not all is fun and nostalgic in Ichnolite. I have chapters in the memoir about the racism and homophobia at the time (our bar would not serve Black people; and I had a gay brother, who thought he was the only homosexual on earth). I include a look at some of the morose aspects of a Catholic education. Finally, I write about a friend, who was the most adventurous person I’ve ever met, but who finally succumbed to cocaine addiction and suicide.
Why does one write a memoir? I can tell you positively it’s not because I had such a fantastically interesting life nor that my ego required some flattery. There are two quotes I will use to explain my attempt at memoir. First, Ellen Meloy has said, “It seems as if the right words can come only out of the perfect space of a place you love.” My love for my childhood place runs deeper than the Mississippi waters. I have lived in many places in my seventy-nine years, but none qualify for the epithet “home.” Finally, Olga Tokarczuk states, “A thing that happens and is not told ceases to exist and perishes.” In a small way, I would like my past in this place and time with all its varied characters to stay remembered. Quincy, Illinois, is built on limestone bluffs with fossils from an extinct sea. I would like to add a small fossil to those bluffs.
Marty will be reading from his book This Little Ichnolite of Mine this Tuesday, October 21, at Troubadour Booksellers (Sardis Crossing, 1721-7C Sardis Rd N) from 7-9.
For more information about Marty and his books and other creative endeavors, please click on the following link: https://martinsettle.com
In thinking about Marty’s memoir, I am reminded of Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, which came out in 1883. A lot has changed in the 142 years between the publication of these two memoirs, but the Mississippi is still just as mighty as ever. In both of these memoirs, the Mississippi River is not just a geographical feature; it is almost a character in these stories. By focusing on the Mississippi River and the communities that are located on the banks of this river, both Marty and Twain show us how our stories are shaped by places. As I see it, this theme reverberates throughout our community of readers and writers, for Storied Charlotte is not just about stories—it’s also about a place.