Manuel Munoz, author of the recently released novel “What You See in the Dark,” spoke to audiences at Bakersfield College about his life experiences with the Central Valley, the ideas that led to the creation of his novel and how he got interested in creative writing. The presentation took place in the Norman Levan Center for the Humanities on April 6.
The dark, noir-esque novel set in Bakersfield’s past was influenced by his love of the Central Valley and like his other two books “The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue” and “Zigzagger” – both short story collections – the novel embraces Latino heritage and the culture of the time.
The novel is set in 1959 Bakersfield and it concerns a shoe store clerk named Teresa, who is Mexican, falling in love with the town’s most eligible bachelor, Dan, who is white. The two also experience some racial disapproval from the people in the story. While the story takes place, the movie “Psycho” is being filmed throughout the story.
The novel’s backdrop is fictionally set during the production of the film. Munoz said that he was inspired to learn more information about the film after noticing a highway sign during a scene in the film that read the city of Gorman was near.
“So when I saw that I thought ‘oh my god,’ the Bates Motel, even though the film is not telling you that, the Bates Motel has to be in the Central Valley and the Central Valley is what I have always written about,” Munoz said.
He said that during his research for the book, he found out that there was a secondary unit that filmed footage of Highway 99 that was used for rear projection shots.
As the only one in his family to graduate from college, Munoz expressed how making the transition from life in the Central Valley to college on the east coast was a big change for him, but ultimately helped him with what he wanted to do and where he wanted to be.
“I went off to Harvard on a full ride. It was a very scary experience to be away from my family and also at such a great distance. It was clear across the country and I wasn’t going to have the money to come back whenever I wanted to,” Munoz said.
Upon the advice of professors, Munoz pursued his interest in writing and soon began to feel that creative writing may be something he could do professionally.
“When I was [at Harvard] I started taking creative writing classes and sort of discovered and was encouraged that with that little bit of talent that I had going for me that I actually might be really good at this,” he said.
He was further encouraged by his professors to pursue writing professionally and to get his Master’s in Fine Arts so he applied to Cornell University and was accepted.
He then met his mentor Helena Maria Viramontes, a professor of English and author of several Chicano culture titles, whom he credits as being a strong influence in his life personally and professionally.
During this time, Munoz was at a point in his life where he had not been publicly open about his sexuality and Viramontes showed him that his honesty would translate to his writing and make him a better writer.
“She (Viramontes) turned out to be a person who is very influential in my life. I don’t want to say that Helena encouraged me to ‘come out,’ but she was instrumental in getting me to realize that my work wasn’t going to go anywhere if I didn’t allow myself to be honest about the people I was writing about.
“In other words, by not coming out, and not addressing in fiction things I was feeling in terms of personal conflicts with myself and my family and where I grew up, the stories were not going to be honest. They weren’t going to be painful; they weren’t going to be revelatory. So, out I came,” Munoz said.
Munoz is now committed to writing stories that center on the culture of the Central Valley because of the love he has for where he came from and the want to share those stories with others.
“There’s so many geographies in this big nation of ours that there are places that tend to get forgotten and I think the Central Valley is one of those,” Munoz said.
Currently, Munoz teaches creative writing at the University of Arizona. His two previous titles have garnered him many accolades, including the Whiting Writers’ Award in 2008 and the PEN/O. Henry Award in 2009.