Randolph professor publishes poetry book based on engravings

Jim Peterson, a creative writing professor at Randolph College, spent months poring over a set of engravings by Francisco de Goya, trying to make sense of the strange, and often dark, images.

Goya crafted these 22 engravings before his death in 1828. When Peterson discovered them several years ago, he was enraptured.

 “They’re sort of surreal and bizarre,” he said, pulling up examples on the computer at his Randolph office.

This month, Peterson will release a chapbook called “The Resolution of Eve” (Finish Line Press), featuring poems inspired by the untold stories in Goya’s engravings. Each poem correlates to a specific work, and the book as a whole explores the relationship between the “male and female energies,” Peterson said.

In one etching, a stern-faced man flies through a dark void on a pair of man-made wings. In another, a man-giant plays the castanets with a leering glare.

“They’re kind of addictive…” Peterson said.

 “They’re no notes. Nobody knows what was going through Goya’s mind at the time. It was a fertile area of exploration.”

A central characteristic of Peterson’s work is the idea that male and female energies must be reconciled for the world to achieve balance.

Through formal meditation, Peterson said he has sought to understand the origins of man and woman, and how the forces of gender play out in the world. As he puts it, the “Adam and Eve inside of me were mud wrestling” and he wanted to find out why.

“I have a little bit of a philosophical bent, a metaphysical way of thinking about things,” Peterson said.

This fall marks Peterson’s fourteenth year at Randolph College. A native of South Carolina, Peterson taught in his home state and Montana. The job at Randolph led him to put down roots in Lynchburg with his wife, Harriet, who created the cover art for Peterson’s latest book.

At Randolph, Peterson runs the visiting writer’s program, which brings professional writers to campus to teach courses and give public lectures and readings.

Peterson said that teaching is a calling that allows him to mentor emerging talent.

“I love it when I have students who really want to be writers. We’ve had a lot here. We have some wonderful students,” he said.

As a writing teacher, Peterson takes a practical approach that draws from decades of experience.
Peterson has published a series of poetry collections and chapbooks. His work has been published widely in literary journals such as Poetry, Georgia Review and Shenandoah.

Good writing, he said, balances craft with creativity.

“If the craft is overbearing, you squeeze all the life out of it,” he said. “But if the wildness is overbearing, it doesn’t have form. It doesn’t have structure.”

Peterson’s next writing project is to expand his Goya-inspired chapbook into a full-length collection of poems.