So how did John Dufresne—the eldest of four children of French-Canadian parents, a
boy who grew up in the Catholic, blue-collar Grafton Hill neighborhood
of Worcester, Massachusetts, a boy for whom it was beyond imagining
that a man might find his vocation in words—become a noted short story
writer, a
sought-after teacher of creative writing, and the author of three acclaimed novels, two of
which are set well below the Mason-Dixon line? In part, the answer is a keen ear for the music of language and an eye for the telling detail.