Chasing Tom Bissell the Bill Ectric Interview
Surreal photographs show towering abandoned ships in the middle of a desert. The ships had once been part of a thriving fishing industry in Uzbekistan, formerly part of the Soviet Union. The "desert" was once a seabed, until poorly planned irrigation practices, chemical dumping, and nuclear testing turned the area into a wasteland. The Aral Sea, once the size of Lake Michigan, is now one-third of its former size. This is the subject of Tom Bissell's book, Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia. Bissell, a former Peace Corp volunteer, returns to Uzbekistan where he and his young, American-slang-talking Asian interpreter avoid arrest by bribing crooked cops, visit historic landmarks, bars, rural mountain dwellers, and bureaucratic government workers.
Bissell is known as a travel writer and his fictional God Lives in St. Petersburg and Other Stories, is a top-notch collection too. He's like a fresh, modern Hemingway. One story from that book, Death Defier, was selected by Michael Chabon for Best American Short Stories 2005. He also wrote The Father of All Things, in which Bissell accompanies his father, an ex-Marine, to retrace his father's tour of duty through Vietnam. Tom Bissell is currently doing research for a book about the tombs of the 12 Apostles. I caught up with Tom (by email) when he was in Turkey. Tom: Hey, Bill--I'm traveling in Turkey right now with only intermittent email access, so it might take me a couple of days to answer these. Sorry! I'll be in touch ASAP... Bill: What are you doing in Turkey, searching for an Apostle's tomb for your next book? Tom: I am, indeed. The empty (his body disappeared sometime in the middle ages) tomb of Saint John is in Selcuk, Turkey. Lovely place, actually. Bill: What advice would you give to anyone who was thinking of joining the Peace Corps? Tom: A) If you're in a serious relationship, seriously consider the possibility that joining may destroy it. And seriously ponder how much that would bother you. B) Prepare yourself for the possibility that the things you don't think you'll miss, you'll miss, and the things you think you'll miss, you won't miss. C) If you're looking for something extraordinary to happen to you, don't count on it. The most extraordinary things most PCVs experience is other people--both their fellow volunteers and the host-country nationals they meet and befriend. Peace Corps does its best work, I believe, on a one-on-one basis. It may not change cultures or save nations, but it definitely changes individual lives. Bill: When you stood on the former floor of the Aral Sea, were you concerned about radiation or chemical poisoning?
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