“Later, at the Bar”
by Rebecca Barry
on WSKG Radio’s OFF THE PAGE

L I V E  Tuesday, July 24th at 1:00 PM
(Rebroadcast at 7:00 PM)

          The Ithaca area phone directory lists some twenty-eight bars and taverns. Lucy’s Tavern is not
among them, but any are welcome to think of themselves as the model for the fictional hangout that is at
the center of Rebecca Barry’s new “novel in stories” entitled “Later, at the Bar”. The setting is clearly
Tompkins County in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, the social scene mixes the rural and
the academic and the characters… well, people like that and the problems they face could happen
anywhere.

          Linda drank some more and missed the way she’d been when she hadn’t been in love with anyone. She’d felt so brave then, like anything could happen.
          “You know,” she said out loud to no one. “I think I was happiest when I didn’t have any boyfriend at all. No one tells women how much better it is to be single than attached to someone.”
          “You should put that in one of your columns,” said Harlan.
          “Nah,” Linda said. “I never put what I really think in my columns. Procter and Gamble would pull all their ads.” Or worse, she guessed, her readers might stop reading what she wrote. And then what would happen to her? Without her readers, sometimes she wondered if she would even exist.
                              --from Later, at the Bar

          Lucy Beech had followed a boyfriend to New York from Alaska to run her tavern and died in a
winter storm. Harlin Wilder had been in and out of jail a few times, and when we first meet him he
seems to be settled except that his wife, Grace Meyers, is about to run off with another man. Madeline
Harris drives a school bus on a route that runs from the university professors’ neighborhood to the
trailers and shacks in the hills, carrying kids with abundantly uncontrollable hormones. Linda Hartley
writes a syndicated advice column but seems to have trouble relating even to her cat. The characters
are lonely, lusty and thanks to Lucy’s Tavern, often slightly soused. But, in vino veritas. Even if their
attempts at partnering are clumsy and ill-fated, Rebecca Barry obviously loves these people and “Later,
at the Bar” is sweet and sour.
           Lucy’s Tavern is the kind of institution that sociologists would refer to as a “third place”: shared,
neutral territory away from home and work where people can interact. It is essential for a society and a
community. Rebecca Barry has created a tale of loneliness and desire that is filled with the irony and
humor that makes survival possible. “Later, at the Bar” has been hailed as one of the best works of
fiction this season.
           Rebecca Barry joins Bill Jaker on OFF THE PAGE to tell about her first novel and her other
writing. To join in the conversation call during the 1:00 PM live broadcast to 1-888/359-9754 or post
a comment to WSKG.Radio@Gmail.com.

NEXT TIME: Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe may not yet be a familiar name, but he was a pioneer in the skies. The new book “The Balloonist” is a biography of the 19th century scientist, showman and visionary whose aerial surveillance activity during the Civil War would earn him status as a father of the U.S. Air Force. The author of “The Balloonist” is Stephen Poleskie, professor emeritus of art at Cornell who has moved from visual to literary expression. He visits OFF THE PAGE on August 7th.

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