Scuffler

About the Book

The stories in this anthology have appeared under my byline in newspapers and magazines throughout the Republic over the course of twenty-one years of being a reporter during the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Newspapermen travel a lot, not only on assignments but also on the road of life. They are always moving to another newspaper, to another port of call, another market. Their nomadic ways make newspapermen ideal tour guides to America. In the process, they also make journeys of self-discovery.

The title of this anthology, "Scuffler," comes from the stories themselves. In re-reading these articles, I noticed how often I had used the wandering scuffler character as a narrative "personality" and as a story-telling device. Two other key thematic words weave through the stories: the "Republic" and its "Citizens."

In the newspaper game, these stories are dubbed “feature” stories. Most of the articles are about "nobodies." Some are about celebrated people. Most of the stories are written in the third person; while others, which appeared as newspaper columns, are in the first person.

The chapters are titled according to the beats a typical newspaperman covers at various stages of his career as he goes from cub reporter to journeyman to wordsmith.

The main character of this book is not one person. The "scuffler" character is a spirit that is present in the different characters you will meet in these stories, including myself. The stories show the inner wonderment of the book's secret agent, the scuffler – he who becomes everyone and everything.

Taken together, the stories present a patch quilt of America. This is a big story composed of small stories. These small stories are in turn composed of yet smaller vignettes and anecdotes and observations, until we get to the molecular level of details, descriptions, facts, statistics, incidents, quotes, names, ages, addresses, the daily weather, a mote of dust in the sunlight. To my mind, these diverse mosaic chips comprise the main value of these stories.

That being said, I admit being hard put to justify collecting these stories and laying claim to the reader’s attention. Their episodic structure does remind me of a picaresque novel, where the main character is not so much changed by the action as he is enhanced and entranced by the new experiences falling within his ken. The reader, however, should make his own comparisons. As for me, an immigrant boy, I think these stories are just a darn good read.

Sergio Lalli

2000

About the Author

Sergio Lalli was born in Sardinia, Italy and came to the United States as a boy. He attended New York University for his BA in English and the University of Missouri for his MA in Journalism. He served as a First Lieutenant in Vietnam. He was a newspaperman for much of his working life but has held a variety of jobs in different fields. He is the author Man of Honor (Simon & Schuster, 1984) and three paperbacks.