“˜Miles’ provides glimpse into cross-continental adventure

  Santa Monica Regional Publishing John
Harcourt is the author of the new book "My Name is
Miles."

By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

John Harcourt was born in the small town of Duncan, Okla. He
wants to make this perfectly clear, as he feels that his roots are
one of the most important things to consider when trying to
understand his new book “My Name is Miles.”

“It was a small town, a couple of hours from either to
Dallas or Oklahoma City,” Harcourt said in a phone interview
from his home in Los Angeles. “Lots of open land, truck
stops, farmers.”

Like the protagonist in his new book, Harcourt felt the urge to
spread his wings and escape small town life.

“My Name is Miles” follows the adventures of a young
man from Northern California who lives his life indoors until one
magical day when he realizes that there is a big, beautiful world
out there just waiting to be discovered. He leaves home to find
himself, embarking on a journey of discovery that takes him across
the United States and even down to South America.

Harcourt may have just published his first book, but he did not
always want to be a writer.

“When I turned about 15 I changed my name to John, because
of John Lennon,” Harcourt said. “I was a big fan of his
solo work, and it was him that really got me thinking about how I
could express myself. Originally, I wanted it all to become song
lyrics and maybe a rock opera, like “˜Tommy,’ but I
always seemed to argue with the musicians I met.”

Soon after graduating high school in 1996 he left for New York
City to try his luck at acting, something he enjoys but
doesn’t plan on pursuing as a serious goal. Sleeping on
friends’ floors and tables in various restaurants where he
worked, he never found the fulfillment he had hoped for in the
city; within nine months he was on the road again. This time he
traveled to Kirkland, Wash., a small town not far from Seattle.

“There was really no reason in particular I chose
Kirkland. It just seemed like from the East Coast I ought to try
the other side of the country,” Harcourt said. “I flew
into Seattle and just started walking north.”

While in Kirkland, he worked as a carpenter for eight months,
but eventually felt the urge to hit the road again. This time he
landed in Anchorage, Alaska, where he worked on a commercial
fishing boat, chasing halibut through the icy, northern waters.
During this time, Harcourt began to organize his short fiction and
poems into an as-yet-unpublished collection called “Brief
Thoughts.”

“I had a lot of ideas prior to this, and I had done a lot
of writing,” Harcourt said. “When I look back at it,
the idea to go to Alaska really was sort of a Jack London thing,
but it gave me a chance to put everything together. Once I had
“˜Thoughts,’ everything seemed a lot easier.”

The inspiration for “My Name is Miles” came to
Harcourt after he had been at sea, out of sight of land for several
weeks.

“I was talking to one of the other hands,” Harcourt
said. “He was older, sort of a tough guy, named Miles, who
had fished down off Chile. He had a wife and kids he hadn’t
seen in 12 years, but he just couldn’t bring himself to leave
the boat. “˜Miles’ isn’t about him, but he did
sort of plant the seeds in my head. I started thinking “˜what
could have led him to this state of being? How did he start
off?’ Once I started thinking about where this guy could have
come from, Miles was born.”

Harcourt also stressed that “My Name is Miles” is
not about him. Instead, he described this novel about the spiritual
and geographical journey of a young man from Northern California
through South America a fictional biography of a guy not totally
unlike himself.

“Given different circumstances for my upbringing and life,
it’s how I think I would have reacted to the situations Miles
experiences,” Harcourt said. “If, for instance, I had
gone to Mexico, maybe left the United States for a few years, I
could’ve ended up a lot like Miles does. My own experiences
influenced me, but not directly ““ it’s more like they
told me what not to write.”

On his journey through South America, Miles encounters trials
that test his mettle. Traveling through rural villages and
separated from the comforts of modern society, he eventually
discovers an inner strength that he never knew he had.

Harcourt believes that the book works because of the strength of
its main character.

“Writing is so organic, the character just grew in my
head,” Harcourt said. “I saw him walking around,
eating, and before long everything just sort of came out. Like I
said, he isn’t me, but when I asked what I had to show for my
life, he just appeared as the answer.”

According to Harcourt, everyone wonders what they’ve done
in their lives ““ if they’ve made the right choices,
followed the right paths. He considers “My Name is
Miles” a response to those questions.

“My hope is that people see something of themselves in
this character,” Harcourt said. “Maybe they feel part
of his frailty, or his hopefulness, or even his lust for life. Not
everybody gets to have the kind of experiences he has, so even if
it’s just sort of a vicarious thrill for them that’s
all right, but there’s more there than just that.”

“Miles is who everyone could be if they wanted to, and
that’s not automatically a good thing,” Harcourt
continued. “Not everyone would want to be Miles, but some
might.”