On living off the grid In her newest novel, Maine author Carolyn Chute once again writes about what she knows – finding community off the beaten path

There’s a certain mythology built up around Carolyn Chute. In 1984 she wrote the contemporary classic “The Beans of Egypt, Maine,” bringing her national fame and multitudes of critical accolades. She still lives out in the boonies, without a cell phone or a computer. She is the founder and still a proud member of the Second Maine Militia. She wears boots, skirts and flannel year-round, and she and her husband, Michael, keep an impressive arsenal of weapons in their rambling North Parsonsfield homestead.

It’s tempting to throw out the word “eccentric,” but that doesn’t really do her justice. In reality, she’s an artist and an activist, trying to stick to her guns and her craft while living on the land in rural Maine.

“We make do with what we have, but it’s not easy. Making a living as an artist isn’t easy,” she said, sitting comfortably in a rocking chair, surrounded by her husband’s artwork, a wood stove rattling away next to her. “We don’t make a lot of money, but that’s what happens when you live off the grid.”

The Chutes live in a house that they built themselves, off a dirt road, shaded by ancient, rustling maple trees. Three black Scottish terriers greet all guests with fervent barking, though only Pearl, the more even-tempered of the trio, is allowed inside.

Chute writes what she knows, and she knows about people who live on the fringe of society – be it the eponymous backwoods clan of “The Beans of Egypt, Maine” or the militia men and women from her 1999 novel “Snow Man.” The latest fruit of her labor, “The School on Heart’s Content Road,” due out Tuesday on Grove/Atlantic, details the characters in and around a fictional Maine alternative community called the Settlement, regarded with suspicion and sometimes fear by the rest of the world.

The book is the result of a 10-year writing and editing process. By 2000, Chute had a 2,500-page manuscript on her hands, and was rather intimidated by the prospect of editing and condensing such a tome. A call from her new editor at Grove/Atlantic was the catalyst for not just going back and editing, but for rethinking the entire story.

“It was this monster of a manuscript. It was enormous,” said Chute, “My agent said to me, ‘You know, instead of trying to cram everything into one huge book, why don’t you try focusing on one character? Why don’t you just focus on Mickey? By that evening, I was tearing the manuscript apart. I had all the stories mapped out.”

Fifteen-year-old Mickey Gammon, along with 6-year-old Jane Meserve, are two of the main characters in “The School on Heart’s Content Road,” along with Rex York, the captain of the local militia; Ivy Morelli, a journalist trying to figure out what’s going on at the Settlement; and Gordon St. Onge, “The Prophet,” the charismatic, polygamist leader of the Settlement. It’s a funny, impassioned, vividly detailed tale of living, as Chute does in her own life, off the grid.

She and Michael make do by themselves in North Parsonsfield, infrequently venturing into town for supplies and conversation with locals, and hosting occasional meetings of the Second Maine Militia at their home.

Chute stresses that one cannot live outside of society on your own. No man or woman is an island, after all.

“People can’t live off the grid by themselves. They need a partner. They need a community,” she said. “If you try to do it by yourself, you’ll probably fail. And that’s how I started to write about the Settlement. I could see the Settlement taking shape in my mind as I wrote – the people walking around, the buildings and everything. I could see this community coming together.”

During the writing process for “School,” Chute met with one of the survivors of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, where a breakaway sect led by David Koresh was involved in a deadly confrontation with agents from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in 1993. In all, 86 people, including almost two dozen children, died in the initial raid and subsequent violence. Chute drew some inspiration for the Settlement from this survivor’s stories.

“He told me all about what could happen to someone who tried to break away from society,” she said. “Now, the Settlement isn’t religious, but it is similar [to the Branch Davidians] in some ways. The government doesn’t like it when you reject their rules.”

Chute doesn’t advocate many of the actions and beliefs of her characters – there are incidents of incest, murder, abuse and racism throughout her novels. Rather, she’s just trying to tell it like it is, and see all sides of the story. It’s all in there; pro-gun and anti-gun; environmentalist and industrialist; rich and poor; right-wing and left-wing – or no-wing, as Chute describes herself.

“Some reviewer once asked me, ‘How can you write about something you disagree with? How can you write about these awful things that people do?'” she said. “I can see all different aspects of life for any living thing. Worms. Dogs. Bugs. I can get into their heads. I can see why people feel the way they do. Maybe I don’t agree with it, but I can write about it.”

eburnham@bangordailynews.net

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