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摘要
摘要
This moving, eighteen-month exchange of correspondence chronicles the friendship-through-the-mail of two extraordinary writers. Leslie Marmon Silko is a poet and novelist. James Wright won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for his Collected Poems. They met only twice. First, briefly, in 1975, at a writers conference in Michigan. Their correspondence began three years later, after Wright wrote to Silko praising her book Ceremony. The letters begin formally, and then each writer gradually opens to the other, venturing to share his or her life, work and struggles. The second meeting between the two writers came in a hospital room, as James Wright lay dying of cancer. The New York Times wrote something of Wright that applies to both writers-- of qualities that this exchange of letters makes evident. "Our age desperately needs his vision of brotherly love, his transcendent sense of nature, the clarity of his courageous voice."
评论 (3)
出版社周刊评论
Laguna Pueblo Indian writer Silko met Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Wright at a writers' conference and the two subsequently struck up an extraordinarily intimate 18-month correspondence that ended with Wright's death of cancer in 1980 at the age of 52. While the writers comment upon one another's work, and several of Silko's poems are included, neither author addresses literary concerns in other than the broadest terms. Early on, Silko writes: ``I remember the poems you readnew ones . . . It was those that moved me.'' But the reader is never given enough specific comment to speculate upon the writing to which she refers, even if a clear assessment was offered. Wright is equally vague in his evaluations, and the result is a vapid reciprocity of discourse that delivers little insight into either writer's ouevre. (April) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
Sometimes moving correspondence between the late Pulitzer Prize poet Wright and Laguna Indian storyteller-poet-novelist Silko (who received a five-year MacArthur Fellowship). The exchange of letters lasted only 18 months, ending with Wright's early death at 52 (of tongue cancer). The writers met only twice, once in 1975 when Wright was speaking at a Michigan writers' conference, and again in 1980, when he lay dying in a Manhattan hospital. The letters begin formally enough, with mutual admiration, quite slowly become more revealing of each writer. Silko complains of being known for her Indian husbands and divorces, and laments losing a child custody case. Wright tells her about his rich trove of problems with his children, especially with a druggy son who phoned to tell him that he didn't want to be his son anymore; Wright could find no reason for his son's change of personality. However, it's a long time before the letters get quite this rich. They simmer at a fairly low level before the reader is finally gripped. The talk at first is mainly of writing, earnings, travel, family, and animals. Silko is especially delightful about animals, particularly her beloved but mean and dirty macho rooster and his two hens, who are eventually eaten by coyotes, then replaced by a timid road runner that grows ever more at home and takes to running about the house. She also has a fat diamondback rattler she allows to stay in her barn to keep down the rodent life. When Wright at last tells her that he has cancer (""It is very serious, but it is not hopeless"") and will come out of surgery with a diminished capacity to speak ("". . .this will create a problem, since I make a living by speaking""), he tells her because friends should share not only happy news but tragic news as well. Silko does not answer for a while, digesting this news. When she does, it is with a long and magnificent story about a man famous among the Laguna who could not die despite being hit by illness after major illness--a letter that surely tickled Wright in his last days. Her last letter to him arrived after his death. Wright's wife Annie replied to it simply: ""The best days are the first to go. The best of men has gone too."" This generally upbeat book would make a nice consolatory volume. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Silko (Ceremony; Almanac of the Dead) and Wright's (Collected Poems; Pulitzer Prize, 1972) short collection of letters was written between 1978 and 1980 and first published in 1986. This edition has a new introduction by Wright and an afterword by Joy Harjo. Silko (b. 1948) is mainly in Tucson, AR, during this period, while Wright (1927-80) is traveling in Europe with his wife, Annie. They only met in person twice, once at a reading before the letters began and a last time at the hospital during Wright's final illness. The letters' physical descriptions are mainly of the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, the Southwest American desert, and Europe, especially Italy. The art of writing is, of course, a constant concern for both authors, and ideas about literature, philosophy, and photography are insightful and clearly defined. Silko's child custody case and Wright's thoughts on his first marriage and children are the main emotional anchors of the letters. Verdict Stories about Silko's large extended family make for fascinating reading as she comes to grips with her heritage. Good for literature collections and anybody interested in American literature and cultural heritage.-Gene Show, Paramus P.L., NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.