Jack Cady drawls in pure Kentuckian, you cain't publish good fiction in Redbook. He calls it rubber-stamped commercial fantasy. Jack is a master of the short story. Jack said that fiction uses exterior focal points to slow down the action, to focus beyond the action – using adjectives to describe actions. Inferential use of exterior or surrounding action to describe gory detail.
He's working on a novel. I can't imagine writing a novel. I have no sustained sense of story. Jack looks like the old man and the sea. Pure Melville. He is haunted by ghosts. Maybe Moby Dick haunts his dreams.
He's working on a novel. I can't imagine writing a novel. I have no sustained sense of story. Jack looks like the old man and the sea. Pure Melville. He is haunted by ghosts. Maybe Moby Dick haunts his dreams.
Jack mentions May Sarton's portrayal of old people, and the development of characters. Says, see The Dollmaker by Harriet Arnow. A poor family from Kentucky, moved to Detroit, the promise of a better life. Written in unadorned, powerful prose. He says you must also read Joseph Conrad's novella, The Nigger of the Narcissus (The Children of the Sea). An allegorical tale of the sea.
Jack says, Seek empathy, watch out for imitation, for cheapness. When you write in cliché, they are symbols—not human or dehumanization. As writers we gotta fight back by being not just good, but by being the best. Don't be mediocre and trade one form of garbage for another, he says.
Jack says, Seek empathy, watch out for imitation, for cheapness. When you write in cliché, they are symbols—not human or dehumanization. As writers we gotta fight back by being not just good, but by being the best. Don't be mediocre and trade one form of garbage for another, he says.
July? 1981
10/15/2015
not sure what this is about, or from, did I attend Centrum lectures? Probably met him at the Town Tavern too.
Writers at Centrum, Fort Worden, Port Townsend. Mid July (17-25)
1981
Margaret Atwood, Robert Haas, William Matthews, Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Leslie Marmon Silko, William Stafford, Jack Cady, Jane Yolen. 1980
Galway Kinnell, Meridel LeSueur, Richard Shelton, Ann Standork, James Bertolino, Madeline DeFrees, Donald Hall, Sam Hamill, Bill Ransom, Lisel Mueller, Bill Knott
Writers at Centrum, Fort Worden, Port Townsend. Mid July (17-25)
1981
Margaret Atwood, Robert Haas, William Matthews, Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Leslie Marmon Silko, William Stafford, Jack Cady, Jane Yolen. 1980
Galway Kinnell, Meridel LeSueur, Richard Shelton, Ann Standork, James Bertolino, Madeline DeFrees, Donald Hall, Sam Hamill, Bill Ransom, Lisel Mueller, Bill Knott
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