Conversations with Robert Graves (Literary Conversations)

Conversations with Robert Graves (Literary Conversations) Review

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Conversations with Robert Graves (Literary Conversations) Feature

Though he lived most of his life in the remote village of Deya on the island of Mallorca, Robert Graves (1895--1985) was conversant with the most important issues of this century and was acquainted with many of the most powerful people. Jorge Luis Borges called him "a soul above." Graves wrote almost restlessly on subjects of great diversity: myths of the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and Celts; modern science and economics; contemporary society and culture as well as of ancient Greece and Rome, of Celtic Wales and Ireland, of the time of Milton, and of the American Revolution.

He was a poet of great fame, a celebrated writer of historical novels, and the man who imprinted the name and identity of the White Goddess upon the cultural language. His translations of Latin classics have been applauded; his recastings of Biblical and Persian texts attracted irascible attention from scholars.

Throughout his long and productive life, whether he was talking with Virginia Woolf, Peter Quenell, Jorge Luis Borges, Alan Sillitoe, Edwin Newman, or Gina Lollobrigida, the voice of Graves remained clear and distinct--attracting and repelling a variety of interviewers with its surety. His Books-

Goodbye to All That; The White Goddess; I, Claudius; and King Jesus-preserve his literary art. The conversations in this collection keep alive his presence and passion.

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Martin Ritt: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers)

Martin Ritt: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) Review

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Martin Ritt: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) Feature

This collection of interviews provides a revealing self-portrait of Martin Ritt (1914-1990), America's preeminent maker of social films and one of the most sensitive portraitists of the rural South.

Ritt's Hollywood career began in 1958 with Edge of the City and ended in 1990 with the release of Stanley and Iris. In all, he directed twenty-six movies, including some of Hollywood's most enduring films--Hud, Hombre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Brotherhood, The Molly Maguires, The Front, and Norma Rae.

Although he gave mostly boilerplate interviews to the press when promoting a movie, Ritt provided more revealing interviews for seminars, oral histories, and documentary filmmakers. The most significant of these, published here for the first time, create a close-up portrait of this distinguished director of plays and films.

Ritt speaks eloquently about his years with the Group Theatre and recreates the passion of the director Harold Clurman. He tells how the Group shaped his ideas about art and the communal nature of the theatrical enterprise, which he extended into his work in film. He speaks of his relationship with Clifford Odets and Elia Kazan, and he talks in detail about his experiences with the blacklist, directing and acting in TV during its Golden Age, his career as a theater director, and his experiences working with such actors as Paul Newman, Sally Field, Sophia Loren, Orson Welles, and Robert De Niro. Ritt discusses his philosophy of directing, the place of film in the history of art, his quarrels with "auteur theory," and the influence of his politics on his work.

Gabriel Miller, a professor of English at Rutgers University, is the author of The Films of Martin Ritt: Fanfare for the Common Man (University Press of Mississippi). Articles by him have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, American Book Review, and Literature/Film Quarterly, among other publications.

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Conversations with Willie Morris (Literary Conversations Series)

Conversations with Willie Morris (Literary Conversations Series) Review

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Conversations with Willie Morris (Literary Conversations Series) Feature

"I've been asked all over America . . . why Mississippi is so distinctive. You know, we have our failings, but we're coming along all right. But as to why Mississippi is so artistic and athletic I always say there is something in the quality of two things: memory . . . and the sour-mash bourbon."

During the three decades since the London Sunday Times trumpeted North Toward Home as "the finest evocation of an American boyhood since Mark Twain," southerner Willie Morris (1934-1999) wrote seventeen other books, including a second well-received volume of autobiography. Throughout his lengthy literary career, which began when he contributed his first sports column to a local newspaper at the age of twelve, he attained national prominence as a journalist, nonfiction writer, novelist, editor, and essayist.

In Conversations with Willie Morris, the first collection of interviews and profiles devoted to this American author, Jack Bales compiles twenty-five fascinating and incisive conversations (some never before published) with a man who for over forty years confronted the turbulent issues of his generation. "I have no alternative to words," Morris occasionally replied when asked about his far-reaching career. And throughout his life he unceasingly spoke out on matters that concerned him, writing at various times with outrage, humor, sadness, and affection -- but always with passion and candor.

The diverse topics covered in this collection reflect the scope of Morris's wide-ranging interests. As he speaks with journalists, public radio and television hosts, social historians, and even a professional comedian, he candidly discusses his own life and literary career, sports, other authors, the 1960s, politics, the Civil War, dogs, the complexities of race relations, and, of course, the South and his beloved Mississippi.

After reviewing the author's Homecomings some ten years ago, a Boston Globe writer concluded, "There's damn fine life left in this man's prose." As is evident by Willie Morris's eighteen books, countless essays, and the insightful profiles and interviews gathered here, there is little doubt that this man's prose will be remembered as fresh, lively, and thought-provoking.

Jack Bales, the author of Kenneth Roberts, Esther Forbes: A Bio-Bibliography of the Author of Johnny Tremain, and other books, has written extensively on Willie Morris. He is the reference and humanities librarian at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA.

Other books by and about Willie Morris

Remembering Willie

North Toward Home

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