Synopses & Reviews
The Delicacy and Strength of Lace The timeless exchange of advice and friendship between two of our greatest literary talents
Dear Leslie: Of course I cant know whether or not the world looks strange to God. But sometimes it looks strange to me.
Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright 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 began formally, and then each writer gradually opened to the other, sharing his or her life, work, and struggles. The second meeting between the two writers came in a hospital room, as 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.”
Synopsis
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."
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."
About the Author
Leslie Marmon Silko lives in Tucson, Arizona, and is the author of Ceremony. James Wright (1927-80) received the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for his Collected Poems. Anne Wright is the widow of James Wright. She lives in New York.