Esquire Writers Symposium

Panel discussions on the role of American writers in society.

Part One: Esquire Writers' Symposium was initiated at Columbia University in 1958. The title of the program and the topic of discussion is the role of the writer in America. Discussion with Wright Morris, Leslie Fiedler, Saul Bellow and Dorothy Parker. The tape begins with an intro by an unnamed moderator and consists of a series of speakers at the symposium. Saul Bellow stated that it is not the writer's job to create the optimum conditions for his art and his concept of the writer's role. Dorothy Parker is on the recording at Parker disagrees with banning the term "creativity" and asserts that \"the beat generation is not bad writing, it's just not writing."

r.1. The Role of the writer in America / Leslie Fiedler, Saul Bellow, Morris Wright, Dorothy Parker (43 min.) -- r.2. The Writer in mass culture / Ralph Ellison, Norman Mailer, Mark Harris, Dwight Macdonald (45 min.) -- r.3. The Writer as artist / Morris Wright, Leslie Feidler, Saul Bellow, Dorothy Parker (42 min.).