The Esquire Writers Symposium was initiated at Columbia University in 1958 and followed up in 1959 at the State University of Iowa. The topic discussed in 1958 is the role of the writer in America. Panelists were Wright Morris, Leslie Fiedler, Dorothy Parker, and Saul Bellow. The following year, the panel was Ralph Ellison, Mark Harris, Dwight Macdonald, and Norman Mailer. At track 8, the program switches to the 1959 Symposium in Iowa.
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<br />Panel discussions on the role of American writers in society.
Produced program with intro and outro. Previous description and what's on the box for this tape: CONTENTS: Pt.1. 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 (13:46) Parker disagrees with banning the term "creativity" and asserts that "the beat generation is not bad writing, it's just not writing." BROADCAST: WBAI, 1959.
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