Reply #92: I don't believe they called NPR

[Susang]

The way I took it was that NPR called them, as the show was about houses. That was the subject of the show and that's what they were invited on to talk about. Since the show was the second in that theme, for them to concentrate on their feelings about their house was to be expected.

No, I did not find them self-centered, but perhaps that's because I already knew about what had happened in their house before I heard the show. Perhaps the reason the host didn't call them on their self-centeredness was because she didn't perceive them the same way you did. Shows are edited and to judge someone on a short segment on the radio is irresponsible. We have no way of knowing what was not played.

I certainly felt that reading their poetry was correct as they are poets, as was the woman who killed herself. Even the father of the murdered child is a world reknown poet. It makes sense that poets would communicate with poetry, doesn't it?

As far as the quality of their poetry, I prefer not to play the critic. Poems are intensely personal expressions and sometimes when you react strongly to one, it's not because it's bad, it's because it hits a nerve. I may be biased, as I went to the same college as Norman and have been familiar with his writing (as well as his wife's) ever since I attended college, but I felt their work was of merit. It may not be the most pleasant poetry I've ever sat through, but I certainly understood where they were coming from.

As far as dropping David Mamet's name into it, since I read in Jane Shore's bio that she has been close friends with him since her undergraduate days, I don't think it was intended as "name dropping". I may be wrong, but I doubt someone would name drop someone she's known and been close to for over 30 years. What would she gain from that? In literary and academic circles, she and her husband are on equal footing to Mamet.

Anyway, my whole point in this discussion seems to have gotten a little off track. I would think that most people here would be more aware than to make a judgement on two artists based on 6 minutes of tape. Nobody's saying you've got to like the two of them. But judge them on their own merits. Read The Bird Artist or Happy Family and then make the call. Read some of Norman's books on Eskimo and Inouit folk tales. Then make up your mind.