the artist and the art

Here in Kansas City, the public library currently sponsors “The Big Read” a program under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The ideas: enrich people with great literature, unify people by having them read a book together. Last night, the library held a book talk facilitated by a professor, Brian from KU. Brian presented a nice paper about the book, “Old School” by Tobias Wolff and then chaired a pleasant lively discussion with the 30 or so attendees. The premise of the book: at a boarding school in the 60s, students can win a “private audience” with a great visiting writer by writing a piece of fiction, commentary, or poetry. The visiting writer decides the winner…in this particular (early 60s) year the visiting writers are: Robert Frost, Ayn Rand, and Ernest Hemingway. Pretty cool. But some of my favorite artists shun publicity and argue that art stands alone…that artists look forward…Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Young, for example. I recently watched a funny interview with Young, where Charlie Rose tried very hard to get Neil to talk about his past work. Neil Young repeatedly changed the subject, preferring to talk about the electric (converted Cadillac) car he designed recently and is having built by an engineer in Kansas. This novel talks about the search for the “writer’s life” and truth. I’m about halfway through the novel and want to finish it by Saturday in order to give it to a friend, a fellow writer, to read.