A Community of Writers

“A collection of essays by 30 of the leading authors who participated in the early years of America's foremost literary breeding ground, the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Edited by poet and Iowa graduate Dana (Against the Grain, 1986), this is a tribute to the workshop's founder, Paul Engle. In the 50s, Engle brought Karl Shapiro, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and other teacher-writers to the program, when it was little more than a few steel barracks on a remote campus. A Rhodes scholar and acclaimed poet, Engle practically invented the writing workshop. Poet Donald Justice, who studied and taught at Iowa, writes of how Engle lured him to that 'Midwestern wasteland' and Berryman broke his arm when he fell in a rickety apartment there. Although other Iowa students disagree, Justice insists that Lowell did not seem able to summon up much interest in student work. Poet Constance Urdang describes what it was like to be one of the few women in the program in the 50s; even then, most of the fiction teachers were female but poetry classes were dominated by the likes of Robert Bly, Philip Levine, and foreign writers. Bly notes the competition in class, where he'd release a snake from a sack when the criticism got too cruel. Visiting lecturers included William Carlos Williams (I write in American, not in English!), Flannery O'Connor (who shocked a student with her Roman Catholic belief in damnation), and Dylan Thomas, whose penchant for beer, women, and melodious oratory shook up Iowa City. Engle bristled at the term 'cornfield poets' and had his writers fire off critical essays against rival schools like the Beats. The numerous awards won by the Iowa writers belie the notion that writing can't be improved in the classroom. All the contributors are grateful to Engle, as American literature itself should be, for creating for creativity what Dana calls a 'model brave and new.'”—Kirkus Reviews

“Legions of imitator workshops mark the impact of Engle's endeavor. But his fondest hope was that his workshop would be a 'community.' These poetic memoirs confirm his success.”—Publishers Weekly