Tuesday, April 14, 2009

William Goyen

William Goyen interview, June 1975 by Robert Phillips:

"As a literary person, I truly am the offspring of my mother and women like my mother. There's no woman like a Texan woman in her eighties. She wouldn't have a clue as to what a 'southern' lady was. Hers was a singing way of expressing things, and this I heard so very early that it became my own speech; that's the way I write. I love spending money to talk to her on the phone in Texas an hour at a time because it's just as though the curtain that came down on an opera last night goes right up when I call her tonight. The aria goes right on; it's wonderful."

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"The natural world has such a secret power for me, it is such a source of strength and affirmation. . . . But then there are human beings, too, and they, too, are beautiful and treacherous and full of such mystery. God knows we need someone to tell us the human is beautiful these days, and we need to hear over and over again that even in our ugliness we must be loved into something more than ourselves and more than ugliness. My side is on the side of the human being, and the human being moving in nature, which is spirit; and nothing else seems important to me, and if I thought I could not spend my life laboring to perceive and to understand and to clarify what happens to us in the world, then I would want to die." - Selected Letters, 114-115
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I extracted a portion of one of Goyen's short stories for a monologue in my drama class when I attended San Jacinto Junior College in Houston. The man is simply one of the best Texas writers ever, in my opinion. His words were written to be inhaled . . . and to be spoken.
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loquats


When we moved from Denver to our first home in Seguin, there was a loquat tree in the back yard. Dear Hubby gathered loquats and made some delicious loquat preserves!


We visited a little art gallery in San Antonio and I purchased the above painting of loquat blossoms. The owner told me the artist was from the Seguin area. I've not been able to read the name (to my satisfaction) on the painting, but I believe it is Pat Wittliff. Or maybe Dot??


I am particularly fond of this painting.

Iris

My favorite flower is the iris.

This is the work of local artist Anita Gerhardt.


We have some very talented artists and writers in our community. How fortunate we are!


Teaser Tuesdays


TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

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page 7:

Willie Morris first came to widespread public attention as the crusading editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, The Daily Texan, in 1955-56 at the University of Texas. In that era, children, there was only one UT campus, and it was in Austin.

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In 2006 I heard Larry King speak at the Texas Book Festival in Austin. He was in a story telling mood and In Search of Willie Morris had just been published. He spoke about a time when he visited Willie in New York and Willie, Larry, and several other friends stayed up into the wee hours of the morning telling stories - and having a few (or more) drinks. After everyone had gone upstairs and were sound asleep, Larry got up - went downstairs to Willie's library - had another drink or two. Then he began taking books off the shelves and inscribing them with each author's name.

"All the best to Willie Morris. Mark Twain."
"Best wishes, Willie. Chaucer."
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