Accredited poet, professor
to read poetry
By Anna Herkamp
Senior
Writer
A diminishing way of life, a view of the world
that is quickly fading. These are the words that accredited modern poet
Maurice Manning uses to describe some of his earliest inspirations.
Manning, whose work was recently reviewed in the
New York Times Book Review, has been writing since his childhood in
Danville, Ky.
Manning will be reading his poetry at 7:30 tonight
in the bookstall of the Hicks Undergraduate Library. Manning, who teaches
English at DePauw University, is a sabbatical replacement professor
teaching a graduate English workshop.
Manning credits his fascination with the natural
rhythms of words to the South's rich tradition of story telling.
Family stories fueled his imagination and his desire
to capture the spoken word in print.
He recalls a particular story his grandmother often
told him about a relative involved in a family feud. To avoid being
shot by his rival, the man dressed like a woman and rode out of town
in a horse-drawn carriage.
"The hilarity and danger of that story always
struck me," he said.
In the South, Manning said, telling stories is
more important than writing them down.
"People talk and tell stories. That’s
the way knowledge is transmitted."
Don Platt, associate professor of English and published
poet, also says that the South has very specific influences on the way
people interact with one another and thus on the way they share experiences.
"The South values and tolerates eccentricity
and craziness in general," he said. "It nourishes the imagination
and the telling of tall stories.
"Maurice’s work is quite different from
almost anything being written right now," said Platt. "It
is a combination of an overarching narrative; I never feel it is just
a story. The poems seem very lyrically charged and unexpected."
Platt said the Purdue community will benefit from
having a writer of Manning’s background share his work.
"Purdue is solidly Midwestern," he said.
"(With Manning’s work) we get a cross section of a different
world."
|
