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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
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HARRUMPH III (For Harrumph I and II, see this and this.) Harrumph III is one of the many indignant responses, in the subsequent issue of Poetry, to the August Kleinzahler piece that UD reprinted in its entirety a couple of posts down. H-III features the same rhetorical strategy that H-II used -- the “I’m far too busy doing important things to write this letter about trivial things” strategy. The downside of this strategy is obvious. If that’s true, why are you writing the letter? Harrumph II and III are both written by creative writing instructors offended by criticism of MFA programs or of poets generally. H-II writes: "I'd call up all my friends who teach at other programs right now and ask them if they have ever told a student writer [to write in a way a New York Times critic of MFA programs complains about] — or if they were ever told such a thing when they were students — but I'm too busy today reading my students' M.F.A. theses.” I’m too busy! I’ve got important work to do! My important work is exhausting me! Just … shut up! Rita Dove, angry at Kleinzahler, Garrison Keillor, and Dana Gioia for being racists -- all three men hang a “scarcely veiled reserved for whites sign” over their writing, Keillor because he doesn’t include enough minority poets in his anthology, and the other two because they don’t notice Keillor’s lack of inclusivity -- writes: As I get older … my patience wears thinner; I've grown weary of having to point out what should be obvious to anyone with sense and sensibility. I resent the complacent, singleminded arrogance of myopic "men of letters," whose curious brand of good will perpetuates racist selectivity. I resent their transparent, self-serving attacks on concepts such as multiculturalism and feminism that have propelled our society towards a truer democracy. I resent the presumption that their majority in numbers absolves them from paying attention to fair representation, leaving it up to those who have been "marginalized" to take note, tally the figures, and mount the protest. …Well, my mama didn't raise a bean counter. I have better things to do — like trying to sit down and write a good poem, for example. |