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r> i otory ai ,^a^*Mfl|l? .jiPL'. i jiM: m an-: james Aian met* BE^bS^^H^eSmw^-/ I v^^^..%mB^ ~&WM* ! v."v.--;:7:-T^$iE.i*Hit.Z ^i-7^-.~: t;-_ - TA. .-j_^-_-LII*.V.-S^7,-_9i.:: v. i ? I* ?>?%?<?? v 4 4? ?*? ( V 4 . . ... ithor spins y H mm* , g* ^ HP ? Lehman Stiles B W & Assistant Entertainment Editor i There is something about the H JBf i j?JP demands conformity to their ideas. J|g| When a group of poetry-quoters meaningless English majors gets together to hear a "famous wHFlauthor," it is as if they themselves ,4 are writing a fiction: the Southern ILK?J black author shocks and excites sBfi the crowd of brazen intellectuals Kwith dashing revolutionary mostly to mys rhetoric. But the fiction proved false Tuesday night at the James Alan McPherson reading. * An amazing variety of proposed o purposes of literature exist in the lu minds of the intelligentsia. Some < think that its only valid use is as an ? inflammatory device to stir the g emotions of the downtrodden | masses. Some believe that gooc KjKi . ? literature means good philosophy HjH> that books that don't beat home z :'A|? message are worthless. Tuesday #)?fC/)r) the real power of literature flvfOl/fl could be seen: the creation oi jBSMT ?-WwS; :-^B ^ -v ?-,>T3x^-^- ^ >. ,r:;TO r-\- . ?- n / - ?|||8??^P ,-: W m 191 Igr /j ^ ^^- KfSfiWiffiSB^ )^^0dz\?ir .Tl-:-:L(! .:i- :'y> -.'. i . -: BHBHHHBhHBHHHHBRHHHLsrHPBHBHHHHIHjRHHBHQ^ IVICII Isl I v7, IJ7H7 1 web of m magic, the horror and thrill of laughe someone who knows us better than provoc; s we ourselves. and u The Gambrell Auditorium misforl nrnoram Kodon uriUi nnn rtf fiinno /i pi v^tuiu uvguil VYIU1 WUC \J 1 lUlllljr VJ i William Price Fox's odd little laughte i introductions (the audience was againsl spared the literary how-tos of experie another Gordon Deal). McPherson laughe< took the podium with a sort of at the t i uncertainty ? he stumbled over demam ; his own briefcase; he took a ner- cried a' ? vous sip of water; he knocked a And I microphone off the lecture ? and truly c re point, although q elf.. showed all the symptoms of a lives, terrific stage fright. tragic* The audience, consisting of such cute gi notables as President Holderman desks i ' and James Dickey, seemed con- not be > fused by this shy, quiet man. "This fection i is the great Southern author?" big sh< i they seemed to ask. They seemed classic i embarrassed, as if they should narraN I perhaps try to slip out the doors just h< , and spare this man the torture. But interes i it quickly became evident who was McPhe ' in control of the evening. descrit i McPherson read "Why I Like stutter f Country Music" from his collection convey Elbow Room. It is the story of a Gwene little boy and his intractable crush The on a pretty young classmate. As propri? McPherson read, the audience spring, seemed itself to fall into the story's to the inexorable rhythm. He could not rival have chosen a more suitable story Leon P for the reading. in the s The most admirable trait of momer short-story authors is that they are is weai indeed storytellers in the most spurs folklore-rooted aspect of that term, them I That is the element that Mc- flashy Pherson handled so well ? even in festiva his near-stuttering speech and narrat< nervous energy, he had his Gwene audience hanging on every word, heavei like scared Cub Scouts around a mythic campfire listening to a spooky This story. McPherson writes in the surpris course of "Country Music" that spurs, dance is a form of storytelling, and making his main character cannot dance, they di It is obvious that McPherson has audien Daiancea nis cnaracter s nandicap contro> with an ability to weave fiction simply more true than fact. Few The story has its moments of McPhc humor: '"You are crazy,' Gloria ability tells me. I argue the point, force, although quietly, and mostly to accidei myself." "Mothers admonished writer their children that if they lived astonis exemplary lives and attended why wc church regularly, when they died with tr; they would go to New York." A was no teacher tells her pupils, "There is sure ain't no babies in here. From now the f< on, you're gonna do all your crying someh( in church." The audience seemed particularly fond of these parts of We the story. James inaeea, sometimes the audience quietly Elvis lives Elvis Costello proved that his ai March 3 in a packed Agora Ra Elvis' newest album, 'Armed For Billboard Top 10 this week; see pa; Mark Lundarfi ? lAMICOCIt ca^Mvi tuwwr\ ? rage y agic d heartily when the ation was merely a touching niversal experience. The unes oi the narrator are >nly in a sad sort of way: the ;r seemed a natural defense : those memories of similar ?nces in our own lives. We i not at the story itself, but ruths of human nature that d either to be laughed or t. VIcPherson's characters are haracters from all of our uietly, and Who has never had a illy unrequited love for that rl or guy sitting two or three n front of us? And who has en beaten out for the afs of that person by the class )t? Gweneth Lawson is the untouchable beauty ? the i/i uuui a duiini lllg *r profile. In fact, it was ting to note that when rson read the passage )ing Gweneth in detail, his disappeared and his voice ed a power that made th quite real. story climaxes, apitely, at a celebration of The narrator is consigned Maypole team, while his for Gweneth's affections, 'ugh, gets to dance with her quare dance. But at the last it, Leon must drop out ? he *ing a cowboy costume with on; the teacher declares ' AA Han flnrAl 1C TKn ,v/\/ uuii^vi v;uo. 1 11c: r>iicli , spurs have no place at this 1 of rebirth, and the 3r gets to dance with th ? an experience more ily than visiting the al New York. is why the audience seemed ed at McPherson: he had no He had no pretensions of I his stories do more than d. He refused to satisfy the ce's desire to hear the fersial or rhetorical. He /\1^ O O I iuiu a siui y . authors have James Alan rson's humanness, his to wield power without One wonders what happy it led to the creation of a who could see with hing clarity the reasons i hang on to a life that is rife igedy. His gentle sensitivity t understood by many, but it that they went away with ?eling that they had. >w, been charmed. celebrated the beauty of Alan nUU/\t?r?U (11UII 1TIV.1 I1VI .lull, <1111 1W11?^I I , and mostly to ourselves. in is true Saturday, llroom in Atlanta, ces,' broke into the Re 15.