Fwd: "Polycentric"/Samuel Delany on "The Paula Gordon Show"(sm)

[Owen Densmore]

Looks like another interesting Paula Gordon show.  Maybe we should get
Samuel Delany to talk to David Reed! (Dialogue vs Monologue)

        -- Owen

Owen Densmore         908 Camino Santander   Santa Fe, NM 87505
Cell: 505-570-0168    Home: 505-988-3787     http://backspaces.net


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Paula Gordon <[hidden email]>
> Date: April 18, 2004 8:37:26 PM MDT
> To: "Paula J. Gordon" <[hidden email]>
> Subject: "Polycentric"/Samuel Delany on "The Paula Gordon Show"(sm)
>
> Further Information:  Paula Gordon 404/875-3318
>
>
>        Atlanta/April 17, 2004   Pay attention!  Our unrelenting need
> to pay
> attention to EVERYthing is killing community, according to science
> fiction
> legend and literary critic Samuel Delany.   He offers a powerful
> solution
> when Guest on "The Paula Gordon Show:  Conversations with People at the
> Leading Edge"(sm).   LISTEN at <http://www.PaulaGordon.com> in
> RealAudio,
> beginning April 17, 2004.   Broadcast schedules for WGUN/AM1010 in
> Atlanta ,
> "LookOut"(sm) on CNNRadio and "Perspectives"(sm) -- both heard at
> CNN.com --
> are below.
>        Samuel Delany won both the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards
> for his
> science fiction.  He broke new fictional ground with _Dhalgren_, his
> controversial 1974 novel which sold over a million copies then and is
> now
> back in distribution.  He has also published scholarly criticism,
> fantasy
> books, poetic novellas and erotica, in addition to being an esteemed
> teacher.
>        "We're all feeling burned out by the amount of information
> demanding
> our attention.  We constantly have to check everyone's truth-claims
> about
> everything.  I've seen it in the arts, science and social situations.  
> It's
> killing people's sense of community." Mr. Delany believes, proposing a
> solution:  "Dialogue must replace monologues.  It can happen across the
> many, many language communities to which we all belong.  Think about
> kids.
> They talk to their parents using one vocabulary, to their teachers
> using
> another one and to strangers they meet on the street with yet another.
>  The
> power is in the overlap.  And we all have that power."
>        These overlapping language communities promise vast
> opportunities,
> Mr. Delany insists.
>        "The possibility of dialogue allows for the possibility of
> change.
> And it holds that promise across apparent barriers.  I'm just a boring
> old
> African-American Marxist, but I have a great deal in common with bigots
> whose life experiences and beliefs are dramatically different from
> mine.
> Shared language communities provide shared fundamental concepts, even
> when
> we disagree about those concepts.  When dialogue begins, community
> becomes a
> real possibility."
>       Everyday life is what interests Samuel Delany, who calls Jane
> Austen
> his mentor.
>        "What I've discovered after a lifetime of writing is an
> essential
> paradox.  I've discovered all the things words cannot do.  I've come to
> think of language as an 'aide memoir.'  I tell my students that the
> kinds of
> things that make a memory vivid give a writer the information
> necessary to
> write vividly.  What I think about when I am writing is how to present
> a
> texture, make the experience of ordinary things vivid and immediate for
> people who read.  To explore what we see.  What the world tastes,
> smells and
> feels life when we bump up against it.  If I should happen to cross a
> boundary, it's not because I set out to cross it.  It's because I
> wandered
> in that particular direction.  Quality?  It comes into existence when
> readers argue about what is good, what is bad, what they like and don't
> like.  This very act of engagement is what produces the social affect
> of
> quality."
>
>
> ? Paula J. Gordon   2004
>
> This program was recorded May 23, 2001, in Atlanta, GA, USA
> LISTEN to SAMUEL DELANY in RealAUDIO at<http://www.PaulaGordon.com>
> beginning 4/17/04.
>
>
> DISTRIBUTION...
> ??"The Paula Gordon Show:  Conversations with People @ the Leading
> Edge"(sm)
> --Broadcast: 50,000 watt WGUN/AM1010/Atlanta - 7PM, Sat., April 17,
> 2003 -
> Dr. BARNEY PITYANA, South Africa
> -- Internet:  <http://www.PaulaGordon.com> RealAudio & summary text -
> SAMUEL
> DELANY beginning 4/17/04.
> -- Programs are available on CD.
>
> ??"CNN/LookOut"(sm) on CNN/Radio's affiliates worldwide
> -- Week of 4/19/04:   JAMES HILLMAN, ancestors; SAMUEL DELANY, language
>
> ??"PERSPECTIVES"(sm) are available as part of CNN radio' streaming
> audio
> service at <http://www.CNN.com>  --  CLICK ON  "CNNRadio"
> -- Week of 4/19/04: WILLIAM McDONOUGH, sustainability; JAMLING TENZIN
> NORGAY
> SHERPA, Mt. Everest; FRANK PARTNOY, Wall street; ELISABETH
> LASCH-QUINN, race
> experts; JANINE BENYUS, biomimicry
>
> ? Paula J. Gordon   2004
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