Description

The tape opens to a group discussing revision. A note on the cassette liner labels this as a graduate class. Katz asks whether they are trained to read books and then ask questions about them. Katz asks if anyone thought what they read was serious, and they say they all took it seriously. He discusses exploring the potential of storytelling. Katz discusses the audience for different types of writing. A student asks whether art is becoming more of a visual medium, like “last night’s Readers Theater." A student asks if Katz found teaching at a parochial school (Notre Dame) restrictive. Katz says he has nothing to “break” the Catholic Church. Another asks how Katz “looked at the critical writing process,” Katz replies he “tries to teach as little as possible,” because he does not want to try to articulate his ideas in anything other than “the medium itself.” He thinks it is “one of the decadences of writing in general” to find so many writers studying at university. Katz is working on a book called “Journalism,” which is a reportage of voices he has heard during his lifetime. He asks if they read Cheyenne River Wild Track, but it was out of print, so no. He says he uses poetry for its “economy” and rhythm. McCaffery talks about Katz’s book “Creamy & Delicious,” which has poems at the end of each chapter and asks if Katz was just playing with words. Katz says those were “little Tinkertoys,” such as “defend your liver,” which he got from a sign in Milan. Another student asks what hold New York City has over its artists. Katz says, “that’s where the money has been,” adding “there is a kind of energy there” that makes it easy to work. Katz says he could live in any city but Los Angeles. He reads some short poems until the end of the tape.