Role of the Writer

A few months back we had a lively discussion here about the role of the writer, specifically in regards to his or her audience interactions on a personal level. Since then, I've had several book club experiences that I would define as...awkward. I did a video cast on the subject to vent, but this vlog was deemed by several of my peers to be unfit for wider circulation.

As proof that none of this is new, or ethnic specific, here is a lovely story by Edith Wharton that I must admit seems eerily familiar to me. Edith Warton's "Xingu" is available both in text and as a free podcast from Selected Shorts (click this link to the story if you have iTunes). The Selected Shorts reading is well done, and it is the second half of a two-story show. The first story is by my new collegue, the stunningly talented Antonya Nelson, who is one of the reasons I am heading to Houston, TX.

Thanks to Professor Bertram Ashe for the heads up.