Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 9, 1992 TAG: 9203070207
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The occasion will be a three-pronged event: the annual literary festival; the first creative-writing program reunion in five years; and the publication of a hefty anthology of new works from the college's creative writing program.
The baseball caps and chicken T-shirts reflect the whimsical undercurrents of a nationally recognized program that has launched the careers of scores of first-string writers.
The caps are in honor or the new book, titled "Elvis in Oz: New Stories and Poems From the Hollins College Creative Writing Program."
As for the chicken on the T-shirts, more about it later.
"Elvis in Oz" contains work by three Pulitzer Prize winners: Henry Taylor, who won the award for poetry for his 1985 collection, "The Flying Change"; Annie Dillard, who won in 1975 for her book, "A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek"; and Mary Bishop of the Roanoke Times & World-News, who shared a staff Pulitzer for local reporting at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The book also contains work by such critically acclaimed writers as Lee Smith, Madison Smartt Bell, David Huddle and Jeanne Larsen.
And there are photos by Sally Mann and George Butler. Mann is a nationally known photographer living in Lexington, and Butler made the documentary "Pumping Iron," which brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to prominence.
"We included the photographs as an indication of the openness of the creativity of the program," says Richard Dillard, who has chaired the writing program since 1971.
All told, 83 writers are represented, including a couple of current students. They range from the class of 1959 to the class of 1993. The book is published by the University Press of Virginia and is the lead item in its spring catalog. It sells for $18.95 in soft cover and $47.50 in hardcover.
Dillard coordinated the book but left the editing and the choice of what would be included to George Garrett and Mary Flinn. Garrett is the author of 23 books, Hoyns professor of creative writing at the University of Virginia and former head of the program at Hollins. Flinn is a graduate of the program and editor of the New Virginia Review.
Dillard, who wrote the preface for the book, has taught many writers associated with the program and couldn't bring himself to decide who would make it and who wouldn't.
"I couldn't have done it," he says. "It's the classic thing: Who are your favorite children?"
Garrett and Flinn agreed to do the editing, and they and Dillard sent letters with a chicken on the envelope to solicit manuscripts.
More about the chicken later.
The response was surprising.
"My impression was that we had twice as much as we could use," Garrett says. "There was enough stuff to do two books. We felt bad that we had to leave out people because of the size, but there was no way" to include everyone.
The title of the book was taken from Mark Herrera's poem of the same title, a meditation on "Wild at Heart," David Lynch's lurid movie based on Barry Gifford's novel. But Dillard says there are references to Elvis and Oz sprinkled throughout the book, an indication of their endurance as pop icons.
The title is indeed an attention-grabber as is the gaudy, neon cover that in some ways reflects the early editions of the L. Frank Baum Oz books.
Dillard says this will be the glitziest literary festival in the 32 years since Louis D. Rubin Jr. founded the program.
German writer and filmmaker Doris Dorrie, who is a visiting scholar, will read, as will Canadian novelist and writer-in-residence David Adams Richards.
Then there will be what Dillard calls a "sheep dip reading."
"The first 20 people who say they want to read something will get three minutes," he says. "It should be interesting."
One of the highlights of the festival will be a book signing in the Reading Room of Botetourt Hall on March 14 at 11:30 p.m. More than two dozen writers represented in the book will be there. Among those expected are Annie Dillard, Lee Smith and Henry Taylor. Books will be available at discounted prices.
And now about the chicken.
High in a place of honor in the cluttered halls at the heart of the writing program enshrined in a glass case is a stuffed black chicken, a little worn around the edges. It's the revered totem of the writing program and an important part of its folklore.
How the chicken gained such literary significance dates back many years to a Richard Dillard class. Legend has it that its importance originated in a Marshall McLuhan study of film and the way the movie screen is perceived by primitive societies. At any rate, a theory began to evolve, co-authored mainly by Dillard and writer Garrett Epps.
At first, it was postulated that every great movie had a chicken in it. The movies of Alfred Hitchcock, the son of a poulterer, pass the test with flying feathers. Then the theory was broadened to include every movie. It has ruined movies for hordes of viewers who find themselves desperately searching for the chicken in every movie they watch.
One of the graduates of the writing program - Jon-Stephen Fink - even immortalized the theory in a book titled "Cluck" that's much sought after by L.A. film types.
Today, Dillard takes prospective students interested in the writing program to the chicken.
"Go look at the chicken at other writing programs," he tells them.
Some, he suspects, do.
by CNB