STORIES
Joyce Carol Oates
PASSIONS AND MEDITATIONS
6 October
Dear Keith Lurie:
Let me say at once that I have never written a letter like
this before - but this is not simply a letter of admiration. I have a
double purpose. First, just to thank you for your exciting, unforget–
table work - parts of "American Cosmos" will show the way forward
to young American composers, after the sterile cul-de-sac of so much
of contemporary music - it is quite as iconoclastic, and as rich, as
Ives! - and, second, I am putting together a detailed study of Amer–
ican culture, tentatively titled PASSIONS
&
MEDITATIONS:
EIGHT YOUNG ARTISTS, and I wonder if I might interview
you. I realize that your schedule is a crowded one and that, perhaps,
you receive many requests for interviews. But I hope you will find
time for me. My knowledge of music may only be that of a devoted
layman, but my appreciation is limitless!
I found your speech last Friday at the Academy not only bril–
liant but inspiring. (I managed to get a ticket for the program through
an old professor of mine at City College - Morris Gruber, whom
perhaps you remember? You took a course in European history from
him in 1961, and received a grade of A - naturally! - he looked
up your grades in his grade-book for that year, which he still has.
Professor Gruber is another fan of yours and
asks
to be remembered
to you.) I agree with your remarks about freshness and innovation,
but I'm afraid I must question your statement that "there is no tradi–
tion, only memory." Perhaps I failed to grasp your meaning, but it
