INTELLECTUALS AND WRI TERS
SINCE T H E T HIRT IES
551
going to come a time w h en we will no t have to w rite about these
things? Is there eve r go in g to come a time w hen M r. Ellison won ' t have
to write about invisibl e people? Is there any hope?
William Phillips:
Wh o has hope?
Czeslaw Milosz:
Sometimes it is diffi cult to have hope. I sign ed a
petition pro testin g aga inst the wa r between Se rbi a and C roatia; since
then I ha ve b een rece ivin g from people in Ameri ca letters supporting in
equal propo rti o n bo th sides. In signing this letter, I had not intended to
be on one side o r ano ther; rather, it was my intenti o n
to
pro test war it–
self. But this exampl e illustrates the diffi culti es we face .
Joseph Brodsky:
N o, I do n' t think there is any hope of grea t mag–
nitude. Francis Bacon o nce sa id that hope is a good breakfast but a bad
supper. Considerin g th e medi an age o f the members of thi s panel , I
would say that for us it is now past lun chtime. I do n ' t think any of us
are go ing
to
see a world w itho ut confli ct. It will be there as lo ng as we,
or you, are around .
Qllest;OIl :
I wo uld like
to
come bac k to th e dimini shin g ro le o f the
writer. D o n ' t you fee l that it is a n eed o f human nature to commu–
nicate, to grasp life in its who leness, and in all its dimensio ns? It is o ut of
this need that art was crea ted , that the spec ial breed of artists and w riters
was created . Perhaps if thi s need continues to exist, even in this individu–
alistic society, don' t you think literature w ill continu e to exist?
Saul Bellow:
In my case, the answer is obvious. I myself as well as o th–
ers do no t intend to relinqui sh o ur relati o nship to litera ture o r art , be–
cause it is no less than the meaning of life itsel f. W e don ' t see w hat we
have been do in g, I and my coll eagues o n thi s panel, being done else–
where on any considerable scale. I suppose this country could li ve w ith–
out art - j ust as we coul d li ve w itho ut sa lt, if the ca rdi ologists had their
way - but it isn ' t very agre eable, and it isn ' t even rea l life. The Gospels
remind us that if the salt has lost its savor, w ith what shall we season ?
The fac t is that th e rea l sense of w hat it means to be bo rn human on this
planet Earth w ill not be rec ko ned w ith by people w ho are not artists.
Of course, we can' t abando n this responsibility. But in in creasing numbers
people are turning away from it, and from o ur culture - I mean that
element by w hi ch a man o r woman shapes himself o r herself, crea tes a
distinctly human life th at ca nn o t fun cti o n with o ut painting, without
music. At the moment there seems to be a collective turning away from
