Seminar explores radical writers

The Kelly Writers House hosted the two-day event. Radical critic Alan Wald described today's culture as "New World disorder" at a seminar at the Kelly Writers House Thursday. The seminar, entitled "Culture and Commitment: What We Can Learn from the Lives and Works of U.S. Radical Writers," is part of a two-day series hosted by English Professor Al Filreis, who also invited film-maker and poet Melba Joyce Boyd. Wald -- an English and American Culture professor at the University of Michigan -- said his mission in life is "to find a resolution through literature." Specializing in American literary radicalism, Wald takes special interest in the influence of Marxist ideology, the role of Jewish intellectuals and the centrality of anti-racism. He told the gathering of more than 20 students that since radical writers do not write in isolation of historical events, they are often ideal sources of cultural information. He and Boyd both emphasized that universities' decisions to censor students' radical writings prevents the documentation of American culture. But radical writers rarely get published and typically vanish from society, according to Wald. To find their works, Wald said he searches through telephone books and hunts down friends and relatives of these radical writers. In another seminar, Boyd, a poet and African Studies professor at Wayne State University, showed her documentary film about poet and activist Dudley Randall, who has spoken out in support of the silenced and marginalized. Following the film, entitled The Black Unicorn: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press, Afro-American Studies Director Herman Beavers led a discussion on Randall's views. The film -- which focuses on the Detroit Black Arts Movement -- portrays the civil rights and labor movements, race riots and Detroit politics. Boyd noted that Randall -- who writes about many human issues -- became active in the minority movement when he became aware of how racial discrimination impeded opportunities for black writers to get published. He then started the Broadside Press, which has published more than 500,000 works by black writers. Boyd said Randall's activism inspired her to choose him as her subject. "Dudley is a beacon for alternative publishing," she said. "I wanted to do a documentary because with film I can reach a broader audience and inspire people to read his poetry as well." Boyd was scheduled to give a poetry reading -- including pieces from her newest collection, Letters to Che -- at the Writers House Friday. And Wald was to deliver a talk on "African Americans in the Imagination of the Jewish Literary Left." To conclude the visit, Filreis planned to host a dinner with Wald and Boyd in the Writers House.