<< Front page News April 23, 2004

Off the Cuff: Franz Wright

Franz Wright, OC ‘77
 

Franz Wright OC ’77 won the Pulitzer Prize for his recent book, Walking to Martha’s Vineyard.

Did you know you wanted to be a writer when you were in college? What role did Oberlin play in your development as a writer?

When I arrived at Oberlin I had been trying to write since the age of 14 and fancied myself to be quite a prodigy, but was soon disabused of this notion when I began to realize that there were at least ten undergraduates there. My classmates were people like Bruce Weigl, David Walker, Ann Boehme, John Mahnk-writing with a sophistication and fluency far beyond anything I was capable of. That put a fire under me, and I think I caught on pretty fast, despite the initial shock and dismay. Oberlin was a wonderful place to be a poet in the early to mid-70s, really all of the 70s — go back and look at some of those Plum Creek Reviews. I still find remarkable and moving poems. And of course FIELD was there, and that was fantastically exciting. I still consider David Young and Stuart Friebert to be among the most nurturing and influential men I have ever known.

What did you study at Oberlin?

In my formal studies I was an English major, but was fortunate enough to take classes in the magnificent departments of religion and philosophy as well.

Your father was also a poet. What influence has his career had on yours?

My father had a huge influence on my work, especially when I was a young man, but then he had an enormous influence on any young poet beginning to write in the 60s and 70s. He helped me a great deal, in correspondence and during our too-infrequent meetings, simply by taking me seriously, which he always did. His best advice to me was to give up the idea of writing a masterpiece every day and all the guilt the inevitable failure to do so involves — and to try instead to write a clear line in my notebook every day. His idea was that these fragments eventually begin to accumulate, to grow all by themselves and gradually lead you to a more conscious sense of what you are trying to say, guide you toward whatever poetry you might have in you to share, and he was right.

Are there any particular people or experiences that have been especially influential in your poetry?

Again, I think the most influential people in my early writing life were Stuart Friebert and David Young, marvelous poets and masterful, compassionate teachers. I am not even sure I could have survived as a poet without their early intercessions.

You are also teaching? What influence, if any, do you find that teaching others has on your own work?

I am teaching at the moment in the excellent English and writing programs of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, but this semester is the first time I have taught in 15 years. I taught for five years in the eighties at Emerson College in Boston. I have no advanced degree, and certainly do not consider myself qualified to teach English literature at the college level, and yet here I am and I have enjoyed it immensely. I’m not so sure about the graduate poetry workshop. I have mixed feelings about the teaching of writing.

Tell us a little bit about Walking to Martha’s Vineyard.

Walking to Martha’s Vineyard is, I suppose, my most overtly religious collection of poems, mot in any orthodox dogmatic sense, I think it may represent the gropings of a newcomer in the radiant and perilous life of faith. I’m not sure what else to say about that. I do believe it to be my best book, and for that reason I am especially grateful for the all the attention it is beginning to receive on account of the prize. But I want to say again with gratitude to David Young, who published it, that ILL LIT, my selected poems, which is still available from Oberlin College Press, is perhaps the work I am most proud of.

What advice would you give to aspiring poets and writers?

Be fearless and joyful, love the world and try to do something to relieve the suffering of other human beings. Poetry is the opposite of self-expression and self-concern. There are no poets, only good instruments of poetry-make yourself a good instrument. Love poetry and read everything and learn everything there is to know about it.


 
 
   

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