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With these words, written long before his Iowa Writers' Workshop became world famous, much imitated, and academically rich, Paul Engle captured the spirit behind his beloved workshop. Now, in this collection of essays by and about those writers who shared the energetic early years, Robert Dana presents a dynamic, informative tribute to Engle and his world. The book's three sections mingle myth and history with style and grace and no small amount of humor. The beginning essays are given over to memories of Paul Engle in his heyday. The second group focuses particularly on those teachers-Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Kurt Vonnegut, for example-who made the workshop hum on a day-to-day basis. Finally, the third section is devoted to storytelling: tall tales, vignettes, surprises, sober and not-so-sober moments. Engle's own essay, "The Writer and the Place," describes his "simple, and yet how reckless" conviction that "the creative imagination in all of the arts is as important, as congenial, and as necessary, as the historical study of all the arts." Today, of course, there are hundreds of writers' workshops, many of them founded and directed by graduates of the original Iowa workshop. But when Paul Engle arrived in Iowa there were exactly two. His indomitable nature and great persuasive powers, combined with his distinguished reputation as a poet, loomed large behind the enhancement of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. This volume of fine and witty essays reveals the enthusiasm and drive and sheer pleasure that went into Iowa's renowned workshop. Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- The Writer and the Place -- Paul Engle, Impresario -- Recollections of the Iowa Writers' Workshop -- Some Recollections -- Paul at Stone City -- A Miranda's World -- My Time -- When Literary Life Was Still Piled Up in a Few Places -- A Crisis of Sorts -- Dear Hualing -- I'll Make Your Career -- Engle's Workshop -- He Made It Possible -- Every Shut-Eye Ain't Asleep -- A Tale of Two Fathers -- The Fellowship -- Thank You, Paul -- Next Year You Can See for Yourself -- New World Symphony -- Mentors, Fomenters, and Tormentors -- Mentors, Fomenters, and Tormentors -- Far from the Ocean: Robert Lowell at Iowa, 1953 -- Mine Own John Berryman -- Improvisations on Donald Justice -- R. V. Cassill -- Ray B. West, Jr. -- Marguerite Young: Trying on a Style -- Vance Bourjaily -- Kurt Vonnegut: Waltzing with the Black Crayon -- Myths and Texts -- The Emergence of the Writers' Workshop -- Flannery O'Connor in the Writers' Workshop -- Chicken à la King -- Snapshots of Paul -- Dylan Thomas at Iowa -- So Began the Happiest Years of My Life -- Fair Days and Fowl -- Afterword -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgments.
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