I took a master class at Columbia that Susan Cheever created and taught. The focus was on writing one’s family members into fictional characters, but she covered a lot of other literary ground, and frankly I was happy to learn anything Susan Cheever wanted to teach me. I suppose I thought I’d made a small connection with her and so felt quasi-comfortable asking for an interview. She was obliging and generous and candid—and I hope she likes how it turned out.
I am organizing a panel on women authors who have written about their fathers for the American Literature Association Conference in Boston at the end of next May. I am writing on Dean Faulkner Wells's memoir of her relationship with her surrogate father/uncle. My friend Rhoda Sirlin is writing on Alexandra Styron's memoir of her father an on James Jones's daughter's memoir. We want to include a presentation on Susan Cheever.
ReplyDeleteI have just found your stimulating interview with Cheever and wonder if you might be interested in doing a talk on Cheever and her memoir.
Dear Professor Cash:
DeleteThanks for your note and for your response to my interview with Cheever. It was a fun one to do.
Thank you, too, for your invitation. Feel free to email me directly (pberry81@aol.com) regarding the ALA conference.
Best,
Pat Berry