WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.950 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.950 --> 00:00:05.350 align:middle line:90%
And thank you for inviting me.

00:00:05.350 --> 00:00:08.820 align:middle line:84%
I'm not going to be too long
tonight, for several reasons.

00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:12.180 align:middle line:84%
You're not waiting for me,
you're waiting for two people.

00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:14.730 align:middle line:84%
And the other reason is
that my daughter Siobhan's

00:00:14.730 --> 00:00:18.030 align:middle line:84%
in the audience, and if I'm too
long, I'm going to get heck.

00:00:18.030 --> 00:00:20.190 align:middle line:90%
So I will be brief.

00:00:20.190 --> 00:00:23.250 align:middle line:84%
But I will say
this, when I learned

00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:26.310 align:middle line:84%
I would be speaking
to you this evening--

00:00:26.310 --> 00:00:30.120 align:middle line:84%
I was in New York City
when I got the invitation--

00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.040 align:middle line:84%
and perhaps that
is why I thought

00:00:32.040 --> 00:00:35.430 align:middle line:84%
of a woman who had lived on
Park Avenue in New York City,

00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:38.700 align:middle line:90%
and she actually died there.

00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:40.410 align:middle line:84%
She lived in New
York for many years,

00:00:40.410 --> 00:00:43.260 align:middle line:84%
but she drew some of her
strongest inspiration

00:00:43.260 --> 00:00:46.690 align:middle line:84%
from this very part
of the country.

00:00:46.690 --> 00:00:49.740 align:middle line:84%
And she was a woman who
bridged many worlds,

00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:52.570 align:middle line:90%
and who created many others.

00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:54.670 align:middle line:84%
And she was the writer
of the words I hope

00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:56.890 align:middle line:90%
you are looking at right now.

00:00:56.890 --> 00:00:58.900 align:middle line:90%
They passed out a xerox.

00:00:58.900 --> 00:01:02.170 align:middle line:90%
It's Willa Cather.

00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:04.480 align:middle line:84%
And I xeroxed in
preparation for this

00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:08.380 align:middle line:84%
a brief paragraph from
a 1905 short story

00:01:08.380 --> 00:01:11.950 align:middle line:90%
called, "A Wagner Matinee," OK?

00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:15.830 align:middle line:90%


00:01:15.830 --> 00:01:18.350 align:middle line:84%
It's a very brief selection
and I'll read it to you now.

00:01:18.350 --> 00:01:20.840 align:middle line:84%
I hope you're looking at the
selection, but if you're not,

00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:23.210 align:middle line:90%
I'll read slowly.

00:01:23.210 --> 00:01:27.500 align:middle line:84%
The story takes place
during a Wagner concert.

00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:31.610 align:middle line:84%
"During the intermission before
the second half of the concert,

00:01:31.610 --> 00:01:35.450 align:middle line:84%
I questioned my aunt and found
that the Prize Song was not

00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:37.220 align:middle line:90%
new to her.

00:01:37.220 --> 00:01:39.590 align:middle line:84%
Some years before,
there had drifted

00:01:39.590 --> 00:01:43.460 align:middle line:84%
to the farm in Red Willow
County a young German, a tramp

00:01:43.460 --> 00:01:47.360 align:middle line:84%
cow-puncher, who had sung
the chorus at Bayreuth,

00:01:47.360 --> 00:01:49.940 align:middle line:84%
when he was a boy, along
with the other peasant

00:01:49.940 --> 00:01:51.860 align:middle line:90%
boys and girls.

00:01:51.860 --> 00:01:54.860 align:middle line:84%
Of the Sunday morning he used to
sit on his gingham-sheeted bed

00:01:54.860 --> 00:01:57.140 align:middle line:84%
in the hands' bedroom,
which opened off

00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:01.790 align:middle line:84%
the kitchen, cleaning
the leather of his boots

00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:04.190 align:middle line:84%
and saddle, singing
the Prize Song,

00:02:04.190 --> 00:02:07.530 align:middle line:84%
while my aunt went about
her work in the kitchen.

00:02:07.530 --> 00:02:10.789 align:middle line:84%
She had hovered about him until
she had prevailed upon him

00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:14.600 align:middle line:84%
to join the country church,
though his soul fitness

00:02:14.600 --> 00:02:17.600 align:middle line:84%
for this step insofar
as I could gather,

00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:20.990 align:middle line:84%
lay in his boyish face
and his possession

00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:23.330 align:middle line:90%
of this divine melody."

00:02:23.330 --> 00:02:28.850 align:middle line:84%
Of course, the divine melody
is the Prize Song from Wagner.

00:02:28.850 --> 00:02:33.110 align:middle line:84%
Now, this little scene has
stayed with me for many years.

00:02:33.110 --> 00:02:35.360 align:middle line:84%
I have never forgotten
the wonderful images

00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.110 align:middle line:84%
Cather gives us in this
scene from her story.

00:02:39.110 --> 00:02:41.090 align:middle line:84%
The young singer
coming to America

00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:43.580 align:middle line:84%
in the late 19th
century, and coming

00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:45.290 align:middle line:84%
from the cultural
center that had

00:02:45.290 --> 00:02:47.870 align:middle line:90%
produced what was then called--

00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:49.670 align:middle line:90%
Wagner's music was then called--

00:02:49.670 --> 00:02:50.840 align:middle line:90%
the music of the future.

00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:54.230 align:middle line:90%


00:02:54.230 --> 00:02:58.250 align:middle line:84%
It does not really matter what
you think of Wagner's music

00:02:58.250 --> 00:03:00.380 align:middle line:90%
or what I think of his ideas.

00:03:00.380 --> 00:03:02.460 align:middle line:90%
That's not the point.

00:03:02.460 --> 00:03:04.550 align:middle line:84%
The point here is
that this young man

00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:09.710 align:middle line:84%
was a messenger, this young man
from the chorus at Bayreuth.

00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:12.650 align:middle line:84%
He had come from the
Old World to the New,

00:03:12.650 --> 00:03:15.560 align:middle line:84%
bringing a new music to
people who were eagerly

00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:19.530 align:middle line:90%
waiting for this melody.

00:03:19.530 --> 00:03:22.590 align:middle line:84%
And I ask you now to
take a moment to think,

00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:28.380 align:middle line:84%
along with me, of the world that
Willa Cather presents to us.

00:03:28.380 --> 00:03:30.000 align:middle line:90%
It was a world without--

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:31.990 align:middle line:84%
and you'll have to
believe me on this--

00:03:31.990 --> 00:03:36.090 align:middle line:84%
it was a world without
radio, without TV,

00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:40.440 align:middle line:84%
without sound
recordings, without CDs,

00:03:40.440 --> 00:03:42.420 align:middle line:84%
and I'm really stretching
credulity here when

00:03:42.420 --> 00:03:45.240 align:middle line:90%
I say, without call waiting.

00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:48.480 align:middle line:84%
It was a world without
any electricity.

00:03:48.480 --> 00:03:51.120 align:middle line:84%
And in Cather's
late 19th century,

00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:55.950 align:middle line:84%
you might hear reports about
a new art or a new music,

00:03:55.950 --> 00:03:58.740 align:middle line:84%
but you could only
dream about them.

00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:00.540 align:middle line:90%
You could only dream about them.

00:04:00.540 --> 00:04:02.880 align:middle line:84%
And the people in that
America could only

00:04:02.880 --> 00:04:04.950 align:middle line:84%
dream about the
music of the future.

00:04:04.950 --> 00:04:08.500 align:middle line:84%
And they could only imagine
what it must have been like,

00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:12.220 align:middle line:84%
until they actually heard this
young singer, this person, who

00:04:12.220 --> 00:04:15.025 align:middle line:84%
had been, you might say,
present at the creation.

00:04:15.025 --> 00:04:17.560 align:middle line:90%


00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:19.149 align:middle line:84%
And we can see how
much the people

00:04:19.149 --> 00:04:22.120 align:middle line:84%
in the small American community
of Willa Cather's story

00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:25.380 align:middle line:84%
treasured this
ambassador of song.

00:04:25.380 --> 00:04:29.520 align:middle line:84%
For them, he was a messenger
from another world.

00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:31.710 align:middle line:84%
Bringing a music
never heard before,

00:04:31.710 --> 00:04:37.940 align:middle line:84%
he possessed in every
sense a divine melody.

00:04:37.940 --> 00:04:39.830 align:middle line:84%
And just about now,
you might be wondering

00:04:39.830 --> 00:04:42.980 align:middle line:84%
what on Earth all of this
has to do with our speakers

00:04:42.980 --> 00:04:47.870 align:middle line:84%
tonight, the two artists
whose presence enrich us

00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:52.470 align:middle line:84%
so much this evening and
whose work I treasure so much.

00:04:52.470 --> 00:04:55.250 align:middle line:84%
Well, our century,
our own century,

00:04:55.250 --> 00:04:57.980 align:middle line:84%
has seen many dramatic
changes in art and literature

00:04:57.980 --> 00:04:58.790 align:middle line:90%
and music.

00:04:58.790 --> 00:05:01.520 align:middle line:84%
And, on many levels,
we are experiencing

00:05:01.520 --> 00:05:03.290 align:middle line:84%
much the same
feeling that people

00:05:03.290 --> 00:05:07.610 align:middle line:84%
had in Willa Cather's
America, that same sense

00:05:07.610 --> 00:05:11.180 align:middle line:84%
that we are in the
presence of new art forms,

00:05:11.180 --> 00:05:15.110 align:middle line:84%
that we are engaged with,
and engaged in, something

00:05:15.110 --> 00:05:17.300 align:middle line:90%
quite new.

00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:19.640 align:middle line:84%
And we feel it so
strongly when we encounter

00:05:19.640 --> 00:05:23.360 align:middle line:84%
the work of our own two artists
tonight, Joy Harjo and Leslie

00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.520 align:middle line:90%
Marmon Silko.

00:05:25.520 --> 00:05:28.790 align:middle line:90%
Here are new productive voices.

00:05:28.790 --> 00:05:31.580 align:middle line:84%
And even though they have both
been publishing for many years

00:05:31.580 --> 00:05:37.280 align:middle line:84%
now, each new novel, each new
poem, and each new collection

00:05:37.280 --> 00:05:38.750 align:middle line:90%
is always just that.

00:05:38.750 --> 00:05:40.620 align:middle line:90%
It's new.

00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:42.210 align:middle line:90%
It's fresh.

00:05:42.210 --> 00:05:44.640 align:middle line:90%
It's profound.

00:05:44.640 --> 00:05:47.160 align:middle line:84%
And it's always
giving new directions.

00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.830 align:middle line:84%
And despite the fact that they
are just entering their best

00:05:49.830 --> 00:05:54.810 align:middle line:84%
years, they have both done so
much and influenced so many.

00:05:54.810 --> 00:05:57.660 align:middle line:84%
And I wonder, as I look
out on these faces tonight,

00:05:57.660 --> 00:06:01.860 align:middle line:84%
how many people in this room
have been influenced by them,

00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:06.390 align:middle line:84%
and how many people, far beyond
this room, will, in the future,

00:06:06.390 --> 00:06:10.620 align:middle line:90%
continue to be influenced.

00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:13.370 align:middle line:84%
I think it's quite a
large and growing number.

00:06:13.370 --> 00:06:16.010 align:middle line:84%
I, myself, I cherish
the prose and the poetry

00:06:16.010 --> 00:06:18.600 align:middle line:90%
of both of our writers tonight.

00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:20.160 align:middle line:84%
But I do not always
think of them

00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:23.970 align:middle line:84%
as novelists or poets or
prose writers or essayists

00:06:23.970 --> 00:06:25.800 align:middle line:90%
or whatever.

00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:28.920 align:middle line:84%
Whenever I pick up their work,
I think of them in the same way

00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:33.030 align:middle line:84%
that the people in
Willa Cather's America

00:06:33.030 --> 00:06:36.750 align:middle line:84%
saw that young
singer from Bayreuth.

00:06:36.750 --> 00:06:39.060 align:middle line:90%
I see them as messengers.

00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:42.860 align:middle line:84%
He was a messenger from
the Old World to the New.

00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:45.620 align:middle line:84%
He was a bringer of new music
to waiting and appreciative

00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:47.030 align:middle line:90%
people.

00:06:47.030 --> 00:06:49.670 align:middle line:84%
And Joy Harjo and
Leslie Marmon Silko

00:06:49.670 --> 00:06:53.780 align:middle line:84%
are indeed the new
singers of a new music,

00:06:53.780 --> 00:06:57.260 align:middle line:90%
the music of our present.

00:06:57.260 --> 00:07:00.440 align:middle line:84%
And just as Willa Cather's young
singer brought Wagner's Prize

00:07:00.440 --> 00:07:04.100 align:middle line:84%
Song from Europe to
America, our writers today,

00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:08.990 align:middle line:84%
our writers this evening,
bring beauty and meaning to us,

00:07:08.990 --> 00:07:11.900 align:middle line:84%
from worlds we
never knew existed

00:07:11.900 --> 00:07:15.810 align:middle line:84%
or that we have
unfortunately forgotten.

00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:18.300 align:middle line:84%
And this is what we are
so fortunate to experience

00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:19.830 align:middle line:90%
this evening.

00:07:19.830 --> 00:07:22.440 align:middle line:84%
I do not know what they
will share with us,

00:07:22.440 --> 00:07:26.220 align:middle line:84%
and I do not even know
who will speak first.

00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:30.410 align:middle line:84%
But one thing I
do know, that both

00:07:30.410 --> 00:07:34.820 align:middle line:84%
are in full possession
of that divine melody.

00:07:34.820 --> 00:07:35.390 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:07:35.390 --> 00:07:38.740 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:46.000 align:middle line:90%