Show Literature is a dangerous enterprise The Eagle-pag- e 3 Potok tells of modern novels and confrontations by Kirsten Christ' 11 staff writer Literature is a dangerous enterprise for anyone who comes from a small particular world A challenge is thrown up from literature Chaim Potok a contempoAmerican author who spoke rary at the College of Eastern Utah OcL 11 explained how a serious novel can introduce new ideas and concepts to a reader causing him to question the truth of what he believes The novelist engages in his or her own private search for truth Nothing is so sacred it cannot be poked at by the modem novelist Potok said Often the novelist has shown the human race as not a pretty species Our lives are a choreography of encounters with new ideas accepting what we like discarding what we don't he continued Often it takes something extraordinary to shake us out of that pattern of encounter That choreography of encounter has changed drastically over the years Only 200 years ago it was not unusual for a person to go through life never traveling more than 23 miles from where he was bom Potok said and never encountering a stranger or new ideas Few people questioned their small particular world Today "everything we are taught is put to the test - constantly" explained Potok You have become a battleground for a confrontation of cultures your small particular world versus the general world he continued Both sides have merit and good they are two systems of equal value but both have questionable attributes Potok referred to this as "core to core confrontation" Novelists use a confronta tion with culture to explore and question traditions and philosophies of life but "there is a price to paid for this type of enterprise" cautioned Potok turn of the century Irish author who was anwswering the question of why he always wrote about Dublin "in the particular is contained the universal" Joyce "Moving through life with your own ideas of life is very mcnancing to a community" he continued When Potok was about 15 years-ohe decided lo read a serious adult book He went to the library and chose Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh an English author The librarian who was familiar with what books PotOk had been reading knew this book was much more serious than what he had read before "Read at least the first 70 to 80 pages before you decide whether or not to finish it" she warned him answered kl If skillful enough a writer can make a particular individual family or neighborhood jump from the novel into the reader's world Potok said The novelist is a powerful image maker There are those who look upon that power with suspicion and dread he said "We almost never live in focus when we look in close" Potok said "The further away we look the sharper our focus becomes" Potok has published six novels including The Chosen My Name is Asher Lev and Davila's Harp as well as several "Nothing is so sacred it cannot be poked at by the modern novelist" Potok said "When I had read the first 70 to 80 pages I was in an existence I had never known before” Potok said The novel developed slowly slowly I began to know the people in the book just like you get to know people in real life Slowly When I completed the book I felt bereaved "dime people were gone from me now" A serious novelist doesn’t just tell a story although there is a story there Potok said The novelist uses language to involve the reader to bring him inside the feelings of the people in the book until the world in the book becomes more real than the reader's world Potok quoted James Joyce a short stories HeeamedaPhDin philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965 and is a faculty member of Teacher's Institute and the Jewish Theological Seminary Potok was the first in this year's CEU Readers' Series Potok's tour of Utah was made possible by a grant from the Utah Endowment for the Humanities Two more speakers have been scheduled in the CEU Reader’s Series Poet Sandra McPherson will read her poetry on Nov 3 and fiction writer Gordon Weaver will be featured Nov 17 All Reader's Series lectures will be in CEU's Little Theater at 8 pm Modern novelist Chaim Potok waa tho lira! apaakor In CElTa ll-- l roadara strlaa College news from across the US FACULTY CANT RELATE TO MINORITY STUDENTS In an unscientific poll of minority students at Arizona State University more than half said that most faculty members do not know how to relate 10 them The black Hispanic and American Indian students also reported a number of racist comments including "Your kind doesn't ususally do well in my class" The poll was part of a study by ASU's Morrison Institute of Public Policy and University president J Russell Nelson says he'll accept all of the study’s recommendations HARVARD FRESHMEN BURNED OUT? The typical Harvard freshman spends almost 41 hours in class or studying and doesn't go to sleep until after 1 am A study by Harvard doctoral candidate Keith Light also reported that on at least one day in a two week period 56 were two tired to be produc- tive GETTING OUT THE VOTE Between '72 and '80 the number of 18-- to lds be affected because relatively few workers now work at or near dropped from over 50 to under minimum wage 40 This year student organizers can order a new resource from NO NEED TO DISGUISE the National Student Campaign HANDWRITING ANYMORE because Western Kentucky U for Voter Registration to help in students' evaluations of instructor the interest boost polls THE MINIMUM performances will once again be WAGE HIKE (if congress passes transcribed before they're given to teachers Last year the evaluations it) won’t hurt student jobs researchwere University of Michigan simply returned to the teachers but too many students thought the ers say They found that a 10 teachers would recognize their increase in the minimum wage would cost only one-ha- lf percent handwriting HOMEBODIES Young of the jobs they might otherwise would not get Otter age groups people are living at home longer voting in presidential elections marrying later and taking more time to become according to a federal study Among the findings The proportion of youths wh° lived with their " college dorms rose P3 from 43 percent in 1960 to 57 self-sufficie- nt 8l percent in 1985 And the number of ftm marriages among women aged 20-2- 4 fell from 220 per 1000 in 104 per IjOOOin 1984 1971 The transition mom childhood to adulthood is taking longer and presenting more pitfalls than was the case several years ago" |