Visions & Voices

Interviewer Cott (The Search for Omm Sety, etc.) makes himself familiar with his subjects, then goes deep inside their minds. In one of the 10 conversations here, Bob Dylan explains why he believes Jesus had to die after taking on the bad karma of the people he healed. Sam Shepard tells Cott why it's easier to go crazy than it is to stay sane. Federico Fellini asserts that the modern storyteller must blend the roles of trickster, prophet and magician. The dialogues are linked only to the extent that they mirror Cott's own interests and preoccupations. Yet, because he is so attuned to each of his subjects, he lifts the art of interviewing to a new dimension. In one of the strongest pieces, poet Carolyn Forche gives a firsthand account of torture in El Salvador. Also spotlighted are Peter Brook, George Balanchine, Pierre Boulez, Marie-Louise von Franz, Oliver Sacks and rabbi Lawrence Kushner, an authority on Jewish mysticism. (October)