The Delicacy and Strength of Lace: Letters Between Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright

Laguna Pueblo Indian writer Silko met Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Wright at a writers' conference and the two subsequently struck up an extraordinarily intimate 18-month correspondence that ended with Wright's death of cancer in 1980 at the age of 52. While the writers comment upon one another's work, and several of Silko's poems are included, neither author addresses literary concerns in other than the broadest terms. Early on, Silko writes: ""I remember the poems you readnew ones . . . It was those that moved me.'' But the reader is never given enough specific comment to speculate upon the writing to which she refers, even if a clear assessment was offered. Wright is equally vague in his evaluations, and the result is a vapid reciprocity of discourse that delivers little insight into either writer's ouevre. (April)