{"id":871,"date":"2012-01-17T18:35:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T22:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=871"},"modified":"2013-12-09T15:45:26","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T19:45:26","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-july-10-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-july-10-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: July 10, 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"McNair-to-Hall-7-10-1977-Page-1\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-7-10-1977-Page-2\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-7-10-1977-Page-3\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-7-10-1977-Page-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

July 10, 1977<\/p>\n

Dear Don \u2013<\/p>\n

Thanks for agreeing to be one of the R. Porter
\nlecturers. I don\u2019t think a title is necessary. Thank you
\nespecially for your insistence on doing the thing gratis.
\nSuch generosity is like you, but I\u2019m still surprised
\nand touched. There are three other lecturers: Malcolm
\nCochran (Carl\u2019s son), who will talk about his ceramic
\nsculpture titled \u201cRufus Porter\u201d \u2026 October 6; Peter Benes,
\nwho will speak on early American sandstone iconography\u2026
\nMarch 16; and Betsy Tumis, to lecture about a
\nbook she is doing on Hal Chase, the baseball great
\nand one of the fixers of the World Series, 1919.<\/p>\n

Yes, I did know about the Christ incident.
\nShortly after it happened, I received a call from Owen
\nLee of the Bureau of Educational and Culture Affairs
\nin the State Dep\u2019t. Lee explained that the NY Times
\narticle was \u201csubstantially correct\u201d but asked me
\nto note that there was no trouble in Chile for Christ \u2013
\nthat the trouble was all in the U.S. According<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

to reports made to the BECA by both Christ and Loren
\nDavidson (a recent Fulbrighter at The Catholic University),
\nprofessors in Chile are free to teach, congregate and travel
\nas they please. I just received a call from Davidson during
\nwhich he underscored the above \u2013 will soon get a call
\nfrom Christ himself (Owen Lee is setting up the latter).<\/p>\n

My own position in all this is the same as
\nthat of The BECA\u2019s \u2013 ie<\/span>, that the Fulbright \u2013 Hays
\nexchanges are “people\u2013to\u2013people” in nature, not
\ngov\u2019t\u2013to\u2013gov\u2019t. We have Fulbrighters in most of the
\nmilitary\u2013run gov\u2019ts of South America (only 2
\nS. Am. Countries have democracies), and Fulbrighters in
\nother countries which violate Carter\u2019s human rights
\ncredo (Haiti? Russia?). Should Fulbrights
\nbecome politicized, surely all of these folks, and
\nmany others as well, would all be asked to return home.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve probably been on this subject with you
\nbefore\u2026 Thanks for your concern in all this.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, I\u2019m hoping most fervently that<\/p>\n

3\/<\/p>\n

I can get a copy of Bly\u2019s Neruda translations
\nbefore I leave. (I\u2019ll return yours soon.) As Jane
\nmay have told you, I was to do some translations
\nby contemporary Chilean poets (with help from
\nperhaps one of the teachers at the University) and
\nwould like to have examples of good translations
\nnearby\u2026or the N. Tarn book would be nice, if I can find it.<\/p>\n

I will, of course, keep you in touch with what
\nI\u2019m doing in Chile. Needless to say, I hope to
\nreturn with a finished book\u2026capped off, as Jane\u2019s
\nprobably will be, with translations. I am high about
\nthe way in which the book might extend its
\n\u201cAmericanness\u201d with poems from S. Am.<\/p>\n

I hope Jane showed you the LAST version
\nof my \u201cFather\u201d poem. If she did, I also hope you
\nliked it. Your \u201cSkeleton in Armor\u201d poem reminds me somewhat<\/span>
\nof certain poems I\u2019ve done of elementary school. Its
\nthat why you sent it? I like it, but am still
\nso swept up in \u201cFlies\u201d, nothing else answers half<\/p>\n

4\/<\/p>\n

as well. God, what a poem! I\u2019m taking it with me
\nto Chile, along with The Alligator Bride<\/span>. And do
\nyou happen to have a spare copy of A Roof of Tiger Lilies<\/span>?
\nI think that\u2019s as good a book as you\u2019ve ever done, and
\nI\u2019d like to have it along with me, too.<\/p>\n

But if you don\u2019t OK. It\u2019s probably my
\ncompulsion that I have to have everything<\/span> in my
\nsuitcases before I go.<\/p>\n

Thanks again for agreeing to \u201clecture\u201d \u2013
\nso inexpensively. I\u2019m only sorry I won\u2019t get
\nto hear you.<\/p>\n

yrs,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

A note from McNair about this letter:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>Ronald Christ was a visiting lecturer from the United States whom the military government had been monitoring because of his left-wing connections…. What I call Don’s “Skeleton in Armor” poem may be found in its later, published, version among the notes for the next letter.
\n<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] July 10, 1977 Dear Don \u2013 Thanks for agreeing to be one of the R. Porter lecturers. I don\u2019t think a title is necessary. Thank you especially for your insistence on doing the thing gratis. Such generosity is like you, but I\u2019m still surprised and touched. There are three other lecturers: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27136,35504,35505,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7858,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions\/7858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}