Q: Well, you wanted to write something about writing programs, and you did.
A: Yes.
Q: But the situation has changed, since 35 years ago.
Now, it's
expected of a writer to get an MFA.
A: I know. A writing program is like a farm school, for the big leagues.
They vet you.
They certify that you will fit into the corporate world of
publishing, publicizing yourself in the media of mass communication, behaving like
an officer and a gentleman, not embarrassing your house, or other writers on your
house's list, by example.
You know how to act.
Q: You don't know how to act.
A: I know how, I just won't do it.
A sociopath knows the difference
between right and wrong, he just doesn't give a shit.
An underground writer
knows how to act--he just won't do it.
It's the whole of his charm.
He isn't tempted by their carrot and he isn't afraid of their stick.
Q: It's his value to the culture.
A: That too.
Q: Your essay is an indictment of the profession.
A: Writing isn't a profession, it's a métier.
Professionalizing
it has defanged it.
The writer has bitten his own nuts off to have a career
as a writer.
That's not a very good bargain. For the writer.
Q: Or for the culture.
A: That too.
Q: Are you a voice in the wilderness, howling into the void?
A: No.
For years, readers have been writing to me, "Thank
you. I thought I was crazy. I didn't realize anyone else felt this way."
Q: The town creep in the next town.
A: Yes.
Plus, the ULA oppose the corporatization of literature.
People who publish zines. Who exchange zines with each other.
Q: Anyone else?
A: Naomi Klein says a whole generation are opposed to the twisted values
of corporations. In No Logo.
It's like beatniks all over again, when
your father made napalm, and didn't want to rock the boat.
It's like "Junk
Bonds and Corporate Raiders."
It's a battle between idealists and careerists,
who will do anything to get ahead, regardless of what it does to the environment,
social justice, or their souls.
Culture is about choices, between competing
values.
I throw them into bold relief.
I try to show the personal,
and social costs of choosing wrong.
I'm part of a long and honorable tradition
of writers who do that.
Q: Like Thoreau, hearing back from an agent, "Could you rewrite Walden as a graphic novel? I think I can sell it as an action movie."
A: Like that.