Page Four
T HE MI CH IGA N DA IL Y
Sundov Mav 22. 1 955
Page FyourTHEY MIHIGAN AIL
T
If You Have a Story To Tell-Just Tell It
Allan Seager Combines
writing. "One can make a very
good living as a wrier," he says
Writing, Teaching Careers
in answer to the suggestion that
By JIM DYGERT writing is not a profitable career.
60 and 70 short stories published. As for himself, his income is about
PROF. ALLAN SEAGER of the His work has been in six or seven "50-50" between w r i t i n g and
English department is just like best short story collections (he teaching.
you would expect him to be after can't remember exactly).
reading one of his short stories. es O MAKE a living as a writer,
In "This Town and Salamanca," however, one must write wht
hevewandershalongoaithreadeofnar-Tlected in a book entilted "The Old hwee, nemstwrt'wa
he wanders along a thread of nr-Man of the Mountain," published the market will accept, "The mar-
rative, deftly sketching out the in 1951. But his contact with book ket for erious short stories is
characters. There doesn't seem to pishr1 gths cnrt, wth bos 'shrinking by the year," Prof. Sea-
be any plot-then the last sen- publishers goes further, for he has
written three novels and is work- + ger observes. But, "serious fiction
tence ties it all together, as if a in th .shas never sold well anyplace.
necklace were made from a mil- ing on a fouth "The guy who writes serious
lion pearls in an instant. "Equinox" came out in 1943 and short stories probably can't make
The same soft-spoken noncha- has subsequently been published --rtzes a living," he warns, saying the
lance is evident as he talks about in French, Spanish and Portu- same for serious novels. "The most
writing and his experience with it. guese. "The Inheritance" followed PROF. ALLAN SEAGER popular writer in America, statis
in 1947, and after the book of short . . . from "The Street" to tically saaking, is Erakine Cald'
G' ~~~~Again there is that feeling of noth-pekniErie l-
3 Days Only in following logically but belong- st"ries"mos Berry" appeared in "Amos Berry" well, who began quite seriously
ing there just the same. He pre-153. his home a few miles away in Te- with "Tobacco Road' and has been
H g ins fers to talk about writing in gen- His next novel is to be published cumseh where he lives with his repeating himself ever since."
J. Cfi.H g eral unless you press him for in- in the fall. "I haven't decided on a wife, Barbara, and two daughters, Caldwell has sold 26,000,000
formation about his work. title yet," he remarks. Should the Mary, 12 years old, and Laura, sev- copies of his novels, he points out.
G olf BaIIs One of the first stories he recalls title come after the story has been en years old. Mary has won a high It takes only 14,000 copies sold to
'is the first of his that was publish- written? "With me it does. Some school writing award, "but I didn't put a book on the best seller list
ed. "The Street" started him off in people get a title first and it in- influence her to write," Prof. Sea- but more than that to make much
London in 1933, and evidently im- fluences the story they write." ger insists. money for the author, he adds.
pressed a number of people. "It's As some of his short stories in- The situation is confused, how-
been stolen about four times by THE IDEA IS, if you have a story dicate, Prof. Seager has spent some ever, by the advent of the 25 cent
for TV," he says with a slight amuse- to tell, just tell it. Prof. Seager time in the South. He lived in paper-bound books. "Here the cov-
ment. conducts his creative writing and Memphis, Tenn., from the age of er is more important than any'
Regularly 3 for 1.55 "Coll h sophomore composition classes on 11 until he entered the University thing else, and the companies real-
Cliershad it once, and when .min 1926. To show that his talent ize this."
I was in Rio de Janeiro, I read it this principle. His students are wasn't strictly literary, he swam Short stories, in Prof. Seager's
in a Portuguese magazine." Every not told to write a particular way, 50 and 100 yard races for Matt opinion, are much harder to write
time it appeared, it had a different or in a particular style, or with a Mann's national champion swim- than novels. The short story re-
Spalding title, bt the story was basically particular slant.-They just write, ming teams in 1928 and 1929. He quires "more literary finesse and
the same. He collected from Col- besides reading a few well-knov'n kept it up in England as varsity competence."
G olf C lubs liers, but the others were "too authors, champ at Oxford in the same Some people have talent for
much trouble." He says the story His courses, however, are "not to events. short story writing, but "there is a
was "sharply plotted" as an expla- encourage people to become writ- Now in his twentieth year of limit to everyone's talent." One of
Set of $ 95 nation for the thefts. ers" but "to give a number of peo- teaching at the University, Prof. his objectives in his courses is try.
3 Woods pie a first-hand experience with Seager graduated from here in ing to pinpoint talent. Whenever
i, 2, 3 SINCE "The Street," Prof. Seager the arts." 1930 and from Oxford with a bach- anyone has talent, "it takes a long
Regularly.........40.50 has had, he estimates, between When he's not teaching he's at elor's degree in English Honors in time to find out what the talent
Reguarly.... , . 4.501933. e spent a year as an aso-is
Set of '.ate editor of "Vanity Pair" mag- To those who want to learn to
5 IRONS azine before returning to Ann Ar- write, Prof. Seager says, "Write,"
$3444 bor to teach. That's how he operates. He just
3, 5, 7, 9, In the meantime he has been writes.
putter
Regularly ..... 50.00
Set oN Jazz PlayersEvaluated
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, (Continued from Page 2) fsoeadu phtce
9, putter fashioned and unsophisticated, but
Regula rly . . . . . . . . 70.00 ". .strong, masculine, note-to- every phrase was original and
R l . 7note feeling spontaneous ,
J. C. H g ins sI have said before, all The "Satchmo" of today is only
dependson feeling--not merely a the shell of a formerly great jazz
general overall feeling, but rather musician. His playing is uninspir-.
Irons . each 4.50 o a note-to-note feeling.When many ed, .uninteresting and discourag-
d % 00 6 notes are glazed over in a sloppy ingly commercial. Louis Armstrong
Woods each 6.00 careless way, the music has a wealr stopped playing jazz 25 years ago,
feeling. If there is a strong note- In 1955 he is a man who has slip-
1yB4-to-note feeling, a good overall ped badly.
Johnny B u lla feeling must result.RO EDR GE oyHdig
ROY ELDRIDGE-Roy Eldridge
G olf Balls a.JAZZ IS the one and only origi- was the first man to raise jazz be-
nal American art form. It is yond the level of Satchmo. His
every day is Sun-da an achievement foreign cultures trumpet playing approaches the
Tournament $ 59 \ can admire. Because of this, if for relaxed, flowing quality of Charlie
parkage of 3 ' when yno other reason, American college Parker's alto saxophone. Lennie
you wear students should have a reasonable Tristano once said, "I've heard
__understanding of jazz music and Bird play bad and I've heard Pres
v Faberge's sunshiny the artists who play it. (Lester Young) play bad, but I've
IIn evaluating the playing of mu- never heard Roy play bad-not
sicians identified with jazz, I find even once." Roy Eldrigde played
young-at-heart fragrance it helpful to establish a driterion with a consistently great jazz feel.
interms of the general definition Ing.
F' of jazz. One criterion establishes
; WA .itself - the playing of the late LESTER YOUNG-Lester "Prez"
Charlie "Bird" Parker. No man in lYoung had the most direct in-
the history of music ever possessed fluence on the playing of Charlie
rPeggy uK irk 'tfhe nicest gift O fall t greater musical conception, No Parker. Although Prez's playing
man has ever possessed a stronger was not as complex or as imagi-
AUTOGRAPHED note-to-note rhythmic feeling. No native as Bird's, even Bird could
Sman has ever expressed human not equal his lyrical relaxed style.
G olf C lubs Faberget. 2.50'emotion with more spontaneity, No jazz musician has ever been
purse perfume 2.50 originality, imagination, coherence, able to duplicate Lester's profound
Set of col a exactness, and musicianship. It rhythm feeling of-say-15 years
3 WOODS $ I7 Co*l"gne***tr' '"*"can well be said: "There will nev- ago. Even the Lester of today can't
1 2. and 3.50 er be another "Bird," do it. He is undoubtedly the most
coidtenor saxophonist in jazz
Eah.895 Perfumette Ensemble This doesn't mean that the play- cop
-c miniature perfume ing of other jazz musicians is today Some years ago music was
Set of with matching cologne worthless. On the contrary, each strictly according to Prez" or It
has his own stor to tell But it wasn't jazz. Lester Young made
5 IRONS $ 75 300 the set hooes mean that the playing of ev jazz the way it is today.
3' 5,7 ,9 ery man who plays or tries to play * *
putter jazz music can be evaluated in LENNIE TRISTANO - Lennie
Each ............. .6.25 terms of this one great musician. Tristano, who earned his PhD. in
1t'. . "music from the University of Chi-
MEN'S or WOMEN'S LOUIS ARMSTRONG-"Satch- cago, is undoubtedly the most mu'
ma," as his friends called him, was ically advanced piano player to-
. undoubtedly the first great jazz day. His conception is all encom-
5 9C5 ® 23 50 musician. His early records are a passing, making use of 5/4, 7/4
5.95 to 23.50 ptreasure house of inspired human and 9/4 time as well as the most
feeling. Every note was in the right modern atonal melodic sequences.
Phone NO 2-5501 3 Deliveries LIBERTY at FIFTH Open AM , place-right where all the tech- Tristano has been accused of
Daily 9TpM. D o y nique and trained ability in the coldness by man' musicians, yet
* world couldn't put it, but a great his compositions have all the
nS . Sunday Hours: 9 A.M to 1 P.M.-5 P.M. to 9 P.M. jazz feeling could. Next to Charlie warmness and spontaneity Bird's
::S Ci:.'S"::l:: .^... .: .. ry i" :: l":V.1:VV"V:1::2S g Parker his records sound old- had.