Local Writers Gather to Read for Peace

Nearly 100 writers and scholars this week read excerpts from world literature ranging from the Iliad to Sophie's Choice in a 24-hour marathon event commemorating Veteran's Day.

From 6 p.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Tuesday, the participants read selections to a First Parish Church audience that dwindled to six in the middle of the night and swelled to 60 at mid-day.

The event, co-sponsored by New England Writers for Survival (NEWS) and the Cambridge Forum, featured several Harvard faculty members, including Visiting Professor Sissela Bok, Thomas Professor of Divinity Harvey G. Cox, and Associate Professor of Education Carol Gilligan.

Organizers said that the goal of the marathon reading was to increase awareness about issues of war and peace through reflection about the literature. It was the fourth annual Reading for Peace coordinated by NEWS, a writer's association formed in 1982 to press for peace and nuclear disarmament.

In an opening statement read by Gail Mazur, a local writer, the organization affirmed its commitment to the de-escalation of the nuclear arms race.

"New England writers will read selections...that expose the horrors of war, affirm the value of life, and address the paramount issue of peace in a nuclear age," said Mazur.

Inspiration

NEWS also hoped that publicity from this event would inspire other groups around the country to plan similar 24-hour readings, said Marjorie Fletcher, a poet and one of the program's coordinators.

"It's an opportunity to open people's hearts to these questions, and be reflective, in some ways," said Assistant Professor of Literature Michael C. Blumenthal, who read "Song of Myself," a poem by Walt Whitman that expresses a theme of universal brotherhood.

"It's a way to open up our own hearts as well," Blumenthal said.

A committee of organizers assigned the selections to the various speakers. "We subordinated the individuals to the issue," Fletcher said. "We didn't want the reading to be an ego thing."

After reading from Corazon Aquino's September speech at Havard, Bok said that she teaches a course at Brandeis on the philosophy of war "so that I'm very involved in the issue."

"The reading is a time to reflect about war and peace, not necessarily to accomplish anything concrete," Bok said.