Book Reading

Live readings from two of the English department’s spunkiest

professors, tables of desserts and, oh yes, an open bar, were some

of the amenities that snared a large crowd at the Colorado Review

Benefit last Friday. The benefit, which successfully raised over

$4,300 for CSU’s premiere literary journal, The Colorado Review,

saw a huge turnout as CSU staff and students as well as Fort

Collins residents attended the fundraiser.

English Professors Bill Tremblay and Leslee Becker read excerpts

from literary powerhouses, Jack Kerouac and Flannery O’Conner.

Tremblay read from Kerouac’s books “On the Road,” “The Dharma Bums”

and “The Subterraneans” accompanied by the bongos. Tremblay read

the potent prose of Kerouac in the rhythmically poetic style that

became the trademark of the beat generation.

“He read a section from ‘Dharma Bums’ in the form of a rap. To

see crazy Tremblay perform a beat rap was worth my $25,” said Jason

Adams, a senior English major. “I didn’t think the readings could

get any better but Professor Becker’s reading of the one-legged

woman and the bible salesman was hilarious. Everyone laughed so

hard and it wasn’t just because of the free alcohol.”

Leslee Becker’s reading of Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country

People” differed from Tremblay’s in that she read the humorous

story in a methodical manner that accentuated the absurdity of the

story, which was about a one-legged woman who is seduced by a bible

salesman named Manely Pointer.

Professor of English Robert Henze attended the event and said,

“I especially liked the contrast between Bill Tremblay’s and Tony

Vandaver’s language-ecstatic, bongo-beat, ‘rent a hippie’ rendition

of Jack Kerouac and Leslee Becker’s nearly ruminative reading of

Flannery O’Conner’s southern gothic comic satire as existential

parody.”

The Colorado Review is a literary publication that has published

works from some of the most famous authors and poets in the United

States including E.E. Cummings, Langston Hughes and William Carlos

Williams.

According to Tremblay, The Colorado Review has seen a wealth of

prestigious authors, “Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award

winners … just about every prize in the book.”

Stephanie G’schwindt, editor for The Colorado Review added that

literary journals serve as an important venue for new and

established writers alike to publish their works. Many of today’s

most noted writers realized a substantial career boost after being

published in journals.