FAU Libraries Media Center - Videographies, Writers

VH 5795 20th Century American Fiction, Part 1 (Lec. 1-4)
Summary: Part 1 of a 4 part series that discuss the great figures in modern American literature. Lecture 1: American Fiction and the Individualist Creed. Lecture 2: The American Self: Ghost in Disguise. Lecture 3: What Produces"Nobody"? Lecture 4: Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio: Writing as the Talking Cure. Lecturer: Arnold Weinstein, Brown University. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5796 20th Century American Fiction, Part 1 (Lectures 5-8)
Summary: Part 1 of a 4 part series that discusses the great figures in modern American literature. Lecture 5: Winesburg: A New American Prose-Poetry. Lecture 6: Hemingway: Journalist, Writer, Legend. Lecture 7: Hemingway as Trauma Artist. Lecture 8: Hemingway's Cunning Art. Lecturer: Arnold Weinstein, Brown University. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5798 20th Century American Fiction, Part 2, Lectures 13 - 16
Summary: 13. "Light in August": Determinism vs. Freedom, 14. "Light in August": Novel as Poem, or Beyond Holocaust, 15. Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God": Canon Explosion, 16. "Their Eyes Were Watching God": From Romance to Myth. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5797 20th Century American Fiction, Part 2, Lectures 9 - 12
Summary: 9. F. Scott Fitzgerald: "Tender Is the Night": Fitzgerald's Second Act. 10. Fitzgerald's Psychiatric Tale, 11. Dick's Dying Fall: An American Story, 1 2. "Light in August": Midpoint of the Faulkner Career. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5799 20th Century American Fiction, Part 3, Lectures 17-20
Summary: 17. Flannery O"Connor: Realist of Distances, 18. O'Connor: Taking the Measure of Region, 19. William Burroughs: Bad Boy of American Literature, 20. "Naked Lunch": the Body in Culture. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5800 20th Century American Fiction, Part 3, Lectures 21 - 24
Summary: 21. "Naked Lunch": Power and Exchange in the Viral World, 22. Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five": Apocalypse Now, 23. Vonnegut's World: Tralfamadore or Trauma?, 24. Robert Coover: Postmodern Fabulator. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5801 20th Century American Fiction, Part 4, Lectures 25 - 28
Summary: 25. "The Public Burning": Execution at Times Square, 26. Robert Coover: Fiction as Fission, 27. Toni Morrison's "Sula": From Trauma to Freedom, 28. Sula: New Black Women. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 5802 20th Century American Fiction, Part 4, Lectures 29 - 32
Summary: 29. Don DeLillo: Decoder of American Frequencies, 30. "White Noise": Representing the Environment, 31. DeLillo and American Dread, 32. Conclusion: Nobody's Home. 120 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT COURSES ON TAPE

VH 7271 Abraham Lincoln
Summary: Scholars and guest examine the final stages of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction through the writings of Abraham Lincoln, with particular attention to the Gettysburg address and the Emancipation Proclamation. 151 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3616 Aime Cesaire: A Voice For History, Part I
Summary: In Part I, L'ile Veilleuse (The Vigilant Island) Cesaire show us his pays natale, its volcano, beaches and colonial towns, a tropical crossroads where Europe, Africa and America meet. 054 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, CARIBBEAN STUDIES, BIOGRAPHY

VH 3617 Aime Cesaire: A Voice For History, Part II
Summary: Part II, Au rendezvous de la conquete (Where the Edges of Conquest Meet) Moves to Paris in the 1930's where Cesaire, Leopold Senghor, first president of Senegal, and the French Guyanese poet Leon Damas developed the concept of negritude, a world wide revindication of African values 056 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, CARIBBEAN STUDIES, BIOGRAPHY

VH 2042 Alex Haley
Summary: This warm portrait of Alex Haley (who died in 1992) shows us the writer who, more than any other, gave whites the shocking insight that blacks had been literally cut off from their own past. That one man's pen could be so powerful is proof that Haley was a first-rate writer. 050 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 4809 Alice Walker
Summary: In this profile, Alice Walker shares with us her remarkable spiritual journey from a sharecropping childhood in rural Georgia to the peace and creativity of her present retreat in Northern California. She reads from her poetry and discusses contemporary America with anger and urgency rooted in an abiding optimism. 030 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: IN BLACK AND WHITE

VH 3256 Alice Walker: A Portrait in the First Person
Summary: Alice Walker describes how the Civil Rights movement transformed her recurrent theme of a woman's recovery of wholeness through resistance to racism and sexism. 035 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3961 Alice Walker: A Portrait in the First Person
Summary: Alice Walker recalls the defining moments of her childhood and explores the themes that course through her novels and poetry-the devastating effects of violence and abuse on women and children, and the determination to overcome the barriers or face and gender to achieve a life worth living. 028 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3063 Allen Ginsberg
Summary: From his apartment and the streets in the Lower East Side of New York City, and in the graveyard at St. Mark's in the Bowery Church, Allen Ginsberg reads excerpts from his poems and discusses his life as a writer. Though much of the discussion concerns Ginsberg's legendary past, he emerges as a vital force in contemporary literature. He talks about his mother's insanity and his lingering guilt over her death. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: WRITERS Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 2276 America in Portrait
Summary: A journey through the poetic twists of the most famous portraits in American literature. A journey carried on the early dreams of a vigorous young nation. 045 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3953 Amiri Baraka
Summary: In this program, Maya Angelou interviews poet, playwright, and political activist Amiri Baraka. Stressing the use of concrete images of time, place, and social condition in his work, Baraka discusses the use of literature as a catalyst for political change. Reading from his poem "Funk Lore, " Baraka explains how he uses jazz and blues rhythms to create metric "melody" within his poems. 028 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 2229 Ancestral Voices
Summary: This episode includes poets who turn to the past and their own cultural heritage to understand the present. Featured at a poetry reading a New Jersey's Glassboro State College and in extensive interviews with Moyers are Garrett Hongo, Joy Harjo and Mary Tall Mountain. 058 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN Series: POWER OF THE WORD WITH BILL MOYERS, THE

VH 2714 As I Remember It
Summary: This intimate portrait of African American writer Dorothy West explores the forgotten role of women in the Harlem Renaissance. Born at the turn of the century to a prosperous Boston family, West experienced the legendary era first-hand. From the perspective of her 83 years, the still active writer relates her memories of growing up Black, privileged and enthralled by literature. Archival footage and photographs, interviews and 056 Min. VIDEO 1991 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN, BIOGRAPHY

VH 4812 August Wilson
Summary: This video introduces one of America's most celebrated playwrights, August Wilson. His on-going project to write a play on African American life set in each decade of this century is one of the most ambitious endeavors in the history of American theater. 022 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS, THEATRE, DRAMA Series: IN BLACK AND WHITE

VH 7276 Benjamin Franklin
Summary: A group of scholars and historians examine the history of the pre-evolutionary era and the early republic through the writings of Benjamin Franklin, including the author's "Autobiography." 151 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, U.S. HISTORY, WRITERS

VH 1693 Black American Literature (Valerie Smith)
Summary: Valerie Smith surveys the development of black American literature from the 1890's to the 1930's, examining the achievements of the authors who consolidated the Afro-American literary tradition at the turn of the century (notably Charles Chesnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar), the major poets and novelists of the Harlem Renaissance (notably Nellie Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston), who provide a unique, double perspective on racial and sexual 025 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 7287 Black Elk
Summary: A group of scholars, historians, and Native Americans examine the historical events of the Plains Indians in the 19th century, and Indian Removal Policy and warfare between the U.S. and various tribes, with reference to Black Elk's writings from "Black Elk Speaks". 142 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, U.S. HISTORY, WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN

VH 1438 Black Female Authors & Playwrights
Summary: Hosted by Phil Donahue. Features Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Michelle Wallace & Angela Davis. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 2068 Black Women Writers
Summary: African-American men have accused African-American women writers of achieving success by criticizing them. In this specially adapted Phil Donahue program, Alice Walker, Michelle Wallace, Ntosake Shange, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou argue that this criticism reflects the men's poor self-image. 028 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 2063 Bret Harte: Chronicler of the Golden West
Summary: The Luck of Roaring Camp, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, & Tennessee's Partner are cornerstones of American literature, of the very chronicle of America & its self-created myth. This program shows us their author-miner, school teacher, unsuccessful satirist & poet, pioneer in the genres of short story & the proto-Western-& examines his world. 018 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS

VH 2145 Buckaroo Bard
Summary: Actor Richard Farnsworth & cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell bring the old west to life through poetry. 056 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN COWBOY COLLECTION, THE

VH 7591 Caryl Phillips
Summary: Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts, West Indies, and has published five works of fiction which present different perspectives of the African diaspora and explore the anatomy of slavery with stylistic virtuosity and memorable characters who tell the stories of those who survived slavery. He reads from his work "Crossing the River", followed by an interview where he discusses characterization, belonging to two cultures, and modern English literature by authors from former British colonies. Interview by Pico Iyer. 060 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, CARIBBEAN STUDIES, WRITERS

VH 6442 Celebration of Black History: The Writers, Stories, Legacy
Summary: A live, interactive satellite video conference featuring prominent African American writers. Discusses the impact of African American literature as it pertains to American culture and life. Focuses on the history of African and African American storytelling, the resurgence of Black authors and their works, and pays a tribute to Alex Haley and his contributions to American literature. 115 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: BEYOND THE DREAM

VH 4810 Charles Johnson
Summary: In this video Johnson describes his over-arching literary objective: to explore classic metaphysical questions from East and West against the backdrop of African American life and history. 027 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: IN BLACK AND WHITE

VH 3252 Chekhov
Summary: A documentary of the life and loves, the thoughts and works, and great themes and the little individual lights and shadows that made Chekhov the man and the artist. Set in Moscow in 1914 - ten years after Chekhov's death, long enough to provide some perspective on his greatness, close enough for memories to have remained fresh - the program gives us Chekhov through the eyes of those who worked with him and loved him, using Russian documentary footage to make both the playwright and his time come to life. 053 Min. VIDEO 1996 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1197 Chinua Achebe
Summary: Bill Moyers interviews Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe who discusses the West's often inaccurate portrayal of Africa and how it is the African Storyteller's obligation to be the collective memory of the African people. 029 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: SOCIOLOGY, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 5809 Chinua Achebe: Africa's Voice
Summary: This program analyzes the impact of Chinua Achebe and his writings have had on world literature, as well as his influence as an editor and a spokesman for a generation of African writers. 061 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3989 Come Celebrate with Me
Summary: In the program, two poets reflect on the cultural legacies they have inherited. Lucille Clifton and David Mura bring their talent and humor to bear as they look at the past and the lives they live in America today. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 1820 Conquering America with Bharati Mukherjee
Summary: Bharati Mukherjee writes vivid, sensual and troubling stories about America's newest immigrants -- Asians, like herself. In this episode, Mukherjee talks about being an immigrant in America today. In her opinion, the new immigrants are reinventing the idea of America. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: SOCIOLOGY, ASIAN STUDIES, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 7906 Conversar Es Humano: Entrevista Con Octavio Paz
Summary: Mexican author Octavio Paz is interviewed in Spanish by Enrico Mario Santi and reads from some of his books. 056 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1579 Conversation with C.L.R. James, A
Summary: An interview with Trinidad's C. L. R. James, writer, philosopher, agitator, novelist, politician, Marxist, writer and critic. 060 Min. VIDEO Subject: ANTHROPOLOGY, WRITERS, CARIBBEAN STUDIES

VH 2079 D.H. Lawrence
Summary: Using both modern & archival footage, Burgess evokes the world of one of Britain's leading 20th century writers. Burgess presents his own appraisal of the writer whose explicit views on sex made him a controversial figure. 055 Min. VIDEO 1986 Subject: WRITERS Series: PROFILE OF A WRITER

VH 2233 Dancing on the Edge of the Road
Summary: Focuses on one of America's leading poets, Stanley Kunitz. The program will feature him at a reading in New York City and in extensive interviews with Bill Moyers at his Provincetown, Massachusetts home. 058 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: POWER OF THE WORD WITH BILL MOYERS, THE

VH 2230 Derek Walcott
Summary: Both a poet and teacher, Derek Walcott is a West Indian born a British subject on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. In his poetry, Walcott delves into the impact of the English language on his oppressed homeland. 029 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, CARIBBEAN STUDIES Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 3262 Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon: A Life Together
Summary: Husband and wife poets Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon are two of America's most respected literary figures. Hall is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, Kenyon is an award winning poet and translator. In this program, Bill Moyers visits Hall and Kenyon at their farmhouse in New Hampshire, for a conversation about their careers, their poetry, and their life together. Their discussions are punctuated by readings at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival and before an audience of their neighbors. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS Series: MOYERS COLLECTION, THE

VH 2044 E.E. Cummings, The Making of a Poet
Summary: This esthetic self-portrait has been called the best film ever made about poetry & a poet. It is told in the poet's own voice, poetry, drawings, paintings, & notebooks, rediscovering the scenes, sites, people, & events that shaped Cummings' vision. 024 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 1205 E.L. Doctorow
Summary: Novelist E.L. Doctorow discusses the decline of the political novel in American literature and contrasts the writer's capacity for stimulating changes in political attitudes with the politician's tendency towards manipulation of people's political passions. Interviewed by Bill Moyers. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: SOCIOLOGY, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 2059 Earlier Twentieth Century, The
Summary: The program includes selections from Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, Robert Frost, Elliot and Auden. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: SURVEY OF ENGLISH POETRY

VH 7286 Edith Wharton
Summary: A group of scholars and historians examine the history of the Gilded Age through the writings of Edith Wharton. Subjects addressed include the United States at the turn of the century, life in upper class society, how "old money" families dealt with the newly rich and America's growing role on the international stage. 149 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3254 Edna St. Vincent Millay: Renascence
Summary: Edna St. Vincent Millay exemplified the rebirth of American letters after World War I and helped to shape the poetic ethos of the 1920's. Largely in her own words, using family and period photos, this portrait traces her poetic development from her Maine roots, through her Greenwich Village years, to her European travels and her growing social and political activism. 060 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: WRITERS

VH 5703 Elders
Summary: Introduces readers to the Black poets who laid the groundwork for today's Black poetry renaissance. Includes poetry from Samuel W. Allen, Mari Evans, Naomi Long Madgett, Alvin Aubert and Pinkie Gordon Lane. 114 Min. VIDEO 1998 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: FURIOUS FLOWER: AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY 1960 - 1995

VH 0294 Elizabeth Bishop
Summary: Explores the life and poetry of Elizabeth Bishop through illustrated readings of her poetry, and conversations with friends, colleagues, poets, a biographer and critics. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 7279 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Summary: A group of historians and activists examine the history of the women's rights movement and social relations in the 19th century through the writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, especially through the author's "Declaration of Sentiments." Includes conversations with descendants of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and reenactments of the women's rights convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. 148 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 0290 Emily Dickinson
Summary: An exploration of the work and conjectures about the life of Emily Dickinson, includes dramatized incidents from her life and illustrated readings of her poetry with commentary by poets, writers, critics and biographers. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 2064 Ernest Hemingway: Grace Under Pressure
Summary: The only major film biography of the man who single-handedly forged the modern novel. It shows the relationship between Hemingway's life & works, & evaluates both. Containing old photographs, newsreel footage & clips from the big Hemingway features. 055 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY

VH 0285 Ezra Pound
Summary: Situations from the life of Ezra Pound, with recitations from his poetry. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 2045 Ezra Pound, Poet's Poet
Summary: This film captures Ezra Pound in his eighties, retracing his life: his birth in Idaho, boyhood in Philadelphia, his years in England, his Paris association in the 1920's with other expatriates-Joyce, Stein, Hemingway among others- & his love affair with Rapallo & Venice. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 3984 Field of Time, The
Summary: Two courageous women artists who have turned potential tragedy into triumph are testimony to the healing powers of poetry. Award winning authors Sandra McPherson and Linda McCarriston revel in the beauty of love, family, and nature, exploring and elevating their lives through wondrous and passionate words. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 3704 First Murder, The
Summary: This program focuses on the story of Cain and Abel and asks the question "Are we our brother's keeper?" The program deals with such issues as sibling relationships and the nature of justice and mercy. Featured in the program are authors John Barth, Rebecca Goldstein, Mary Gordon, Oscar Hijuelos, Charles Johnson, Faye Kellerman, and Burton Visotzky. 060 Min. VIDEO 1996 Subject: PSYCHOLOGY, WRITERS Series: GENESIS: A LIVING CONVERSATION

VH 4845 For My People: The Life and Writing of Margaret Walker
Summary: For My People: The Life and Writing of Margaret Walker gives the long overdo recognition to one of the seminal figures of American literature. "For My People" combines conversations with Margaret Walker, commentary from leading scholars and from her poetry to make a powerful argument for the centrality of her work to 20th century American literature. Directed by: Judith McCray. 027 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 0571 Frances Steloff/Memoirs of a Bookseller
Summary: An intimate portrait of Francis Steloff, the founder of the Gotham Book Mart, center for avant-garde literature and literati since 1920. Includes interview with Steloff. 028 Min. VIDEO 1987 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7282 Frederick Douglass
Summary: Guests examine the history of slavery and freedom in 19th century America through the life and writings of Frederick Douglass. 141 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 5884 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Summary: In this interview with Silvia Lemus, Gabriel Garcia Marquez discusses his life and work from a highly personal plane. 044 Min. VIDEO 1998 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, WRITERS Series: CONVERSATIONS WITH AMERICAN LATIN WRITERS

VH 5922 Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Witch Writing
Summary: This in-depth interview is presented in the form of a conversation with an old friend he has not seen in a long while. The program is structured to suggest an apparent disorder of time. Assisted by readings and dramatizations of his works, the master of "magic realism" focuses on the supernatural aspects of his spellbinding narrative style, in an effort to convey his particular vision of the world. 054 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1605 Gathering of Men, A: Robert Bly with Bill Moyers
Summary: This program chronicles a three-day workshop for men in Austin, Texas, including Bill Moyers' interview with Robert Bly, winner of a National Book Award in 1968 & one of America's leading poets who has spent a great deal of time exploring how men think & feel about themselves. 090 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, SOCIOLOGY

VH 7831 George Santayana
Summary: A look at the life of Spanish-born philosopher and author, George Santayana. 030 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: LATIN AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: HISPANIC AND LATIN AMERICAN HERITAGE

VH 4014 Gerald Vizenor
Summary: Drawing on his Ojibwa heritage, the bitter effects of his father's murder when he was himself still a baby, his intermittent formal education, and his need to reconcile the tribal past with the political present, Vizenor has, poem by poem, story by story and novel by novel constructed an impressive oeuvre that marks him as among the most prolific and most intellectually challenging writers of the Native American renaissance. 050 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, NATIVE AMERICAN Series: NATIVE AMERICAN NOVELISTS

VH 5344 Germaine Greer Uncensored
Summary: Germaine Greer discusses her views on a variety of topics including marriage, men, sexuality, and religion. Some language may be objectionable. 029 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2060 Gertrude Stein and a Companion
Summary: A compelling double portrait of Gertrude Stein & Alice Toklas, based entirely on historical materials. The program interweaves Stein's verse, her feelings about art, the arts, America, war, Hemingway, & Toklas, with Toklas' recollections about their tempestuous 40-year-long relationship & the many major talents the two women knew & nurtured. 087 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2061 Ghost Writer, The
Summary: A writer recalls the time 22 years earlier when he met a world-famous author living in seclusion with two women: his wife & a beautiful young girl. The young writer discovers himself and his talents. 083 Min. VIDEO 1984 Subject: WRITERS

VH 4808 Gloria Naylor
Summary: In this program Naylor discusses the value and difficulty of maintaining an African American identity in a world dominated by whites. Naylor reminds her readers, "to celebrate voraciously that which is yours." 021 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: IN BLACK AND WHITE

VH 2078 Gore Vidal
Summary: Vidal talks about his relatives-in-law, the Kennedy's, & his fellow writers. Includes extracts from his movies, "The Best Man" & "Myra Breckinridge." 058 Min. VIDEO 1986 Subject: WRITERS Series: PROFILE OF A WRITER

VH 6513 Great Women Writers
Summary: Three female writers, Rita Dove, S. E. Hinton, and Maya Angelou, reveal the roots of their passion for writing. 024 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY

VH 3267 Greenwich Village Writers: The Bohemian Legacy
Summary: For more than a century, New York's Greenwich Village was home, playground, and inspiration to many of America's leading writers and artists - Henry James, Edith Wharton, Eugene O'Neill, Theodore Dreiser, Stephen Crane, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Willa Cather, e.e. cummings, Allen Ginsberg, and Bob Dylan, among many others. How these writers used and were shaped by the Village is the subject of this lively history, which includes readings and commentary by today's Village authors. 030 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7283 Harriet Beecher Stowe
Summary: A pair of scholars examine the history of slavery, abolitionism and antebellum era society through the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe. 152 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 0288 Hart Crane
Summary: Situations from the life of Hart Crane, with recitations from his poetry. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 3988 Heart of Things, The
Summary: Three poets who revel in language's ability to reveal culture and history, Adrienne Rich, Victor Hernandez Cruz, and Michael S. Harper are changing the way poetry is heard, read and absorbed. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 7291 Henry Adams
Summary: A trio of scholars and historians examine the history of the Gilded Age through the works of Henry Adams, including his Pulitzer Prize winning "The Education of Henry Adams." 146 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7288 Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson
Summary: A discussion of the early republic, the rise of transcendentalism and American intellectual history through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson such as"Nature and Walking, " and Henry David Thoreau's " Walden." Features tours of sites relevant to the two authors. 151 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2102 Henry Ossawa Tanner
Summary: From 19th century America, to the Salons and ateliers of turn of the century Paris, Henry Ossawa Tanner overcame obstacles of race and art to become one of the greatest American painters of his time. 016 Min. VIDEO 1991 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3986 Here in the Mind
Summary: Gary Snyder and Daisy Zamora have each engaged in battle. The staunch defender of the natural world and the soldier in the Nicaraguan civil war share the same weapon, the power of language to change the way we think, feel, and act. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 6437 I Am Woman / Voices of Power: African-American Women
Summary: African-American women have captured the moral imagination of mainstream America through their essays, novels, poetry, and other artistic endeavors, breaching the static lines of race, gender, and class. How have their reelections so clearly articulated the hopes and philosophies of so many? This program examines the emergence of African-American women as popular and powerful voices of social conscience. 029 Min. VIDEO 2000 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS

VH 4703 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Summary: Based on the best selling autobiography by Maya Angelou. Her life began in the vicious racist, Depression era Arkansas with the sensitive Maya being shunted between her grandmother's house and her mother's - where she is raped... and withdraws into total silence. Finally, she speaks again and in her valedictory address, shares her realization. "In order to lift your voice, you have to lift your head." Directed by: Fielder Cook. 096 Min. VIDEO 1978 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3705 I, The Worst Of All (Yo, La Peor De Todas)
Summary: Drawn from Nobel Prize Winner Octavio Paz's book, THE TRAPS OF FAITH, I THE WORST OF ALL is a magnificent portrayal of 17th century Mexican poet Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz, one of the Spanish language's greatest poets. In order to pursue her passion for writing, Juana (Assumpta Serna) enters the convent. There she develops an intimate relationship with vicereine (Dominique Sanda), who inspires her poetry. But when the forces of the Inquisition invade the convent, the women have only each other to turn to. Director: Maria-Luisa Bemberg. 105 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: COMMUNICATION, WRITERS, LATIN AMERICAN, DRAMA, BIOGRAPHY

VH 1696 Identifiable Qualities: Toni Morrison
Summary: Toni Morrison speaks about such topics as the events of the sixties which led her to write her first novel, "The Bluest Eye, " the use of personal experience as a source for her strong Black female characters, and the advantage to publishers of placing Black writers in the mainstream. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 6068 Indecent Acts
Summary: In 1895, Oscar Wilde, the most famous writer of the Victorian age, was found guilty of homosexual crimes and sentenced to two years hard labor. This film, through readings and reconstruction of the courtroom scene, contrasts the treatment that Wilde suffered with that of contemporary gay sex offenders. 054 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS

VH 5706 Initiates
Summary: Highlights the younger poets of the 1990s who represent the promise and diversity of Black poetry as it develops into the 21st century. Includes Elizabeth Alexander and members of the Dark Room Collective: Thomas Sayers Ellis, Kevin Yong, Sharan Strange, Major Jackson, Vera Beatty, John Keene and Natasha Trethewey. 027 Min. VIDEO 1998 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: FURIOUS FLOWER: AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY 1960 - 1995

VH 5841 Interview with Tillie Olsen, An
Summary: Historian Peter Carroll, interviews Tillie Olsen about her well-known short story, "I Stand Here Ironing, " and the catalyst that transformed her back into a professional writer after 20 years of motherhood. Title on container: Tillie Olsen, "I Stand Here Ironing." 018 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS

VH 0350 Isaac Bashevis Singer
Summary: Narrated by Robert Lanchester. 043 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3168 Isaac Bashevis Singer: Isaac in America
Summary: Narrated by Judd Hirsch. This program brings us the wisdom and the wonderful wit that makes Isaac Bashevis Singer so unique and so special. We have not just a journey through his life and words, but we also have a candid and thoroughly entertaining Isaac Bashevis Singer himself. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS

VH 5584 Isaac in America
Summary: Presents a biography of Nobel Prize winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer as he converses with friends in a popular cafeteria, responds to post lecture questions, and addresses people in his study. Also includes documentary footage from the 1978 Nobel ceremonies, and Judd Hirsch reads excerpts from Singer's stories. Directed by Amram Nowak. 054 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS Series: JEWISH HERITAGE VIDEO COLLECTION

VH 3253 Isabel Allende: An Extraordinary Life
Summary: When her daughter became ill and fell into a coma, Isabel Allende began to write the story of her family "in case Paula wakes up and has no memory." Isabel Allende tells the story of her life and the events in it. 052 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS, LATIN AMERICAN

VH 5885 Isabel Allende: The Woman's Voice in Latin Amer. Literature
Summary: Isabel Allende, a Latin American novelist, is interviewed about the beliefs and emotions that shape her writing. She describes her views on life, literature, women's rights, reviewers and how she creates the characters in her novels. 056 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, WRITERS

VH 2221 James Alan McPherson
Summary: James McPherson speaks frankly about writing frustrations and offers his views on a variety of subjects including black studies and creative writing classes. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: WRITER'S WORKSHOP

VH 1341 James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
Summary: Presents a look at author James Baldwin's life as reflected in his words and reminiscences of family and friends. 086 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 2217 James Dickey
Summary: This award-winning poet and author of the best-selling novel and major motion picture "Deliverance" discusses his art. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: WRITER'S WORKSHOP

VH 7274 James Fenimore Cooper
Summary: A group of scholars and historians examine Native American relations and the history of the late 18th and early 19th American frontier through the writings of James Fenimore Cooper, especially through the author's "The Last of the Mohicans." Includes a tour of the Fenimore Art Museum. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN

VH 7281 James Madison, Thomas Jefferson
Summary: A group of scholars and historians examine the nation's founding through the writings and lives of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. 142 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 4013 James Welch
Summary: Part Blackfoot, part Gros Ventre Indian, Welch finds his subject matter in his Indian heritage and his plots in the human emotions and trials common to all humans. Here, Welch discusses his background, his sources, his vision, and his personal way of particularizing the universal. 050 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, NATIVE AMERICAN Series: NATIVE AMERICAN NOVELISTS

VH 2075 Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown
Summary: Cocteau describes his encounters with luminaries such as Picasso, Renoir, Nijinsky, Satie, & Chaplin. Photographs, archival footage, & clips from Cocteau's films provide a precious record of an appealing artist. 058 Min. VIDEO 1983 Subject: WRITERS Series: PROFILE OF A WRITER

VH 2218 John Gardner
Summary: The best-selling author of "October Light" and the "Sunlight Dialogues" explains his requirement for successful fiction and advises young writers how to study people and their environment. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: WRITER'S WORKSHOP

VH 2219 John Hawkes
Summary: The author of "Travesty" and "Second Skin", explains how "the imperfect really conveys the essence of perfection more than a whole object." 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: WRITER'S WORKSHOP

VH 2220 John Irving
Summary: John Irving reflects on his career and the way he chooses to explore his subjects and sources. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: WRITER'S WORKSHOP

VH 2353 John Keats: Poet
Summary: Written by Archibald MacLeish, this video dramatizes the live of Keats from his early years in England until his death in Rome at the age of 26. Excerpts from Keat's letters and poetry reveal the integrity of the man and the genius of the poet. 030 Min. VIDEO 1973 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3447 John Steinbeck
Summary: Drawing on archival photographs and film as well as specially shot footage in the locations he made famous-places like the Salinas Valley, Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur-this program sets his writings and his life in perspective, providing a new interpretation of Steinbeck's work. 045 Min. VIDEO 1996 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY

VH 4813 John Wideman
Summary: In this video Wideman discusses the dilemma of the committed African American intellectual torn between the urban underclass and a predominantly white, middle-class literary audience. 026 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: IN BLACK AND WHITE

VH 2080 Jorge Luis Borges
Summary: Weaves together dramatized sequences from Borges' original stories to his personal experience, & attempts to reconcile the public & private images of this 20th century writer. 076 Min. VIDEO 1986 Subject: WRITERS Series: PROFILE OF A WRITER

VH 1212 Joseph Heller
Summary: Bill Moyers interviews novelist Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22, discussing the absurdities of American politics and culture and similar occurrences in ancient Greece. 029 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: SOCIOLOGY, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 2076 Joseph Heller
Summary: Shows Heller at home & on Coney Island, where he grew up, & captures the vitality of his latest novel, "God Knows, " with dramatized excerpts. More somberly, it draws a parallel between the main character as he faces death & Heller himself. 055 Min. VIDEO 1986 Subject: WRITERS Series: PROFILE OF A WRITER

VH 2448 Joseph Heller
Summary: Heller is so closely identified with Catch-22 (and with good reason-it is one of the seminal books of mid-century) that he has spent the rest of his literary career trying to live down his own success. In this portrait, he shows that he is more than a one-book author and that his absurdist wit, irreverent philosophy, and self-aware literary style have been applied with lasting results in a growing body of serious work. 050 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3064 Joyce Carol Oates
Summary: In this vignette, Joyce Carol Oates is seen on location in her home near Princeton University, a setting much like that of her novel, AMERICAN APPETITES. In this intimate environment, Oates reads scenes from the novel and shares her memories and views on subjects ranging from her childhood of poverty in Niagara County, NY, to the relationship between real life and the written word. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: WRITERS Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 2052 Kate Chopin, The Joy that Kills
Summary: The widely-heralded adaptation of the short story by Kate Chopin, the late-19th century writer whose work is only now receiving the major recognition it deserves. The setting is Kate Chopin's own world-the world of the upperclass Creole society which dominated New Orleans in the 1870's. 056 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 2065 Kate Chopin: Five Stories of an Hour
Summary: Consists of five versions of the same short story, "The Story of an Hour, " which examines the behavior and feelings of a woman on the day she is informed of her husband's death. 026 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS

VH 2051 Katherine Anne Porter
Summary: Porter wrote some of the best American short fiction of any age. She moves, sometimes plainly, sometimes unseen, throughout her world-a complex person combining the independence of a woman raised as a tomboy, the unconventionality of the artist, & the strait-laced late-Victorian-Texas views of propriety with which she condemned others who lived as she did. 056 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 2047 Kurt Vonnegut, A Self Portrait
Summary: Vonnegut shows us where he came from & how & why he writes as he does. Examines the sources out of which he creates, the connections between satire & science fiction, his relationship to other writers, & the intertwinings of experience, nightmare, fantasy, & humor that went into his principal works. 029 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 0286 Langston Hughes
Summary: A chronological look at the life and work of Langston Hughes with illustrated readings from his poetry and interviews with friends, colleagues and a biographer. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: AMERICAN STUDIES, WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 7990 Last Angel of History, The
Summary: Explores the relationships between Pan-African culture, science fiction, space exploration, and computer technology. Included are interviews with black cultural figures, from musicians, actors and writers, to astronauts and cultural critics. 045 Min. VIDEO 1996 Subject: ART, WRITERS

VH 3249 Leslie M. Silko
Summary: Rarer even than Native American writers known outside their own communities are Native American women writers. The best known is Leslie Marmon Silko, whose work is strongly rooted in her own matrilineal tribal background. Like all writing of lasting value, it uses particular experiences and places to reveal universal truths. Here Silko discusses her own background and the interrelationship between her smaller, immediate Indian world and the larger, brutal surrounding world. 050 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN Series: NATIVE AMERICAN NOVELISTS

VH 3061 Li - Young Lee
Summary: Influenced by the Psalms of the Old Testament. Li-Young Lee writes about his extraordinary family history and his relationship with his father. He contemplates these themes as one might a delicate flower in his poem ALWAYS A ROSE. Here in his family's townhouse on the north side of Chicago, Lee speaks about his work, and the energy and his obsessive relationship to it. He is also the grandson of the first president of the People's Republic of China. 030 Min. VIDEO\ 1991 Subject: WRITERS Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 2252 Life Together, A
Summary: Two of America's most respected literary figures, Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon, join Bill Moyers in this intimate conversation about their careers, their poetry, and their lives together as husband and wife. 060 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: WRITERS Series: BILL MOYERS' JOURNAL

VH 3259 Living Language, The
Summary: This program features poets James Autry and Quincy Troupe, both of whom work with the oral tradition to lift poetry off the page and bring it into the community. James Autry, a businessman and publisher, writes poetry about the business world and the Southern culture of his youth. His work includes such poems as "Thoughts on Firing a Salesman." In this program, Autry reads his poetry at a business meeting and a church. Quincy Troupe, a professor of American and the Third World literature, is equally exciting reading his poetry in a classroom, prison or bar. The positive response of a group of prisoners to Troupe's poetry classes shows how poetry can speak to and for people in all conditions. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: POWER OF THE WORD WITH BILL MOYERS, THE

VH 3255 Long Day's Journey into Night
Summary: O'Neill's method of building a towering structure out of a simple story, without much action and in ordinary language, is demonstrated through the superb performances. 047 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2870 Looking for Langston
Summary: Swooning, stylish, and sexy, the film is a musing meditation of the black poet Langston Hughes. Across its multi-textured elements, the film attempts to reclaim Langston Hughes as an important black gay voice in American culture. Enlisting the poetry of Essex Hamphill and Bruce Nugent, and dedicated to the memory of James Baldwin. A lyrical exploration of black and white gay identities. Original footage of the Cotton Club in the 1920's and period blues. 045 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: COMMUNICATION, WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 1058 Lorraine Hansberry
Summary: Traces the artistic growth and vision of Black playwright Lorraine Hansberry. She describes her life and work, with excerpts from A Raisin In The Sun, The Sign In Sidney Brustein's Window, and Les Blancs. 035 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, DRAMA, BIOGRAPHY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 1207 Louise Erdrich & Michael Dorris: The Broken Cord
Summary: Bill Moyers interviews authors Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris about American Indians's status and condition in modern America. 029 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN, AMERICAN STUDIES Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 2066 Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino
Summary: Luis Valdez, the founder of the West Coast theatrical group "El Teatro Campesino" describes how he became a playwright and director and explains how his plays retrace the experiences of Chicano families. 026 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS

VH 5334 Luisa Valenzuela
Summary: Considered to be one of Argentine culture's foremost modern interpreters. Valenzuela talks about her life as a writer and analyzes several of her works within the context of four basic influences - history, politics, sex, and feminism. She discusses literary censorship under a repressive military regime. 033 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS, LATIN AMERICAN

VH 0291 Marianne Moore
Summary: Situations from the life of Marianne Moore, with recitations from her poetry. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 7275 Mark Twain
Summary: Scholars and guests examine the Reconstruction era, the Gilded Age and race relations through the writings of Mark Twain. 146 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 7284 Mary Chesnut
Summary: Guest examine the social, political and military history of the Civil War ear from Confederate perspective, by examining the journals of Mary Chesnut. 150 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7140 Maya Angelou
Summary: Through interviews with the author, her family and friends and archival footage and photographs discusses the life and works of Maya Angelou, the African-American poet and author. 045 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: INTIMATE PORTRAIT

VH 4870 Maya Angelou Perspective
Summary: Ms. Angelou talked about the balms, the healing powers, which have maintained African Americans in their struggle for equality in the U.S. She emphasized that leaders, teachers, and poetry are such balms. She also read from some of her works and shared personal stories about some of the balms in her life. 059 Min. VIDEO 1998 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 2131 Maya Angelou: Rainbow in the Clouds
Summary: Poet, activist and teacher Maya Angelou takes viewers by the hand and heart to explore the importance and impact of faith in people's daily lives. 060 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2054 Metaphysical and Devotional Poetry
Summary: The power, vigor, audacity, & spiritual progression of John Donne are seen in examples of both his live poems & his intensely moving religious poems. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: SURVEY OF ENGLISH POETRY

VH 1694 Mitsuye & Nellie: Asian American Poets
Summary: A moving and challenging double portrait of two women whose poetry expresses the immigrant experience of Asian American women in a society contemptuous and suspicious of "Orientals." 059 Min. VIDEO Subject: ASIAN STUDIES, WRITERS

VH 2049 My Jack London, A Daughter Remembers
Summary: Introducing the author of those well-loved action stories whose rugged example & realist style influenced writers from Hemingway to Orwell, his daughter traces her father's life through personal reminiscence, archival family photos, & rare film footage. 025 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 3250 N. Scott Momaday
Summary: The best known of the Native American writers, N. Scott Momaday is the most widely published and read, the recipient of the most and most valued awards and prizes for both his poetry and his prose. A Ph.D. in English literature, he has combined his study of Western literature with the themes as well as the structures of his Kiowa Indian heritage. Here, Momaday discusses what it means to a Native American to be an American citizen, and reveals the artist, thinker, and imaginative creator behind (or perhaps at the core of) his impressive and important body of work. 050 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN Series: NATIVE AMERICAN NOVELISTS

VH 7008 Naguib Mahfouz: The Passage of a Century
Summary: Interview with the Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, supplemented by interviews with other Arab intellectuals. readings from the author's works, and glimpses of everyday life in Cairo, a city Mahfouz has left only three times in his life and the subject of much of his writing. 050 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: MIDDLE EAST, WRITERS

VH 7273 Nathaniel Hawthorne
Summary: Guest examine the history of the antebellum era, the transcendental movement and national politics through the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 149 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2077 Norman Mailer
Summary: This self-portrait includes interviews with Mailer's family & clips from his films, but, chiefly, it allows this writer the chance to talk - about his generation, drugs & power, & his favorite sport, boxing, to name but a few of the topics. 057 Min. VIDEO 1986 Subject: WRITERS Series: PROFILE OF A WRITER

VH 5150 On Writing
Summary: Reveals a variety of insights into both the art and the craft of writing--including where they get some of their inspiration. These interviews offer a rare opportunity to explore the writing process from the author's perspective. 025 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT THEMES IN LITERATURE

VH 4006 Oscar Wilde, Wit's End
Summary: A biographical sketch of the Irish born writer, from his days at Oxford to the revelation and trial that led to his incarceration in the Reading Jail. Oscar Wilde was famously flamboyant. His nonconformity was expressed in his works and his appearances. 050 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7833 Pablo Neruda
Summary: Chronicles the life of one of Chile's most renowned poets. Believing that poetry should express the political struggles of the people, he was persecuted for his beliefs, esteemed for his poetic achievement. 030 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: LATIN AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: HISPANIC AND LATIN AMERICAN HERITAGE

VH 8142 Palabra: A Sampling Of Contemporary Latino Writers
Summary: Contemporary Latino writers read selections from their work. 052 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: LATIN AMERICAN, WRITERS

VH 6311 Peephole Art: Beckett for Television
Summary: Excerpts from three works written specifically for the screen by Nobel-prize winning Irish playwright and novelist, Samuel Beckett. Includes introductions and commentary by Irish actor Chris O'Neill. 036 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7768 Placido: Blood of the Poet, The
Summary: Portrays the dramatic and controversial life of Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdes (Placido), a mulatto Cuban poet, who was accused of conspiracy and martyred by the Spanish Colonial Government for his leading role in the rise of African-Hispanic society in 19th century's Cuba. A film by Sergio Giral. In Spanish with English subtitles. 092 Min. VIDEO 1986 Subject: DRAMA, WRITERS, CARIBBEAN STUDIES

VH 3261 Poet Laureate Rita Dove
Summary: A Pulitzer Prize winner before she was 35, Rita Dove, at age 40, is the youngest poet to hold the post of Poet Laureate of the United States. In this program with Bill Moyers, Dove Talks about her life and work, the relationship between poetry and power, and her plan for taking poetry to the people. The program also features Dove reading extensive selections from her works (including her Pulitzer Prize winning collection THOMAS AND BEULAH) and in performance before an audience. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: MOYERS COLLECTION, THE

VH 5734 Poets Laureate: The American Voice in Poetry
Summary: The President and Mrs. Clinton host present and past Poets Laureate of the United States: Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass and Rita Dove. The Poets Laureate recite excerpts of famous poems and speak about the evolution of poetry through the century. 090 Min. VIDEO 1998 Subject: WRITERS Series: MILLENNIUM EVENINGS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

VH 3189 Portrait of Maya Angelou, A
Summary: Bill Moyers accompanies poet and actress Maya Angelou on her return to her home town, where they make note of the ways that memory and experience impinge upon art. "The truth is that you can never leave home. You take it with you everywhere you go. It's under your skin. It moves the tongue or slows the colors; it impedes upon the logic." There are Angelou's words upon her return to Stamps, Arkansas, her home town. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: CREATIVITY WITH BILL MOYERS

VH 2053 Prologue to Chaucer, A
Summary: Reaches out to students of The Canterbury Tales to relate its characters & themes to everyday life in late 14th-century England. 029 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3258 Ramona: A Story of Passion and Protest
Summary: Helen Hunt Jackson's novel of 1884 crystallized opinion about the white's maltreatment of Indians (much as UNCLE TOM'S CABIN had done for slavery). This program used feature film clips to recap the plot and historical sources and sites to explain both the immense popularity of the book and its transformation into ta mythic symbol of whites and Indians in the West. 028 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS, NATIVE AMERICAN

VH 2055 Restoration and Augustan Poetry
Summary: The program features the Earl of Rochester's intellectual satire, the literary & political satire of Dryden, the nimble, dry, & Acerbic wit of Swift, & the dark & ferocious verse of Pope. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: SURVEY OF ENGLISH POETRY

VH 6589 Richard Wright: Black Boy
Summary: The life and influence of writer Richard Wright are shown through interviews with his contemporaries, biographers, critics, and his daughter, interspersed with dramatized scenes from his life and writings and newsreel footage. This program uses Wright's life to open a window on some of the major themes of American history in the first half of the 20th century. Writing from a sense of rage, Wright used words as weapons in the struggle for social justice. 088 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 0284 Robert Frost
Summary: A look at the life and poetry of Robert Frost which includes dramatized readings of his poetry, interviews with poets, colleagues, and friends plus excerpts of interviews and readings by Frost himself. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 0470 Robert Frost: A First Acquaintance
Summary: Explores Robert Frost's relationship with children. The poet's daughter, Lesley Frost, at the Frost farm, and neighborhood. 016 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 0295 Robert Lowell
Summary: Exploration of the work and life of Robert Lowell through readings of his poetry illustrated by appropriate scenes and conversations with poets, friends and critics plus excerpts from interviews with Lowell himself. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 2056 Romantic Pioneers
Summary: The pioneers of British Romanticism, unrecognized in their own day, were Christopher Smart & William Blake. This program offers the charming touching & humorous address to his cat Jeoffry from Smart's "Jubilate Agno, " five poems by Blake, Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" - spoken in the Oriental splendor of Leighton House - & some Wordsworth that provides a superb example of his definition of poetry as emotion recollected in tranquillity. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: SURVEY OF ENGLISH POETRY

VH 2058 Romantics and Realists
Summary: The foundation of modern English poetry were laid by Hardy, Hopkins, Housman, & Kipling. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: SURVEY OF ENGLISH POETRY

VH 3931 Saul Bellow
Summary: Saul Bellow talks about himself and his characters; his childhood, parents, and education; how he came to be a writer; his views of the world and the people who inhabit it; and the role of ideas in literature. 052 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1818 Science & Gender with Evelyn Fox Keller
Summary: Evelyn Fox Keller, theoretical physicist at the University of California at Berkeley & author, discusses how gender plays a significant role in the language that scientists use to describe their work. She explains why she chose to study the relationship between language & science. Keller also discusses the beginning of modern science. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: PHYSICS, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 2853 Searching for a Native American Identity: Louise Erdrich...
Summary: Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich are a husband and wife team who collaborate as writers. They attribute their beliefs in family, community, and place to their Native American heritage: she is half Chippewa, he is half Modoc. As native Americans, their writing reflects the difficulties of American Indians today. In this program with Bill Moyers, Erdrich and Dorris discuss faith and the search for a Native American identity in a pluralistic society. 030 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: NATIVE AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 5705 Seers
Summary: This video looks at the poetry that followed the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, which was marked with a broadened scope. Includes poets Rita Dove, Toi Derricotte, Dolores Kendrick, Sherley Anne Williams, Gerald Barrax, E. Ethelbert Miller, Michael S. Harper. 111 Min. VIDEO 1998 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS Series: FURIOUS FLOWER: AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY 1960 - 1995

VH 2926 Shakespeare And His Theatre: The Gentle Shakespeare
Summary: This program opens with the background from which Shakespeare emerged: the Stratford of his day, the school in which he studied, the opportunities he had to observe theatre, from the Coventry Mystery cycle in his youth to traveling actors' troupes. It proceeds to the London where he got work as an actor and became a dramatist. The program examines the breadth of his work and its enormous popularity in his day, and a great many of the words he made up. 028 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: WRITERS, THEATRE, DRAMA

VH 2927 Shakespeare's Imagery: The Poet's Eye
Summary: This program enables its viewers to read Shakespeare with a better and deeper understanding. To illustrate Shakespeare's abundant and unique imagery, the program presents "visual quotations" from his work to show how "the poet's eye... gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name." 016 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2924 Shakespeare's Sonnets, Part 1
Summary: Fifteen sonnets selected for what they tell us about the poet-because of the individuals addressed (like W.H. or the Dark Lady), references to people or events (like the fall of Sir Walter Raleigh or the death of Queen Elizabeth), or because of their metaphors. The sonnets are read by Ben Kingsley, Roger Rees, Claire Bloom, and Jane Lapotaire, then analyzed by a noted critic or writer (analysts include A.L. Rowse, Leslie Fiedler, and Stephen Spender). 075 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2925 Shakespeare's Sonnets, Part 2
Summary: Fifteen sonnets selected for what they tell us about the poet-because of the individuals addressed (like W.H. or the Dark Lady), references to people or events (like the fall of Sir Walter Raleigh or the death of Queen Elizabeth), or because of their metaphors. The sonnets are read by Ben Kingsley, Roger Rees, Claire Bloom, and Jane Lapotaire, then analyzed by a noted critic or writer (analysts include A.L. Rowse, Leslie Fiedler, and Stephen Spender). 075 Min. VIDEO 1993 Subject: WRITERS

VH 6439 Simone de Beauvoir
Summary: This presentation uses dramatization from fiction and readings from Simone de Beauvoir's memoirs to explore her views on the world and on the role of the intellectual. 053 Min. VIDEO 2000 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, WRITERS

VH 2232 Simple Acts of Life, The
Summary: This program focuses on the 1988 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo Village, New Jersey. Every two years, the festival is host to leading poets who read and discuss their work with an audience of several thousand, including high school students and other poets. 058 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: POWER OF THE WORD WITH BILL MOYERS, THE

VH 7278 Sojourner Truth
Summary: A group of scholars and historians examine the history of abolitionism through the writings of Sojourner Truth. 146 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: CIVIL RIGHTS, WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3985 Some Can Sing
Summary: Poetry's ability to bridge gaps and cross boundaries is highlighted in the works of Robert Hass, Claribel Alegria, and Carolyn Forche. A diverse collection of charisma, background, and style, these three artists are united in their ability to transport audiences to new places, new feelings, and new hope. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 3066 Sonia Sanchez
Summary: In May of 1985, police action against a radical black political group burned an entire Philadelphia block. Sonya Sanchez responded with ELEGY: FOR MOVE AND PHILADELPHIA, a poem that she describes as history. For Sanchez, it was the appropriate response. Her writing - both poems and plays - has always been concerned with women and Afro-Americans, offering hope and inspiration. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: WRITERS, CHILD STUDIES, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 0594 Spirit to Spirit (Nikki Giovanni)
Summary: Poet Nikki Giovani reads from her works. Performance footage is intercut with excerpts from interviews, archival film footage and stills. 028 Min. VIDEO 1987 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1821 Stories of Maxine Hong Kingston, Parts 1 & 2
Summary: Maxine Hong Kingston is author of "The Woman Warrior", "China Men" & "Tripmaster Monkey". In this two-part conversation, she offers new images of America as a "melting pot" where the dutiful notions of the Puritans blend with the Monkey Spirit of the Orient to produce a new American consciousness. 060 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: SOCIOLOGY, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 0595 Storytellers
Summary: Documents a series of readings and performances sponsored, in 1985, by the American branch of PEN, featuring sixteen of America's contemporary writers. 058 Min. VIDEO 1987 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2222 Susan Sontag
Summary: Claiming the essence of writing lies in choices of words, rhythms, structure and punctuation, Sontag sees writers as the guardians of the language and her profession as a sacred calling. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: WRITER'S WORKSHOP

VH 3987 Swirl Like a Leaf
Summary: Poetry offers a way for individuals to understand themselves, their motivations and fears, their past and their future. Through writing, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Robert Bly, and Marilyn Chin have all found routes to self discovery and personal reconciliation. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 0296 Sylvia Plath
Summary: Exploration of the life and poetry of Sylvia Plath through illustrated readings from her poetry and conversations with writers, poets, critics and her mother. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 3266 Sylvia Plath: Letters Home
Summary: The letters home referred to in the title were written to Sylvia Plath's mother during the years Plath was developing into a brilliant poet and descending into a psychological hell. Performed by Anna Nigh And June Brown. 090 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3060 T. Corraghessan Boyle
Summary: T.C. Boyle's fiction is known for its unsettling balance of pessimism and humor. In this profile, Boyle takes us through his native upstate New York to the very sites that are the settings for much of his work, including his epic saga of the Hudson River Valley, WORLD'S END. Originally from Peekskill, NY, Boyle grew up in an alcoholic family, and was placed in a slow learner's class in second and third grades. 030 Min. VIDEO 1991 Subject: WRITERS Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 3065 T. R. Pearson
Summary: Born in 1956, T. R. Pearson has been called one of the finest American novelists of his generation. Pearson began writing at the age of 25 strictly to amuse himself. By the time a publisher showed interest in his work, he was already working on his third novel illustrating his comic version of the South. Eavesdropping on local people's stories and conversations in hardware stores, cafes and other small town gathering places, Pearson finds material. 030 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 0292 T.S. Eliot
Summary: Situations from the life of T.S. Eliot, with recitations from his poetry. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 4512 Tell About the South: the Story of Modern Southern Lit.
Summary: This is a discussion about 20th century writers from the southern part of the United States. Authors included are: Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner, Jean Toomer, and Thomas Wolfe. Narrated by: Rita Dove. Directed by: Ross Spears. 081 Min. VIDEO 1996 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3265 Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
Summary: This program is the only film study of Tennessee Williams' life and work as a whole, ranging from his youth in Mississippi and in St. Louis to success and acclaim, followed by the final difficult years. The program also includes footage of Williams interviewed as well as reminiscences from people who knew and worked with him. 090 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, DRAMA

VH 7277 Thomas Paine
Summary: A trio of scholars and historians examine the history of the American Revolution and early republic through the writings of Thomas Paine, particularly through the author's "Common Sense" and "The Age of Reason." Includes a viewing of some documents located in the Thomas Paine museum in New Rochelle, New York. 152 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2050 Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel
Summary: An examination of Wolfe's Asheville roots - the sights & formative sounds to which he looked back in his first great novel, Look Homeward Angel, but to which he could not go home again. 045 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 2067 Thoreau's Walden
Summary: A recreation of the two-year period (1845-1847) during which Thoreau lived alone in a cabin at Walden Pond, savoring the fruits of solitary communion with Nature while bemoaning the lot of the mass of men who lead lives of quiet desperation. 035 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS

VH 2046 Thornton Wilder, A Portrait
Summary: The only film portrait of the innovative & scholarly author of Our Town. 024 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 0009 To Kill a Mockingbird
Summary: Based on the novel of the same name by Harper Lee. Two children in a small southern town are thrust into an adult world of racial bigotry and hatred when their lawyer father chooses to defend a black man unjustly accused of raping a white girl. Gregory Peck, Brock Peters, Phillip Alford, Mary Dadham, Robert Duvall, Rosemary Murphy, William Windom. Director: Robert Mulligan. 129 Min. VIDEO 1962 Subject: WRITERS, SOCIOLOGY, COMMUNICATION

VH 3962 Toni Morrison
Summary: This program introduces Toni Morrison, Winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. Readings fro "Beloved" and "Jazz" show how she returns to the pain of slavery and segregation to restore wholeness to the black psyche. 029 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, DRAMA, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 4515 Toni Morrison
Summary: Toni Morrison discusses slavery and its legacy and the difficulties of writing about the painful subjects that occur on her novel "Beloved". 052 Min. VIDEO 1987 Subject: WRITERS, DRAMA, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 4811 Toni Morrison
Summary: A leading figure in the movement for a new multicultural American literary canon, Toni Morrison says that American literature is incoherent without African American writers. 025 Min. VIDEO 1992 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS, DRAMA Series: IN BLACK AND WHITE

VH 3264 Toni Morrison: A Writer's Work
Summary: Toni Morrison exists in two worlds: the visible world, bustling around her, and the world of her novels, whose characters tell about an interior reality hidden from the eyes of strangers. In her work, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has transported millions of readers into the experience of being black in America and confronting the realities of race. In this program with Bill Moyers, Morrison discusses the characters in her work, the people in her life, the power of love, and how the invented world of fiction connects to life. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: MOYERS COLLECTION, THE

VH 3062 Trey Ellis
Summary: With scraps of menus, computer printouts, reading comprehension tests, and other fragments of 20th century life, Trey Ellis comments on stereotypes of blacks in life and literature as he parodies what he calls the "Afro-baroque glory stories" of traditional black writers in PLATITUDES, his first novel. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 1769 Uncle Tom's Cabin
Summary: Based on a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This classic story analyzed the issue of slavery in the Midwest, New England, & the South during the days of the Fugitive Slave Law, & has been credited with intensifying the conflict between the South & the North, leading to the Civil War. Director: Stan Lathan. 120 Min. VIDEO 1987 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, AMERICAN STUDIES, WRITERS

VH 7280 Upton Sinclair
Summary: A trio of scholars and historians examine the history of the Progressive Era, the Industrial Revolution and labor practices at the turn of the twentieth century through the writings of Upton Sinclair. Highlights Sinclair's novel "The Jungle, " which exposed the conditions in the meat packing industry in Chicago. 148 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2057 Victorian Poetry
Summary: The Victorian Age was a great age of elegies, of poems of death & love & death in love; it was also the first age in which women played a significant role as published poets. 028 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: SURVEY OF ENGLISH POETRY

VH 7964 Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway
Summary: Intercuts scenes from a dramatization of Mrs. Dalloway with a portrayal of Virginia Woolf (played by Eileen Atkins) who, based on entries from her diary, explicates the story. Literary critic Hermione Lee addresses topics in the novel such as the significance of shared external events and the theme of emotional bankruptcy. 058 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1695 Visions of the Spirit: A Portrait of Alice Walker
Summary: Filmed at Walker's California home, in her Georgia hometown, and on location with the film crew of "The Color Purple, " " Visions of the Spirit" shows us Walker as mother, daughter, philosopher, activist and of course, writer. 058 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3260 Voices of Memory
Summary: This program features poets Li-Young Lee and Gerald Stern in a poetry reading and in extensive interviews. A main subject of Stern's poetry is memory. His Jewish heritage provides him with the inspiration and direction to resurrect and reconstruct past experiences. Li-Young Lee's poetry reflects his struggle with his Chinese heritage: how to recognize a culture to which he had been inextricably bound by ancestry, but in which he has never lived. 060 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS Series: POWER OF THE WORD WITH BILL MOYERS, THE

VH 7285 W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington
Summary: Guest examine the history of the early struggle for civil rights and the development of modern African American culture through the writings of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Among the topics addressed are the rise of the African American press, African American involvement in higher education, political movements, and differences between the two authors. 169 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS, AFRICAN-AMERICAN

VH 3757 W.E.B. DuBois - A Biography In Four Voices
Summary: This is the first film biography of a man who towered over African American History for nearly a century, W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963). His remarkable career as a scholar-activist stretched from the end of Reconstruction to the imposition of Jim Crow, its eventual defeat by the Civil Rights Movement and the successful independence struggles of African nations. In this film, four prominent African American writers, Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amiri Baraka each narrate a period of his life and describe his impact on their work. 116 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY, CIVIL RIGHTS

VH 3067 W. S. Merwin
Summary: In dark, outraged, and often pessimistic tones, Pulitzer Prize winning poet W. S. Merwin writes of the treasures of the earth, and man's alienation and destruction of nature. Speaking from his passion for trees and other life forms, he strives to open our eyes to the fact that urban reality is not the only reality. 030 Min. VIDEO 1991 Subject: WRITERS, ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY Series: MOVEABLE FEAST

VH 6312 Waiting for Beckett: A Portrait of Samuel Beckett
Summary: The documentary combines film clips of Beckett's works with excerpts of Beckett's letters and a wealth of archival photographs and footage to create a compelling portrait of a man who is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. 086 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS Series: BECKETT PROJECT

VH 0293 Wallace Stevens
Summary: Situations from the life of Wallace Stevens, with recitations from his poetry. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 0287 Walt Whitman
Summary: Illustrated readings from the poetry and writings of Walt Whitman with insights into his poetry contributed by today's poets and Whitman biographers. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 1850 Walt Whitman
Summary: Whitman, bard of the common man, sought to express America & his love for her in his poetry. Because American poetry had been an elitist art form & not a popular form of expression, Whitman had to create a whole new poetic language, using ordinary words & everyday speech rhythms, to paint a personal verbal portrait of his country as it changed from an agrarian to a tumultuous industrial society. 012 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3982 Welcome to the Mainland
Summary: From the jazz laced street speech of African American poet Sekou Sundiata's Harlem nights, to Naomi Shihab Nye's delight in the wonder of everyday objects, both artists in the opening programs of the series celebrate the cultures of today and the way those cultures have become part of the American mosaic. 058 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: AMERICAN STUDIES, WRITERS Series: LANGUAGE OF LIFE, THE

VH 2231 Where the Soul Lives
Summary: Featured reading their poems to the audience at the 1988 Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival are Robert Bly, Lucille Clifton and W.S. Merwin. Also features extensive interviews with host Bill Moyers. 058 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: POWER OF THE WORD WITH BILL MOYERS, THE

VH 7341 Who Was Jerzy Kosinski?
Summary: Video describes the life of Jerzy Kosinski, a Holocaust survivor and author of Being There and The Painted Bird. 052 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: HOLOCAUST, WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY

VH 7289 Willa Cather
Summary: A trio of scholars and historians examine the record of events of western expansion, life on the plains and the Progressive Era via the writings of Willa Cather. 151 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: U.S. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, WRITERS

VH 2048 Willa Cather's America
Summary: Shows Cather's places & characters - the wild American land & the people on it, & the heroism required to transplant the shrubs of Old World culture to the harsh, vast New World. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS Series: AMERICAN LITERATURE ON VIDEO

VH 7290 William Bradford
Summary: Scholars and historians review the history of the early Colonial period through the life and writings of William Bradford, governor of the Massachusetts colony. Video features a tour of the Plymouth Plantation, a living history museum. 157 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: BIOGRAPHY, WRITERS, U.S. HISTORY

VH 0289 William Carlos Williams
Summary: Situations from the life of William Carlos Williams, with recitations from his poetry. 060 Min. VIDEO 1988 Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY Series: VOICES AND VISIONS

VH 7272 William Clark, Meriwether Lewis
Summary: A group of scholars and historians examine the westward expansion of the United States through the writings of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Includes a tour of Fort Clatsop, a reconstruction of the fort where Jefferson's explorers spent the winter from December 1805 to March 1806. 151 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3248 William Faulkner
Summary: This documentary offers a critical key to understanding one of America's foremost writers. The face Faulkner in his lifetime showed the world was no more than a fictional construct, or a series of contradictory roles: gallant war hero, moody poet, hard drinking man's drinking man, dandy, gentleman farmer, exemplary husband, and father. This programs probes beneath these masks to examine Faulkner's turbulent, sometimes sordid, and ultimately tragic life, relating Faulkner the man to the society into which he was born and the body of work he produced. 045 Min. VIDEO 1995 Subject: WRITERS

VH 3251 William Stafford and Robert Bly: A Literary Friendship
Summary: This program uses the friendship of these two major literary voices to examine the nature and the role of poetry in contemporary America - its content, its meaning, and its sources. Filmed at Stafford's home in Oregon, Bly's woodsy retreat in Minnesota, and along golden trails in an Oregon state park, the program captures the character of Stafford and Bly, giving a human dimension to their poetry and providing the physical context for the realms of their ideas and images. 055 Min. VIDEO 1994 Subject: WRITERS

VH 2062 William Styron: A Portrait
Summary: This profile of the author explores how & why Styron writes: his moral view of the human dilemmas of loving & living, his acute observations of race relations, his Virginia gentleman's grappling with the elemental conflicts of the human spirit. 059 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS

VH 3034 Wole Soyinka: A Voice of Africa
Summary: As a Yoruba writer working in English, Soyinka brings a unique and varied cultural background to his art, and in so doing, he enriches all of world literature. 022 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: ART, WRITERS

VH 1817 Words & Music with Jeannette Haien
Summary: Jeannette Haien has spent her life teaching & performing music. At her hand, students & concert audiences have learned & experienced the beauty & meaning of classical form. Now, after more than 35 years as a musician, Haien has turned to the music of words with the writing of her novel, "The All of It." In this program, Haien discusses how the structure of music helped her write her novel & shares her views on the form, composition & performance of music. 030 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 7482 Wrinkle-free World Of English Composition, The
Summary: Educational video concerning English composition in the classroom and beyond. 116 Min. VIDEO 1997 Subject: WRITERS

VH 1822 Writer's Work with Toni Morrison, A Parts 1 & 2
Summary: In part I, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison discusses the characters in her work, the people in her life, & the power of love to illuminate both. In part II, Toni Morrison discusses the African-American presence in American literature, from the silence of the black voice in the 19th century work to the ability today to discuss the presence of racism. 060 Min. VIDEO 1990 Subject: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, SOCIOLOGY, WRITERS Series: WORLD OF IDEAS WITH BILL MOYERS, A

VH 5152 Writing about Death and Redemption
Summary: Among the themes in literature, none is more frequently explored than coming to terms with mortality, which is often intertwined with the hope for redemption. Authors investigate the seldom humorous, often macabre, and totally human fascination with death. Topics discussed include the essential inability to own time, the poetic stance that the dead fertilize the future, and redemption as the search for wholeness. 025 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT THEMES IN LITERATURE

VH 5153 Writing about Deception
Summary: Examines issues such as the nature of certainty, manipulation of the reader, gullibility, hypocrisy, misogyny, and puritanism. 025 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT THEMES IN LITERATURE

VH 5151 Writing about Family
Summary: 15 mainstream writers express themselves on the subject of family. They explain that tension, so necessary to fiction, can be found in abundance in families; that stories about unhappy families are extremely marketable; and that writing about family can be therapeutic for both the author and reader. 025 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT THEMES IN LITERATURE

VH 5154 Writing about the Coming of Age
Summary: Writers discuss childhood and its attendant rites of passage, the emotional mystery and drama surrounding this passage, and the different times at which it can occur: at the threshold of adolescence, as an adult, or perhaps never. 025 Min. VIDEO 1999 Subject: WRITERS Series: GREAT THEMES IN LITERATURE

VH 7067 Writings of Theodore Dreiser
Summary: A trio of scholars and historians examine the history of the Progressive Era, the publishing industry and social reform through the writings of Theodore Dreiser. The Program takes phone calls from callers. 155 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7077 Writings of Will Rogers
Summary: A trio of experts examine the history of the Roaring Twenties and the populist movement through the writings and other activities of Will Rogers. The collections at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum is also highlighted. The program takes phone calls from callers. 148 Min. VIDEO 2001 Subject: WRITERS

VH 7917 Yehuda Amichai
Summary: Interviews and poetry readings with Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai as part of a seminar at the Folger Shakespeare Library at Georgetown University. Recorded at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on March 15, 1989. 060 Min. VIDEO 1989 Subject: WRITERS Series: LANNAN LITERARY SERIES, NO. 10

VH 4580 Yellow Wallpaper, The
Summary: Touted as one of the first major feminist writers, Charlotte Perkins Gilman spent her life fighting to liberate women from the yoke of domesticity. This is a stunning BBC dramatization of Perkins's autobiographical account of a woman driven to madness by her own mundane existence. 076 Min. VIDEO Subject: WRITERS, BIOGRAPHY