The man in the center is Bob Lucid at Penn - escorting Norman Mailer and Richard Wilbur through campus. Bob died suddenly a few years ago, and we miss him. It was Bob who first cleared the way politically for the possibility of a house for writers, and who then advocated for the space at 3805 Locust and supported those of us--the original "hub" group--who convened in the old dilapidated cottage in October '95 to begin the planning process. And through the first ten years of KWH, Bob was here often. In his memory, we host an annual event featuring a novelist. (Bob was the first member of the English faculty at Penn who regularly brought contemporary writers to campus - to meet with classes, including undergraduate classes. He did this so often, in fact, that his courses were like Writers Houses.) Bob long dreamed of what he called "a loft space" - a non-curricular intellectual utopia in which people of all academic castes could gather, write, think and plan their interventions against literary obviousness. Be sure to check out our Bob Lucid memorial page.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
we remember Bob Lucid
The man in the center is Bob Lucid at Penn - escorting Norman Mailer and Richard Wilbur through campus. Bob died suddenly a few years ago, and we miss him. It was Bob who first cleared the way politically for the possibility of a house for writers, and who then advocated for the space at 3805 Locust and supported those of us--the original "hub" group--who convened in the old dilapidated cottage in October '95 to begin the planning process. And through the first ten years of KWH, Bob was here often. In his memory, we host an annual event featuring a novelist. (Bob was the first member of the English faculty at Penn who regularly brought contemporary writers to campus - to meet with classes, including undergraduate classes. He did this so often, in fact, that his courses were like Writers Houses.) Bob long dreamed of what he called "a loft space" - a non-curricular intellectual utopia in which people of all academic castes could gather, write, think and plan their interventions against literary obviousness. Be sure to check out our Bob Lucid memorial page.
