Bill Moyers. Genesis: A Living Conversation.
New York: Doubleday, 1996.
and
Bill Moyers. The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets.
New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Though both of these books have been around for 15 years, neither is outdated. Though both are companion pieces to a series of broadcasts on public television, each work stands on its own as testimony to Bill Moyers’ probing intellectual gifts—to his ability to draw upon the expertise of scholars, clergy, and writers; to his interest in delving beneath the superficial surfaces of simplistic explanations; to his ability to empathize—or at least to understand and feel for the bases of his commentators’ thoughts. Both of these books have been close-at-hand on my bookshelf, neither gathering dust; each contains countless sections which inspire questions, contemplation, and inspiration.
In Genesis…, Moyers leads several panels of distinguished clergy, educators, and writers in investigations of well-known biblical stories. For each story, he asks, “What was the writer saying about the world as he knew it?” and “What does the story have to say to us today?” Each discussion concludes that Genesis is humankind’s profound self-evaluation. The archetypal stories, ranging from The Creation to the success of Joseph in Egypt, all inspire brilliant insights into universal human qualities while also revealing how different religions, fields of study, and ethnic backgrounds have all interpreted in their own ways.
A sampling of questions discussed by these panels hints at the profundity of each investigation. THE CREATION STORY: “What does it mean to be created in God’s image?” “Why is God referred to as ‘he’?” “What is being presented about the nature of divine and human creativity?” “Why are there apparently separate accounts of the creation of humans?” THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE: “What was Adam and Eve’s real sin?” “To what extent are all humans likely to sin?” “Do humans have free will concerning their behavior?” “Are knowledge and sin related?” ABRAHAM AND ISAAC: “Does God test humans?” “How does He test?” “How did ‘the test of sacrifice’ affect both father and son?” “Must a person sacrifice to prove his/her faith and obedience?” ESAU AND JACOB: “To what extent are the parents responsible for the siblings’ rivalry?” “How has deception become a recurring device in Jacob’s life?” “What chance do the brothers have of resolving their differences?” “Why does God seemingly favor a flawed individual?” JOSEPH IN EGYPT: “Does assimilation require sacrificing one’s heritage?” “In what ways have Joseph and his brothers transformed?” “What is the cost of being forever separated from your homeland?”
After perusing these panel discussions, the reader should feel a deeper appreciation for these stories, most of which he/she has “known” since childhood. Having many opportunities for discovering new perspectives upon old stories, the reader may have an epiphany similar to poet John Keats’s discovery of ancient Greece through reading Chapman’s translations of Homer.
In The Language of Life… Moyers asserts that “Democracy needs her poets in all their diversity, precisely because our hope for survival is in recognizing the reality of one another’s lives…[the poem] is made up—from life, so that even those of us who are not poets know when we hear it that the language is true….” The book is comprised of excerpts from interviews of 30 poets who had read at a Dodge Poetry Festival. Though relatively brief, each interview demonstrates Moyers’ appreciation for and love of poetry. He has a gift for asking probing questions which allow the poet to discuss particular pieces in terms of the motivation behind the work, and the use of key words, imagery, and sentence structure. The poets are quite a mix: a wide range in ages and of ethnic backgrounds—including writers whose heritage is Native American, African, Hispanic, Haitian, Armenian, Haitian, Asian, Jewish, and Palestinian.
This work is much more than an anthology: it is a “Living Poets’ Society.” Printing some selections each writer had chosen to read at the Festival, Moyers poses many questions which help to reveal that poetry’s diversity comes from the diversity of the creators: the language, vision, tone, message, technical tools are all products of each poet’s personal history, psychological makeup, level of education, and perception of his/her world. Claiming that “Every place is a place for a poet to be, and every town needs its poets,” former Poet Laureate Rita Dove states that “By making us stop for a moment, poetry gives us an opportunity to think about ourselves as human beings…and what we mean to each other.” Renowned poet, Adrienne Rich, sees “…poetry as coming out of the points of stress in our society…” and that the “…stress in itself creates a search for language in which to poke and unravel what is going on…The moral and ethical confusion, the confusion of values, the whole question of our putative democracy and what is happening to it…these are the questions which …press on many, many people; and some of them turn to poetry.”
It is books like these that provide hope for the booksellers, librarians, and the bookshelf makers of the world. They contain a wealth of information and a richly informative way of looking at our ways of thinking, valuing, and expressing. Bill Moyers’ work will call us back many times over the years to refresh our appreciation of how language, through story and poem, has helped to shape society and to help society to understand and express itself.
Ted Odenwald and his wife, Shirley have lived in Oakland for 40 years. He taught HS English at Glen Rock High School for all of those years plus one more. Now he is enjoying time spent with his family, singing in the North Jersey Chorus and quenching his wanderlust. Ted is also the Worship Leader at the Ramapo Valley Baptist Church in Oakland.