The Lightning Field: Mapping the Creative Process
On Exhibit October
17, 2009 - February 1, 2010
We can never
see the flashes of inspiration that strike writers, but at the Wittliff
Collections we can map the impressions from such moments as they are seared
into the archival record.
An odd scrap
of paper can hold the key to a classic novel, a journal entry can spark a story,
or a letter sent to a friend can lead a writer down an entirely new path. Most
often, however, writers conjure up inspiration the old-fashioned way: by
extensive rewriting and revision. Even Jack KerouacÕs On the Road wasnÕt completed on a long scroll of paper, as legend
has it. Kerouac, like all writers, painstakingly reworked his material,
understanding that only intense rewriting could lead him closer to his creative
vision.
As Mark
Twain noted, Òthe difference between the almost right word and the right word
is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.Ó The leading
writers of the Southwest make it their business to be lightning rods, and the new
exhibit at the Wittliff Collections, The
Lightning Field: Mapping the Creative Process, utilizes journals, letters,
and manuscripts to illuminate the how
of creation.
Among the
examples visitors will see are the progressive versions of ÒFalling Without
End,Ó a short story composed by Sam Shepard. The story began as a handwritten
journal entry in February 1990, and ShepardÕs sharp-eyed revisions—documented
in his archive at the Wittliff Collections— gradually brought the story
into clearer focus until it was published in his 1996 collection, Cruising Paradise.
Also on view
are the different drafts of James
CrumleyÕs first page of The Last Good
Kiss, his novel that contains one of the most celebrated opening sentences
in American literature: ÒWhen I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he
was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a
ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right
out of a fine spring afternoon.Ó Crumley claimed that it took him eight years
to write the line, and the manuscript drafts show the ways he painstakingly
worked over the words.
Also on
display are vital documents from the archives of Robert Benton, Sarah Bird, Gary
Cartwright, Elizabeth Crook, J. Frank Dobie, Robert Flynn, Jovita Gonz‡lez,
John Graves, Stephen Harrigan, William Hauptman, Shelby Hearon, Jim Hightower, Molly
Ivins, Preston Jones, King of the Hill,
Beverly Lowry, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, Angela Shelf Medearis, Celia
Morris, Katherine Anne Porter, Ron Querry, Ben Rehder, Jan Reid, Rick Riordan, Bud
Shrake, Texas Monthly, Tino
Villanueva, and Bill Wittliff.
The Lightning Field is presented in conjunction
with Texas StateÕs 2009-2010 Common Experience text, Daniel PinkÕs A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will
Rule the Future. The Common Experience brings students together to read and
engage with a single text. A Whole New
Mind examines the creative abilities individuals and organizations must
master to succeed in todayÕs world.
An interactive
exhibit quiz for The Lightning Field
accompanies the display, offering nourishment and exploration for those who
wish to continue the journey.
For more on
the Texas State Common Experience and the 2010 theme, ÒThe Whole Mind: Crossing
Boundaries of Disciplines,Ó visit www.txstate.edu/commonexperience.
The Lightning Field: Mapping
the Creative Process opened on
October 1, 2009 and will be on view through February 1, 2010. The exhibit
was curated by Assistant Curator Steve Davis, with assistance from other staff
at The Wittliff Collections. For additional information, contact The Wittliff
Collections at (512) 245-2313 or visit www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu.