This is the first event of the 1986 Congress, and introductory remarks are given by Per Wästberg (President of PEN International), Norman Mailer (President of U.S. PEN), John Kenneth Galbraith (President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters) and Vartan Gregorian (President of the New York Public Library). They are followed by Secretary of State George Shultz, whose invitation and speech (which ended with the words "Don't be surprised by the fact that Ronald Reagan and I are on your side") was a major point of controversy throughout the week. The event concludes with a press conference, in which Mailer explains why and how Shultz came to be invited to address the Congress.

2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

One original and one copy.

The fourteen writers in the two sessions that make up this event take diverse positions on its theme, from Gordimer who begins her talk by saying that "the state has no imagination" to Doctorow who outlines the many ways that states and literature are intertwined. A letter of protest against the invitation of Secretary of State Shultz is read out at the start of the second session, and individual writers also express their objections and shock over the decision; we learn that the South African delegation boycotted the opening ceremony in protest.

The event consists of two sessions. Claude Simon speaks first, in French. Kobo Abe and Günter Grass also speak in Japanese and German, respectively, but their remarks are translated as they go. Mario Vargas Llosa speaks last in the first session, and he speaks in Spanish, which is not translated. There is also a portion of a reading by J.M. Coetzee.

2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Tapes 1-2 of 3. (Incomplete set)

This is one part of a three-part event on criticism, with different speakers at each event. The general prompt of this conference is, "what should criticism try to do?" Other, more specific, topics addressed are whether it is inevitable that the analysis of literary text should lead to political analysis?; and to what objects other than literary text can criticism turn it's focus to in an effective way? Each speaker gives their view on the topics posed, and then there is a discussion amongst all panelists. Hardwick, Said, and Bersani offer unique perspectives on criticism.

1 compact cassette (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

This is two parts of a three-part event on criticism, with different speakers at each event. Each panelist in this event gives their view on the history of the field, as well as their take on what (if any) constitutes the crisis of modern day criticism. Panelists draw from their area of expertise of including literature, theater, music, and poetry. Speakers then discuss amongst themselves their differing vantage points on the topics, such as the distinction between reviewers and critics.

1 reel; 1 compact cassette (1/4-inch magnetic audio tape on 7-inch reel; 1/8-inch magnetic audio tape)

Reel (Box 139), Cassette (Box 262).

At the beginning of this panel discussion, the moderator prompts the speakers by asking them to think about school-mandated reading, specifically pertaining to the imagination of the state versus the imagination of a child. Each speaker gives their view on the topics posed, and then there is a discussion amongst all panelists.

3 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), including one duplicate formerly described as c1899

Hispanic nationality, language and culture are conceived of in certain ways by government and commerce in the United States, and in quite different ways by those who are perhaps closest to it, the makers of its literature, native-born, immigrants, writers-in-exile. How do these differing views of contemporary Hispanic experience impinge upon and conflict with one another?

1 compact cassette (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

The panelists of this conference were given three questions to consider. "Are we, as writers, alienated from the state in ways not previously experienced? Does the writer's imagination now tend to be walled off from the historical process? Has a new internationalism lead to an obfuscation of national identity?" Morrison, Rushdie, Padilla, Grusa, Konrad and Walcott use these prompts as jumping-off points, and share their thoughts on other issues relating to alienation. Moderator Susan Sontag also shares her thoughts (starting at 25. 24 mark of file C0760_c1901_b).

1 compact cassette (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Tape 1 of 3. (Incomplete set)

Is the notion of Utopia still a useful one at the end of the twentieth century? Must the state build its pyramids on the exhaustion of the creative spirit? Does the contemporary writer believe that no fusion is possible between the individual moral imagination and the creative evolution of the state? Must these always and forever exist in conflict? Authors and poets Czeslaw Milosz, Vasko Popa, Susan Sontag, Tomas Venclova, and Predrag Matvejević reflect on the notion of utopia in literature and its political connotations.

Portions of 2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Wang Meng reads six flash fiction pieces in Chinese, including "of Confirming the Faith"and William Gass follows with the English translations. Allen Ginsberg sings political and profane songs (including "Father Death Blues"), and then reads a series of poems about China, which he had written there while a guest of the Chinese Writers Union. Munro reads from "The Progress of Love". Gordimer reads a story called "Crimes of Conscience".

Portions of 2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), plus one duplicate compact cassette formerly described as c1911

Imaginative writing, usually taken as the writing of fiction and poetry, has in the last 25 years presented the spectacle of an exchange between these two massive organizations: the novel appears to have invested far beyond its initiiating commitment to realize in those devices and strategies commonly associated with poetry; while American verse has become, with only a few vivid exceptions, a language of spontaneity and a kind of naturalism to the self. Raymond Carver, Allen Ginsberg, Cynthia Macdonald, Joyce Carol Oates, Kirkpatrick Sale, and Mark Strand talk about the status of prose and poetry and their influences on each other.

2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Drama has traditionally been seen as a potential instrument of cultural and even political criticism and renewal. Yet, it has also been the most conservative of art forms. Can drama truly alter public and private consciousness, as Brecht and Artuad preached? Authors and playwrights Kobo Abe, Judith Herzberg, Heiner Müller, Arthur Miller, Athol Fugard, and Richard Gilman discuss the problems that theater encounters in a world where it competes with other forms of entertainment, such as television and cinema.

3 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), including one duplicate formerly described as c1914

Can Translation transform national into international consciousness, or is the national untranslatable? How is the national affected by translation? Does, or should, the writer sacrifice idiosyncrasies of language and culture for the sake of global comprehension? Edmund Keeley, Breyten Breytenbach, Hans-Magnus Enzensberger, Donald Keene, John Simon, and Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro talk about various aspects of translation and the challenges that translators encounter.

2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Arthur Schlesinger, Bruno Kreisky, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Francis FitzGerald, Kurt Vonnegut, George McGovern, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Mario Soldati talk about the interaction between the state and intellectuals. The heated Q & A section includes Breyten Breytenbach, Amos Oz, and Gunter Grass asking questions of the panelists.

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), including 2 duplicates

Duplicates were formerly described as c1913 (Part 1 of 4 and a portion of Part 2 of 4).

In the closing session of 1986 P.E.N. Congress in New York, statements are read by then President of PEN International, Per Wästberg, and his successor, Francis King.

Portions of 7 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), including one duplicate

Duplicate formerly described as c1913 (Part 4 of 4).

The afternoon session starts with Norman Mailer reading the names of the authors who have signed petitions on Nicaragua and the case of Margaret Randall. Then, women take the floor to read statements and protest against the underrepresentation of women in the whole conference and in the structure of PEN American Center. Followed by that, Nadine Gordimer, György Konrád, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and Norman Mailer continue the panel, discussing the imagination of the state.

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), including two duplicates

Duplicates were formerly described as c1913 (Part 3 of 4 and a portion of Part 2 of 4).

Various panelists read passages from their literary works. At the 6:15 mark, Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor, Robertson Davies, reads from his novel "What's Bred in the Bone." He explains the theme of the novel is inspired by the British proverb, "What is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh".

1 compact cassette (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Zelia Gattai and Jorge Amado were unable to read at the event due to sickness, so their daughter, Paloma, and her husband read their literary works in Portuguese. Then translators read the same works in English. Part of Amado's novel "Showdown" is presented. A passage from Gattai's memoir "Anarchist, Thank God" is read. Ribeiro shares a story called "Insidious Bull" from his "Book of Stories", first in Portuguese, then in English.

1 compact cassette (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

The three panelists each give presentations on the international influence of Whitman: Rabassa speaks about his influence on Latin American writers, especially José Marti and Rubén Dario; Kinnell talks about Whitman's relationship to the state and reads from the poems "Sparkles from the Wheel", "Song of Myself" and "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"; and Luo Luo offers general remarks on the translation of poetry and discusses particular aspects of the Chinese translations of Whitman--for instance, how the Native American place names were treated. During the Q & A, audience members Richard Howard and Peter Glassgold discuss Whitman's influence on French poetry and on the Beats.

1 compact cassette (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Salman Rushdie, Donald Barthelme, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Claude Simon read from the their work during the 1986 PEN Congress. Vance Bourjaily introduces the reading, discussing the commonality in their unconvential, imaginative narratives despite their disparate nationalities. Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa begins the reading at the 3:15 mark, reading in Spanish for the first minute before a translator finishes the reading in English.

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Portions of Tape 4-11. (Incomplete set)

Certain great writers have been seen as the acme of "national expression". Is this notion intellectually viable, or is it, rather, a misconception? Does the writer sometimes seduce the reader through a tacit commitment to national vision, popular mythology, or other accouterments of the state? In other words, can the writer or would a writer be able to escape the specter of their own national identity? As a component of language, of a national language, the writer finds him or herself often in league with the identity of the geopolitical state, while trying to cross those borders in the name of Literature and the Human Spirit. Jorge Amado was unable to attend.

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Portions of Tape 4-11. (Incomplete set)

Drawing attention to writers imprisoned around the world, this press conference highlights PENs imprisoned writers program and updates of international detainees. Notable writers speak about the state of imprisonment in their respective countries.

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Portions of Tape 4-11. (Incomplete set)

The minimum contract between the State and the citizen has to do with the maintenance of order. Many writers, in radically different ways, alternatives to prevailing ideas of order. On the other hand, a number of writers are though to have helped to nourish or create social order. Is such a relationship to the social order still possible? Mahmoud Darwish is unable to attend, but his statement was read by Mr. Buch. There is a petition protesting the INS decision to deny Margaret Randall permanent resident status based on the McCarren-Walter Act. Danilo Kis' portion is cut short due to technical difficulties.

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Portions of Tape 4-11. (Incomplete set)

Gunter Grass, Amos Oz, and Kurt Vonnegut read from their respective works. Kurt Vonnegut begins at the 1:30 mark, discussing the necessity of a "villian" in order for a narrative to take shape and function. Vonnegut suggests that in his works, the villian is not a person, but instead culture (technology).

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

Portions of Tape 4-11. (Incomplete set)

Is it not the writer's program, if not the writer's role, on occasion to produce work which stands in opposition to all that the environing culture holds dear? What does it mean to accuse a writer of being divisive or destructive of state policy, of popular mythology, etc? Can writing negate the popular imagery, the state myths, which it must postulate in order to attack?

Portions of 8 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes), plus three duplicate compact cassettes or poorer quality formerly described as c1902

Portions of Tape 4-11. (Incomplete set)

This is the PEN Assembly, chaired by Per Wästberg, where members meet to discussion resolutions and other PEN matters, such as the establishment of new PEN Centers. There are a few notable developments in the course of the three-hour meeting: the Israeli PEN Center submits an "in-session resolution" urging the Soviet government to lift "restrictions on the study of Hebrew language and literature and cease the persecution of scholars, teachers, and students of Hebrew culture." Following this, Wästberg calls on Amos Oz to report on the state of censorship in the West Bank. The formation of a Jordanian PEN Center and a PEN Center for Guatemalan writers, located temporarily in Mexico City, is discussed and confirmed. Nadine Gordimer submits a "in-session resolution" condemning the US government's policy of "constructive engagement" in South Africa, with its implications for restriction of freedom of movement and freedom of expression; this resolution is discussed at length and finally passed, in an edited version. Other topics of discussion are: the rights and responsibilities of translators, the work of the Writers in Prison Committee, the relationship between PEN and UNESCO, and the planning for upcoming PEN Congresses in Hamburg, Lugano, Cambridge, and Seoul.

2 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

A literary ghetto and a public library of tropes and formal resources. Freedom and restrictions of genre writing: how the audience shapes what it reads. The future subjunctive: fiction as scale-model, the novel as experiment. The dystopian vision from 1984 to 1986. How technocracy monopolizes the imagination of the future; the geopolitical and socioeconomic parochialism of science fiction.

Portions of 4 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

A session of American writers and publishers looking at the problems of censorship in the United States. Barbara Parker talks about textbook censorship, Kurt Vonnegut talks about library censorship, Gay Talese discusses censorship of pornography, Rose Styron and Charles Rembar talk about the US government and courts, and Margaret Atwood discusses censorship in Canada.

Portions of 4 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)

This recording comprises the third, fourth and fifth readings at St. Peter's Church during the 48th PEN International Congress. Each of the speaker's readings address some aspect of the central theme: the writer's imagination, and the imagination of the state Valenzuela reads from her book "The Lizard's Tail". Grusa reads an excerpt from "The Questionnaire"The fourth of the Midday Reading Series. . Aksyonov reads the a page of his book "The Burn"; and Ozick reads the rest of the passage. Kis reads a part of his novel "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich". Konrad reads from an unidentified work of his, after which Ivan Sanders (Konrad's translator) reads from the book "The Loser". The fifth and last of the Midday Reading Series events: Atwood reads from "The Handmaid's Tale," Munro reads from her short story "The Progress of Love" and Davies reads from "What's Bred in the Bone."

3 compact cassettes (1/8-inch magnetic audio tape; 120 minutes)