event immediately prior to the Novel of the Americas Symposium,
"Voices of the Americas" (September 8, 3: 3O p.m., Coors Events
Center), will initiate a three week discussion of censorship in
the Americas in l992. William Styron and Peter M8tthiessen will
make brief statements abort freedom of expression in the United
States, and several distinguished and informed Latin Americans--
Cuanhtemoc cardenas, Alberto Perez Esquivel, Luisa Valenzuela, -
Rigoberta Menchu--will discuss issues Of freedom of expression in
Mexico, Argentina, and Guatemala. During the first full day of
the Symposium, September 9, Peter Matthiessen, Leslie Marmon.
Silko and Gerald Vizenor will address issues of censorship. The
dialogue on censorship will continue the following week with Wole
Soyinda, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and perhaps others.
When the l43 participants in the Novel of the Americas
symposium were originally invited to participate, they were
invited to become involved in our three-week assessment of the
state of the cultures of the Americas five hundred years after
the arrival of Columbus to the Americas. Beyond the general
grasp that observers of the symposium will be able to make from
the mosaic of writers to appear from September 8 to September 25,
issues of cultural commonality and difference, as well as freedom
of expression, will be the central focuses of the three week
symposium organized by the Critical Studies of the Americas
Committee.
Ronald Sukenick, Steering Committee
of Novel of the Americas Project
Raymond Leslie Williams, Director
Novel of the Americas Project