Music for a Broken Piano
164 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
Paperback
Release Date:01 Apr 1983
ISBN:9780914590798
The impact and interplay within a group of 40 people, imbued with revolutionary spirit
ln the summer of 1969, a group of 40 people, imbued with revolutionary spirit, come to the rural area of Farmington, Massachusetts to create a selfstructuring community. Music for a Broken Piano vividly describes the impact and interplay within the group and the changes in their lives which occur because of the experience. Among the group, three leaders are obvious: Nathan, the official administrator and counselor, a strong, patient, dedicated man: Toni McHugh. an attractive, talented, and independent young woman; and Makar, the only black person there—a protean, mysterious, flamboyant and ometimes brutal spellbinder.
ln the summer of 1969, a group of 40 people, imbued with revolutionary spirit, come to the rural area of Farmington, Massachusetts to create a selfstructuring community. Music for a Broken Piano vividly describes the impact and interplay within the group and the changes in their lives which occur because of the experience. Among the group, three leaders are obvious: Nathan, the official administrator and counselor, a strong, patient, dedicated man: Toni McHugh. an attractive, talented, and independent young woman; and Makar, the only black person there—a protean, mysterious, flamboyant and ometimes brutal spellbinder.
Music For a Broken Piano is a trip to the dark side of the liberal imagination. It is a book about the longing for community, about the real world's refusal to be tempted by idealizations, about the destructiveness of certain forms of fantasy. The writing is wonderful, the characters compelling.'—Larry McMurtry
James Baker Hall, a highly respected teacher of writing at the University of Kentucky, is Kentucky’s new ambassador of poetry. In a ceremony held April 24, Kentucky Writers’ Day, Hall said he was “humbled” by two standing ovations in Frankfort’s Capitol Rotunda. He added that he is “ready, willing and delighted” to be in a position to spread his passion for writing to people across Kentucky. Governor Paul Patton introduced Hall at the ceremony, saying that he “will bring to Kentucky writers the recognition they deserve.”
Hall, who has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry, has taught creative writing at the University of Kentucky since 1973. He has published five volumes of poetry, two novels, and four collections of photography. The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, Poetry, The Hudson Review, and The Kenyon Review are among the many magazines to have published his work.
Hall, who has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry, has taught creative writing at the University of Kentucky since 1973. He has published five volumes of poetry, two novels, and four collections of photography. The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, Poetry, The Hudson Review, and The Kenyon Review are among the many magazines to have published his work.
