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Home arrow Famous People arrow Link Free or Die arrow Don Murray Taught Writing By Writing
Don Murray Taught Writing By Writing Print E-mail
Written by J. Dennis Robinson   

DONALD MURRAY: A WRITER TEACHES WRITING (continued)

I briefly dated one of Murray’s three daughters. He came home from the university one evening to find me sitting at his supper table. Murray off-duty was exactly like Murray at work – amiable, inquisitive, vulnerable and yet somehow imposing. Physically a cross between a polar bear, Santa Claus and Ernest Hemingway, he dominated any room he entered and somehow still remained aloof. We talked after dinner in his study. He showed me his novel, probably the least read of all his many books. He was never able to make the leap from nonfiction to fiction. "Teaching in an English Department," he said to me out of the blue, "is like being trapped in a submarine with the same crew for the rest of your life."

Donald Murray / SeacoastNH.comI later joined that submarine crew and taught writing to freshman and grad students on the English faculty with Don Murray. It was a short cruise. I jumped ship the following year and, encouraged by the ever-encouraging Mr. Murray began a freelance career that continues to this day. The next time I saw Don he had taken early retirement thanks to a heart attack at age 62. But he was still writing. That was what we shared. It is what writers do. Writing is our way of processing the world. Life flows in through the senses, gets analyzed by the brain and exits through the fingers. It is our addiction. It is our prayer. Writers understand things only after they have written them. If they are good writers, with a voice that readers can trust and follow, that understanding spreads.

Whatever comes around the winding road is the writers next topic. When Murray’s daughter Lee died at age 20, he wrote a book about it. When his wife Minnie Mae was afflicted by Parkinson’s disease and then dementia, he told his thousands of readers in his weekly Boston Globe column. People who never met him fell under his healing power. They felt, and were correct, that he needed them too for his own healing process. When I last bumped into him a few months ago in Barnes & Noble, I showed him my new book and he showed me his. In his last days, 20 years after his first heart attack an retirement, he was still meeting students for breakfast at Young’s in Durham. Like the dutiful journalist, he filed his weekly column at the Boston Globe on a Friday and died the next day.

The great legacy of Donald M. Murray is that he had one brilliantly simple idea – that writers must write – and he spent 50 years refining that message in workshop after workshop, book after book, chat after chat. It’s the simple idea that needs the most protection. For every Don Murray there are thousands of obscurers, confounders, misdirectors and doubters. Editors belittle their journalists. Teachers red-pencil their students. These leaders, who rarely write well themselves, believe they can craft excellence from the outside with hammer and chisel. Murray respected writers because he was one and could feel their pain.

Good writing is hard to teach because it is more than the sum of its many parts, more than grammar, style, vocabulary, knowledge and passion. Like Don Murray himself, the sickly kid with the permanent self-doubt turned war reporter, the writer must be nurtured and encouraged. The Truth needs its champions and none was more stalwart than this shy polar bear of a man who told thousands of potential writers – if I can do it, you can do it too – and they believed him.

Copyright © 2007 by J. Dennis Robinson, All rights reserved. Robinson was a member of the 1978 Exeter writing Project that incorporated the ideas of Don Murray and others into high school and grammar school classrooms.



 

Calendar
Little Engine That Could
July 4 - 6, 2008
LINCOLN -- Hi everyone!! We are trying to get the word out that the Little Engine That Could will be at the Hobo Railroad in Lincoln, NH on July 4,5 & 6, 2008. People can purchase tickets right online at our website. The train is a full-sized repli...

Art in Nature
July 4 - 10, 2008
RYE, NH -- Celebrate art, nature and science during this week-long event. We will explore inspiring and creative ways of connecting to the environment through hands-on workshops, programs and activities for all ages. You can learn about organic sculptur...

Zoo Farm
July 5 - 6, 2008
CANDIA -- Enjoy all day zoo admission; unlimited pony, tractor and horse-drawn hay. rides; and a bag of grain for each child. All for just $16.00 per person! So pack your lunch and spend the day with us at the farm. We look forward to seeing you! For...

Freedom Rocks
July 5, 2008
The Freedom Rocks Festival is one that truly incorporates a gamete of musical talent. Everything from metal bands, garage, funk, alternative, retro and classic rock perform on stage. Ranging music styles and artists come together to form a festival fill...

Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival
July 6, 2008
This 13th annual celebration of joyous creativity which Tommy Gallant helped initiate, has become a staple item on our summer menu. Don't miss this venue of jazz greats organized by UNH Jazz Master Dave Seiler.

Sammie Haynes
July 6, 2008
ROCHESTER -- The Governor's Inn presents a beautiful late afternoon in the garden (or under the patio in case of rain) Great food and drinks and company

HARVEY REID
July 6, 2008
SOUTH BERWICK -- Maine songwriter and stringed-instrument virtuoso Harvey Reid will appear in concert This is Harvey's only local concert this summer. It takes place outdoors in the beautiful garden at the historic Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine...

Theatre Camp
July 7 - 11, 2008
KIDS THEATRE CAMP, July 7-11, 9 AM to 12 NOON, Ages 6-9 Now in its eighth year, this popular week-long camp features creative drama, movement, and visual arts activities, with a final performance at 6:30 PM on Friday, July 11. Limited to 14 campers. ...

PPAF Summer Theatre Academy begins
July 7, 2008
We believe that every child has an innate sense of creativity and imagination. Our Summer Theatre Academy is geared toward developing confidence and advancing performance skills so that every child can be a star. Students will not only learn theatrical ...

NHTP Teen Camp Starts
July 7, 2008
TEEN THEATRE CAMP, July 7-19, Ages 13-17 This intensive camp will focus on a theme from classic dramatic literature. (Teen Camp 2007 featured William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night). Participants will learn acting, directing and design skills along with...

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