John Leonard's Penn Connection

Cultural critic John Leonard died last week.  One of the requirements of being a Street editor is being totally and irrevocably obsessed with New York Magazine, and Leonard was NYMag's TV critic, so we were greatly saddened to hear of his death.  The following e-mail just came in over the Kelly Writers House listserv via its director Al Filreis, and it details the year Leonard spent teaching creative writing at Penn:

I'm sure you've seen the news that John Leonard died last week. Did you know that he had a connection to Penn? In the 1980-1981 school year he taught a creative writing class at Penn for undergraduates.

At that time, Penn had few outlets for writers in general and almost none for fiction writing. Having a well known essayist, book critic and novelist come to campus to teach undergraduates created a lot of excitement in Bennett Hall.

In one of his first classes he confessed a concern about seeing Carlos Fuentes' name on an English Department list. You see, Leonard had recently written an unflattering review in the NY Times of Fuentes' newest book. To my disappointment, the semester passed without the two meeting.

He shared his enthusiasms with us. One of which was a great admiration for Max Apple, particularly The Oranging of America. He gave us a glimpse into the writing life, the possibility that any one of us could be part of that life.

His patience and generosity of spirit was evident from the beginning. He took us seriously, as seriously as he took any of the writing that he reviewed.

For me, it was a life-changing experience. It gave me the courage to pursue an MFA in creative writing and my career, haphazard as it is, as a writer.

Best regards,

Randall Ringer