What has my attention is the act of breaking silence, and what, if anything, doing so means for one’s personal life-and for the broader literary community. No doubt there will always be outliers in every group, at every level, who will abuse and seek to gain power at the expense of others’ well-being. While it is fascinating (and ironic) that such predators are able to function through perpetuating a belief in their unique expertise, my primary concern here is not the men to whom my essay refers, nor to the many names now spinning in the back of my head. What to do with all of these names? All of these stories? What to do with all of the hurt, the disrupted lives, the silenced voices and fury? “How did you find each other?” I asked her.
The women in the group are all terrified of him. One woman told me there is an entire support group in her country based around the same celebrated poet and editor of a respected press.
I’ve received these messages from the United States and beyond. “It seems radical resistance may be as simple as noticing the truth.”īONNIE NADZAM: In the past few weeks since Tin House published my essay “ Experts in the Field,” I have received so many messages and emails, heard so many stories, and absorbed so many names-so far, all of men in perceived positions of power: editors, publishers, writers, teachers.
