Dangerous: Kay Boyle

Beginning in 1923, when she issued, along with 16 other expatriate writers, a proclamation calling for "The Revolution of the Word," which mirrored the decadence and self-involvement of the era by declaring that "the writer expresses, he does not communicate," to the 1985 publication of Words That Must Somehow Be Said, a collection of her poetic and searing essays composed primarily while she was imprisoned for protesting the Vietnam War, Kay Boyle has utilized and transformed the political and social realities of her times into art. And, as Kay herself has admitted, seconded by her biographer Sandra Spanier, it has cost her dearly.

Cited in 1928 by Katherine Anne Porter as the next James Joyce or Gertrude Stein, Kay Boyle nevertheless has remained one of the most unsung women writers of the century, repeatedly overshadowed by many of her less accomplished contemporaries. Perhaps this is because Kay Boyle chose to pursue the path of "a moralist in the highest sense of the word, speaking briefly and clearly of the dignity and integrity of individual man." Perhaps it is because early in her career she made a conscious decision that politics were as important as art. Perhaps it is because, as Studs Terkel has suggested, just when her work was beginning to reach a wider audience she was blacklisted. While DANGEROUS will be a profile of the extraordinary life of Kay Boyle, it will also seek to answer some of these questions, exploring the ways in which the career of a talented American writer suffered because the content of her work was overtly political.

Potential funders for this project have asked "Why Kay Boyle?" The subtext of the question is, we don't think she's "major" enough to warrant a documentary; we don't think she's famous enough.

It is for this reason, her life as writer, political activist and mother, deserves attention. She is not simply another bohemian with a book. Her political views have made her unpalatable to some. Her need to support her family compelled her to write faster than she might have otherwise. Her life was not the glamorous life of an artist, yet she remains one of our few American women of letters.

That Kay Boyle, who died at the age of 90, was our last living link with the Lost Generation is perhaps only of passing interest. More importantly, she is a role model for women, young and old, struggling artists, and people committed to upholding their own values and beliefs. She has written about and spoken out on the important issues of the century, lead an exciting, if difficult, life, and never lost her focus. The fame and money never came, but her integrity has remained intact.

In an era when the heroes of American culture are athletes, actors and rock stars, all of whom are celebrated chiefly for their staggering salaries, Kay Boyle is as rare a bird as any of those listed on the endangered species list.