I hope anyone familiar with Dana's writing will question whether that's what he actually said. The press in infamous for just such inaccuracies. There's a huge difference between saying that LA is "perhaps the only great city in the world that has never produced a great poet," (a plausible assertion--I tend to agree) and "no great poet has ever come out of California."
The article was meant to focus on an essay Dana wrote called "
Fallen Western Star: The Decline of San Francisco as a Literary Region ," which is really questioning California's current literary culture, not historical merits.
Heck, even within the LA Times article, he talks about some of the important poets who've come out of California. He's written extensively on Jeffers, Keyes, and Kay Ryan, to name just three (although I think he'd argue Frost's place as a "California poet.") Frankly, Dana's spent way too much time and effort advocating California poets to have ever made such a sweeping and dismissive remark about their importance.
For the real scoop, read "
Fallen Western Star: The Decline of San Francisco as a Literary Region ." Better yet, Jack Foley compiled all the responses to "Fallen Western Star" into a book,
The "Fallen Western Star" Wars, which has some incredibly interesting responses from critics like David Mason and Richard Silberg.
On the plus side, the article mentions my name!!! In the LA Times!!! (Albeit in parentheses.) Woohoo!
C.
[This message has been edited by Chryss Yost (edited September 17, 2001).]