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A creative writing group on our campus sponsored a lecture by Brad Land this spring. It was not at all what I expected. First of all, he is very...odd, to be blunt. He didn't write "Goat" as a book about fraternity hazing, but more so about his relationship with his brother and its transition over a very difficult period in his life. He didn't condemn fraternities at all, he just said that we should all be doing as much as we can to love one another. It was not at all what I had prepared for. I expected this very angry lecture, when in reality it was very subdued. Even talking with the people from the creative writing group afterwards, they all said that it was completely different from what they expected. Afterwards, one of my students had him sign a copy of his book, and I asked him about the fraternity hazing. He told me he had never been contacted by anyone from Kappa Sig, and that he didn't see the fraternity hazing being the real story of the book. He said that was what the critics and book reviewers really latched on to. To him, the book is really about his relationship with his brother...
It was wierd but interesting to say the least.
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