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Tag Archives: writers on writing
on his offensive journal (Jules Renard)
“This journal of mine will offend many people. It has offended even me… I do not feel that I have been sincere; I tried too hard to have succeeded.” –Jules Renard from The Journal of Jules Renard (January 1892)
…nobody or everlastingly plagued (Jules Renard)
“I can’t get around this dilemma: I have a horror of troubles, but they whip me up, make me talented. Peace and well being, on the contrary, paralyze me. Either be a nobody, or everlastingly plagued. I must make a … Continue reading
“To a Young Poet” (Mahmoud Darwish)
[I started noting great lines and stanzas to share from this poem by Mahmoud Darwish, but before long had in some way marked up the whole thing. I’m ashamed to admit I’d never heard of Darwish—much less read any of … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, Poetry & Poetics
Tagged cpb, mahmoud darwish, poetry, Poetry and Poetics, writers on writing
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on Provocation and Waiting (Jules Renard)
“A true artist will write in, as it were, small leaps, on a hundred subjects that surge unawares into his mind. In this way, nothing is forced. Everything has an unwilled, natural charm. One does not provoke: one waits.” –Jules … Continue reading
on Writing to Form (X. J. Kennedy)
“Poems for me never begin with the abstract idea of any form. You can’t set yourself to write a sonnet or villanelle. Any sonnet that makes good is a sonnet-sized explosion in heart, mind, and gut, and it sneaks up … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged cpb, journals, poetics, writers on writing, xj kennedy
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Fiction, Entrapment, Loneliness (David Foster Wallace)
“You don’t have to think very hard to realize that our dread of both relationships and loneliness, both of which are like sub-dreads of our dread of being trapped inside a self (a psychic self, not just a physical self), … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged cpb, david foster wallace, dfw, writers on writing, Writing
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“…we have only so many arrows” (Robert Cohen)
“For every major artist whose latter works calcify into mannerism, there are a thousand minor ones who never make it that far. After all, we have only so many arrows in our quiver. To take up other weapons, and hit … Continue reading
On the Wealth of Poetry (David Kirby)
As seen on Ed Byrne’s Assemblage: "Look, a poem either sends you a bill or writes you a check. You can use up too much of your intellectual and emotional capital, not to mention your good will, and come away … Continue reading
on The Special Music of Poetry (Paul Valery)
[image by ThomasThomas] And as for the music of poetry, that special music I mentioned, it is imperceptible to some; unimportant for most; for others it is the object of abstract research, sometimes scientific and nearly always sterile. I know … Continue reading
on "The New Fiction" (Elizabeth Hardwick)
What is honorable in "so it goes" and in the mournful brilliance of Barthelme’s stories … in Speedboat, in the conundrums of V. is the intelligence that questions the shape of life at every point. It is important to concede … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged cpb, criticism, elizabeth hardwick, writers on writing
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on Becoming a Writer (Cheston Knapp)
[photo by Esther G] I didn’t know I would ever want to be a writer when, at seventeen, I started to keep a journal. And my early entries reveal nothing but the insanity of that dream. I transcribed poems by … Continue reading
I’ve written little… (Leonard Michaels)
"I’ve written little because there’s so much not to be said." –from The Journals of Leonard Michaels
on What Stands Between Us and Our Desire (Frank Bidart)
InterviewerTu Fu is a kind of reporter. Frank BidartExactly. There’s always a pane of glass between you and what you desire. We live in a world where we are surrounded by people who tell us you can break the pane … Continue reading
on Religion (Marilynne Robinson)
Religion is a framing mechanism. It is a language of orientation that presents itself as a series of questions. It talks about the arc of life and the quality of experience in ways that I’ve found fruitful to think about. … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged cpb, marilynne robinson, religion, spirit, writers on writing
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on Beauty (Marilynne Robinson)
You have to have a certain detachment in order to see beauty for yourself rather than something that has been put in quotation marks to be understood as “beauty.” Think about Dutch painting, where sunlight is falling on a basin … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged aesthetics, beauty, cpb, marilynne robinson, writers on writing
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on Giving Up (Kay Ryan)
Interviewer Did you ever think of giving up? Kay Ryan I didn’t have anything to give up to. –Kay Ryanfrom “The Art of Poetry #94″(Paris Review, Winter 2008)(noted by Jared)
on The Difficulty of Writing (Marilynne Robinson)
The difficulty of it [writing] cannot be overstated. But at its best, it involves a state of concentration that is a satisfying experience, no matter how difficult or frustrating. The sense of being focused like that is a marvelous feeling. … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged cpb, fiction, marilynne robinson, writers on writing
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on Reading Thrilling Writing (Kay Ryan)
Interviewer What can “trip” your mind? Kay Ryan People can do it, but honestly, it’s writing. The only real access that I have to my mind is when I’m writing. One of the best ways to get started writing is … Continue reading
on Poetry’s Uselessness (Kay Ryan)
It’s poetry’s uselessness that excites me. Its hopelessness. All this talk of usefulness makes me feel I’ve suddenly been shanghaied into the helping professions. Prose is a practical language. Conversation is a practical language. Let them handle the usefulness jobs. … Continue reading
on Short Lines (Kay Ryan)
Interviewer Why do you tend to write short lines? Kay Ryan Edges are the most powerful parts of the poem. The more edges you have the more power you have. They make the poem more permeable, more exposed. –Kay Ryan … Continue reading