Although David Brooks is targeting his advice to young do-gooders in his column linked below, he does an excellent job of analyzing “noir literature heroes” in the second half. Definitely worth a read.
Author Archives: Jilanne Hoffmann
Sentence Alert!
I love it when a sentence takes you down unexpected paths past unexpected places:
“…I let myself sink into poverty, in a manner that was deliberate, rigorous and not altogether devoid of elegance.” from Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolano, translated by Chris Andrews
Why is this sentence effective? When I think of characters falling into poverty, it usually isn’t self-inflicted (at least not with purposeful intent), and it usually isn’t done with rigor or elegance. There’s so much here that’s out of the norm, it makes the character intensely interesting. I want to know more.
Very effective. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program…
Filed under Craft
Love, love, love, this little book! Picked it up at Green Apple Books in San Francisco last night. The vignettes are set in, and inspired by, various SF pubs and eateries. From the back jacket: “Will the cocktails break your heart? Will the ice cream make you call your mother? Reviews are plentiful. Menus can be found online. But there is more to dining out than what arrives on the plate. Somewhere between making eye contact with the server and figuring out the tip, we fall in love, make plans to escape, dream of other worlds.”
This work has been described as a blend of Richard Brautigan and Raymond Carver.
Writing: Ian Tuttle
Illustrations: Jason Toney
Lovely book design: Megan Enright
If you don’t live in SF, you can buy it through PayPal. And no, I have not met the author, but he’ll be at The Stable in San Francisco for the Cincinnati Review Release Party on March 26, 2012.
March 21, 2012 · 1:31 pm
Kudos for “The Sense of an Ending”
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (2011 Man Booker Prize winner) leads the reader through the murky passageways of memory, while musing about the nature of time and history.
The story opens with fragments of memories that, according to the narrator, are arranged “in no particular order” along with the caveat—“what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.” With this first paragraph, the book’s tenor is established.
Filed under What I'm Reading Right Now
Tracy K. Smith, on Getting to that Untamed, Untrained Place to Write.
All of us need to learn how to step away from the controls when we write first drafts or take on deep revisions.This essay speaks to the need for and importance of letting go.
My daughter is screaming in the next room because she wants her father to give her something he is not willing to let her have. Her little voice has swelled and stretched so it now seems to be something she could, if she wanted, ride down the stairs and out the front door of our building. I want! I hear her say, the a of it opening up into a wide, flat surface, while the anger winds and unwinds itself like the engine of a well-built vehicle. I waaaant!
When I first started writing poems seriously, I remember longing for that kind of unappeasable need, longing to tap into something capable of causing so much internal unrest I’d have to step aside and let it have its way. I didn’t have my daughter’s sense of purpose, perhaps, or her innocent belief in the veracity of her own need and the…
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VIDA
Male writers may feel uncomfortable (or not, if you’re V.S. Naipaul), women writers may want to–well, blow chunks. If you’ve never heard of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, you will know much about them after you click on the link.
The article speaks for itself. What do you think?
Filed under Rants
The Writer’s Job by Tim Parks | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books
Read this and weep…or get stronger. It’s up to you.
The Writer’s Job by Tim Parks | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books.
Filed under Howling at the moon
Gonna Take a Sentimental Journey–NOT!
I was just reading a fabulous post on the AboutAWord Web site. Keyed in to it by a friend, I’ve just discovered a treasure trove of intelligent writing on writing. One of the most recent posts, by Kevin Prufer, discusses sentimentality.
The kiss of death, we know it when we read it. Print bleeding past lavender and into violet. I learned to think about it as unearned emotion, but I now believe that’s too simplistic. Continue reading
Filed under Craft, Howling at the moon
Dogpatch Writers Collective 