Mentors, Muses & Monsters

Mentors, Muses & Monsters PDF Author: Elizabeth Benedict
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438443501
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Thirty writers look back at the the people, events, and books that launched their literary lives.

Mentors, Muses & Monsters

Mentors, Muses & Monsters PDF Author: Elizabeth Benedict
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438443501
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Get Book Here

Book Description
Thirty writers look back at the the people, events, and books that launched their literary lives.

Mentors, Muses & Monsters

Mentors, Muses & Monsters PDF Author: Elizabeth Benedict
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439127859
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Edited and with a contribution by Elizabeth Benedict, thirty of today's brightest literary lights turn their attention to the question of mentorship and influence. For Denis Johnson, it was Leonard Gardner's cult favorite Fat City; for Jonathan Safran Foer, it was an encounter with Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai; Mary Gordon's mentors were two Barnard professors, writers Elizabeth Hardwick and Janice Thaddeus, whose lessons could not have been more different. In Mentors, Muses & Monsters, edited and with a contribution by Elizabeth Benedict, author of the National Book Award finalist Slow Dancing, thirty of today's literary stars discuss the people, events, and books that have transformed their lives. When Joyce Carol Oates describes her public-rivalry-turned-wary-professional-acquaintanceship with Donald Barthelme, we are privy to the sight of one of today's most important writers being directly affected by another influential writer. When Sigrid Nunez reveals what it was like to be Susan Sontag's protégé, we get a glimpse into the private life and working philosophy of a formidable public intellectual. And when Jane Smiley describes her first year at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974, she offers an intimate portrait of a literary milieu of enduring significance for American literature. Rich, thought-provoking, and often impassioned, these pieces illuminate not only the anxiety but the necessity of influence—and also the treasures it yields.

What My Mother Gave Me

What My Mother Gave Me PDF Author: Elizabeth Benedict
Publisher: Algonquin Books
ISBN: 1616202688
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
In What My Mother Gave Me, women look at the relationships between mothers and daughters through a new lens: a daughter’s story of a gift from her mother that has touched her to the bone and served as a model, a metaphor, or a touchstone in her own life. The contributors of these thirty-one original pieces include Pulitzer Prize winners, perennial bestselling novelists, and celebrated broadcast journalists. Whether a gift was meant to keep a daughter warm, put a roof over her head, instruct her in the ways of womanhood, encourage her talents, or just remind her of a mother’s love, each story gets to the heart of a relationship. Rita Dove remembers the box of nail polish that inspired her to paint her nails in the wild stripes and polka dots she wears to this day. Lisa See writes about the gift of writing from her mother, Carolyn See. Cecilia Muñoz remembers both the wok her mother gave her and a lifetime of home-cooked family meals. Judith Hillman Paterson revisits the year of sobriety her mother bequeathed to her when Paterson was nine, the year before her mother died of alcoholism. Abigail Pogrebin writes about her middle-aged bat mitzvah, for which her mother provided flowers after a lifetime of guilt for skipping her daughter’s religious education. Margo Jefferson writes about her mother’s gold dress from the posh department store where they could finally shop as black women. Collectively, the pieces have a force that feels as elemental as the tides: outpourings of lightness and darkness; joy and grief; mother love and daughter love; mother love and daughter rage. In these stirring words we find that every gift, ?no matter how modest, tells the story of a powerful bond. As Elizabeth Benedict points out in her introduction, “whether we are mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, or cherished friends, we may not know for quite some time which presents will matter the most."

Voices of Israel

Voices of Israel PDF Author: Joseph Cohen
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791402436
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Cohen takes an in-depth critical look at three novelists and two poets who stand at the forefront of contemporary Israeli literature, and whose works have been widely read, studied, and admired in the Western world. The critiques examine all English translations of these Israeli writers' major works from the beginning of their careers up to the present. Cohen demonstrates the vitality and virtuosity of the so-called New Wave Israeli writers whose sources and influences are as ancient as the stories of the Hebrew Bible and as modern as the interiorization of reality found in Proust, Faulkner, Woolf, and Joyce; and the literary adaptation of relativity found in Borges, Lowry, and Durrell. Complementing the critiques are interviews with the five Israeli writers. The issues discussed--the relation of politics and literature, the influence of literature on life, the role of the writer in society, the moral responsibility of the writer--combine with the essays to provide comprehensive insight into the contemporary Israeli psyche.

The 7 Secrets of the Prolific

The 7 Secrets of the Prolific PDF Author: Hillary Rettig
Publisher: Infinite Art
ISBN:
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
You are not lazy, undisciplined, or uncommitted! Procrastination, perfectionism, and writer's block are habits rooted in scarcity and fear. If you know the seven secrets of the prolific, you can "magically" recover all the energy, discipline, and commitment you thought you had lost. Author, coach and workshop leader Hillary Rettig characterizes, in great detail and depth, the major causes of underproductivity, including: procrastination, perfectionism, resource scarcity, time scarcity, an ineffective writing process, bias, ambivalence, internalized oppression, traumatic rejection, and exploitative career paths. Then she tells you how to conquer each. The solutions are: 1. Identify and Overcome Perfectionism 2. Abundantly Resource Yourself 3. Manage Your Time 4. Optimize Your Writing Process 5. Understand and Claim Your Identity as a Writer 6. Cultivate Resilience in the Face of Rejection and Harsh Criticism, and 7. Create a Liberated Career. Those are the 7 Secrets of the Prolific! And whether you write fiction or nonfiction, or poetry, screenplays or something else - or whether you write for business or school - those secrets will help you speed your output, lower your stress, and bring you joy and fulfillment. Special sections include: *writing on the Internet (and how to withstand the Internet's harsh culture) *coping with the many clueless and/or challenging comments and questions people direct to writers (e.g., "When will you get that thing done?") and, *Publishing Without Perishing, a special Appendix just for graduate students and other academic writers.

Kicking In the Wall

Kicking In the Wall PDF Author: Barbara Abercrombie
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1608681572
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
When Patti Smith was plagued with writer’s block — “scattered and stymied, surrounded by unfinished songs and abandoned poems” — playwright Sam Shepard advised her, “When you hit a wall, just kick it in.” In these pages, Abercrombie shows readers how to do just that. Like a workout with a top trainer, her writing exercises warm up, stretch, and build creative muscle. Quotes from famous writers inspire each day’s exercise. Though Abercrombie says readers need only commit five minutes to each exercise, she writes, “I’ve seen novels, memoirs, and many essays get started” in those five minutes, “and a lot ended up being published.” Her playful, powerful method is ideal — maybe even essential — fuel for writers trying to get off the starting block, persevere through challenges, and cross their personal creativity finish lines.

A Delicate Aggression

A Delicate Aggression PDF Author: David O. Dowling
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300245009
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
A vibrant history of the renowned and often controversial Iowa Writers’ Workshop and its celebrated alumni and faculty As the world’s preeminent creative writing program, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop has produced an astonishing number of distinguished writers and poets since its establishment in 1936. Its alumni and faculty include twenty-eight Pulitzer Prize winners, six U.S. poet laureates, and numerous National Book Award winners. This volume follows the program from its rise to prominence in the early 1940s under director Paul Engle, who promoted the “workshop” method of classroom peer criticism. Meant to simulate the rigors of editorial and critical scrutiny in the publishing industry, this educational style created an environment of both competition and community, cooperation and rivalry. Focusing on some of the exceptional authors who have participated in the program—such as Flannery O’Connor, Dylan Thomas, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Smiley, Sandra Cisneros, T. C. Boyle, and Marilynne Robinson—David Dowling examines how the Iowa Writers’ Workshop has shaped professional authorship, publishing industries, and the course of American literature.

The Writer Laid Bare

The Writer Laid Bare PDF Author: Lee Kofman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1920727566
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
The Writer Laid Bare is a book for everyone who loves the craft of good writing. Be they a voracious reader wanting to know more or an emerging writer themselves, best-selling author and writing coach Lee Kofman has distilled her wisdom, insight and passion into this guide to writing and emotional honesty. A combination of raw memoir and a professional writing toolkit, Lee examines her own life, rich in story and emotion to reveal how committing to a truthful writing practice helped her conquer writer’s block and develop her own authentic voice. ‘Show don’t tell’ has never been so compelling. Inspired by her popular writing courses, Lee also offers practical advice on drafts, edits and how to achieve a life/writing balance. How combining her writing with motherhood led her to recognise that ‘ the pram in the hall’ issue is real. Plus the ultimate reading list of books you really should read, from Chekhov to Elena Ferrante and Helen Garner. ‘The Writer Laid Bare takes us on an intimate journey into the magical, and often challenging, terrain an author inhabits. Kofman courageously shares with the reader her own probing writerly journey of self-discovery.’ - Leah Kaminsky

The Summer We Fell Apart

The Summer We Fell Apart PDF Author: Robin Antalek
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061960667
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The children of a once-brilliant playwright and a struggling actress, the four Haas siblings grew up in chaos—raised in an environment composed of neglect and glamour in equal measure. When their father dies, they must depend on their intense but fragile bond to remember what it means to be family despite years of anger and hurt. These brothers and sisters are painfully human, sometimes selfish, and almost always making the wrong decisions, but their endearing struggles provide laughter through tears—something anyone who's ever had a sibling can relate to.

Sempre Susan

Sempre Susan PDF Author: Sigrid Nunez
Publisher: Atlas and Company
ISBN: 1935633228
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
A memoir of the writer responsible for the avant-garde Against Interpretation depicts her as a magnetic, outsized personality and a polarizing presence who made being an intellectual a glamorous occupation.