From Linda Grant’s Introduction: Novels fade, your immersion in their world turns into a faint dream, and then is forgotten. Only great literature grows in the imagination.
Entries Tagged as 'writing'
“A good fall” – Ha Jin
March 27th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized, Writing
Certainly I wouldn’t lend her the money, because that might amount to hitting a dog with a meatball—nothing would come back.
Tags:description·writing
Politics, History and Storytelling – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 13th, 2012 · No Comments · Campaigning, History, Political Communication, Politics, Prose, Writing
Politics and history are alike and inseparable in that the craft of both is storytelling. Masters of both juggle past and present to create coherent narratives, the historian to make the past knowable, the politician to do this with the present.
Tags:Campaigning·History·Language·Narrative·Political Communication·Politics·Story Telling·writing
Oppressed Chinese Woman Lit – “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” – Amy Chua
February 25th, 2012 · No Comments · China, Writing
Like every Asian American woman in her late twenties, I had the idea of writing an epic novel about mother-daughter relationships spanning several generations, based loosely on my own family’s story. As my wife will tell you, I have something of a prejudice against ‘oppressed Chinese woman Lit’…
Arching a Sickly Spine – “The Elephant Vanishes” – Haruki Murakami
February 17th, 2012 · No Comments · Description, Writing
Every so often, things would strafe past the window. A white sheet flying east to west like some sorcerer brewing an elixir of roots and herbs. A long, flimsy tin sign arching its sickly spine like an anal-sex enthusiast.
Tags:description·writing
Lovers of Beauty with Economy – “The Greek Way” – Edith Hamilton
February 9th, 2012 · No Comments · Criticism, Culture, Quotes, War, Writing
We are lovers of beauty with economy, said Pericles. Words were to be used sparingly like everything else. Thucydides gives in a single sentence the fate of those brilliant youths who, pledging the sea in wine from golden goblets, sailed away to conquer Sicily and slowly died in the quarries of Syracuse: “Having done what [...]
Probably an Early Sign of Tuberculosis – “The Noodle Maker” – Ma Jian
February 6th, 2012 · No Comments · Description, Writing
He had a face that indicated he was not suited to manual labour. It was heart-shaped, and as white as the moon. His lips were as moist and red as those of a young girl – although this was probably an early sign of tuberculosis. The whites of his eyes were yellow. He often smiled [...]
Tags:description·writing
9000 Days From Now – “The Noodle Maker” – Ma Jian
February 5th, 2012 · No Comments · Love, Marriage, Writing
‘Love is a waste of time,’ the old woman told him. ‘If that writer wants to marry my daughter, he should come and take a look at me first. I’m the image of who she will be nine thousand days from now. When he sees me, his love-sickness will vanish like a puff of smoke.’
Turning Feelings into Words – “After the Quake: Earthquake Stories” – Haruki Murakami
January 30th, 2012 · No Comments · Writing
I understand how you feel, but if you put those feelings into words they will turn into lies.
Tags:expression·truth·writing
Characters who Climb Up Your Pen – “Twenty fragments of a ravenous youth” – Xiaolu Guo
January 20th, 2012 · No Comments · Description, Writing
I wanted to hide away and write. I wanted to meet characters who would climb up my pen. I wanted to create a completely new world, inventing everyone and everything.
Tags:writing
