The Writing Life

Electronic resource

English language

Published March 17, 2007 by HarperCollins.

ISBN:
978-0-06-147701-0
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4 stars (12 reviews)

A meditative reflection in anecdote and vignette on Annie Dillard's writing process. Beautiful and vivid prose.

Annie Dillard has written eleven books, including the memoir of her parents, An American Childhood; the Northwest pioneer epic The Living; and the nonfiction narrative Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. A gregarious recluse, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

4 editions

Review of 'The writing life' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Dette er ikke en bok for hvem som helst - og med det plasserer jeg meg fint inn under kategorien åndssnobb - til det er den for spesiell i tematikken og for krevende i i sin snirklede og fragmenterte stil. Men hvis du vil jobbe litt med teksten du leser, bli utfordret av kreative setninger, jobbe litt med å komme forfatteren unger huden, så er dette en fabelaktig vakker bok om utfordringene som ligger der og venter på hvem som helst som i det hele tatt har tenkt tanken å skrive en bok. Den beveger seg som Dillards How to teach a Stone to Talk i grenselandet mellom natur og kultur, og danser litt på skrivebordene til kjente, klassiske forfattere. Det er veldig vakkert, selv om livet som forfatter blir beskrevet som en tung kamp i hardt, isolert landskap uten kontakt med omverdenen. Litt amerikansk Abruzzo over dette. Anbefales.

Review of 'The writing life' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

"Why are reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mysteries probed?"

Annie Dillard delivers a superbly written essay on the life of a writer, reader and artist. An inspiring, quick read.

I see this book is included with a lot of how to write books. This book will not teach you how to write as much as how to live.

"Push it. Examine all things intensely and relentlessly. Probe and search each object in a piece of art. Do not leave it, do not course over it as if it were understood, but instead follow it down until you see it in the mystery of it's own specificity and strength."

She should have spoke at my commencement. This is the way to approach life.

Review of 'The writing life' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book is powerful and tiny. There's beauty on every page, beauty that conveys, perfectly, what it is like to be a writer. I will need to read it again someday, so I can give it the time it deserves. Maybe a chapter a day over coffee in the first hours of my day? I think that's how I could absorb it best, when my mind is still soft with waking and able to luxuriate in the sentences more than I could in the later parts of the day.

But, this is a book that, at least to me as of right now, doesn't always make a lot of sense. It's a collection of anecdotes turned metaphor meant to capture what it means to live "The Writing Life". Most of the time I related to what she said with enthusiastic nods and the occasional knowing giggle. Other times Dillard seemed …

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