The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Search results for “Ursula k. Le guin”

Rebecca West on Storytelling as a Survival Mechanism and How Art Transforms Mere Existence into Meaningful Being
Rebecca West on Storytelling as a Survival Mechanism and How Art Transforms Mere Existence into Meaningful Being

“Art is not a plaything, but a necessity, and its essence, form, is not a decorative adjustment, but a cup into which life can be poured and lifted to the lips and be tasted.”

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The Conscience of Words: Susan Sontag on the Wisdom of Literature, the Danger of Opinions, and the Writer’s Task
The Conscience of Words: Susan Sontag on the Wisdom of Literature, the Danger of Opinions, and the Writer’s Task

“A writer ought not to be an opinion-machine… The job of the writer is to make us see the world as it is, full of many different claims and parts and experiences.”

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Poet Ann Lauterbach on Why We Make Art and How Art Makes Us
Poet Ann Lauterbach on Why We Make Art and How Art Makes Us

“The crucial job of artists is to find a way to release materials into the animated middle ground between subjects, and so to initiate the difficult but joyful process of human connection.”

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Maya Angelou on How a Library Saved Her Life
Maya Angelou on How a Library Saved Her Life

“A library is a rainbow in the clouds.”

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How Libraries Save Lives
How Libraries Save Lives

One woman’s story of how a bookmobile transported her away from a deadly life and toward her human potential.

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Simone de Beauvoir on the Artist’s Task to Liberate the Present from the Past
Simone de Beauvoir on the Artist’s Task to Liberate the Present from the Past

“The artist … must first will freedom within himself and universally; he must try to conquer it.”

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16 Overall Favorite Books of 2016
16 Overall Favorite Books of 2016

From loneliness to love to black holes, by way of Neil Gaiman, Annie Dillard, and Mary Oliver.

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Healing the Heart of Democracy: Parker Palmer on Holding the Tension of Our Differences in a Creative Way
Healing the Heart of Democracy: Parker Palmer on Holding the Tension of Our Differences in a Creative Way

“Full engagement in the movement called democracy requires no less of us than full engagement in the living of our own lives.”

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Finding Poetry in Other Lives: James Baldwin on Shakespeare, Language as a Tool of Love, and the Poet’s Responsibility to a Divided Society
Finding Poetry in Other Lives: James Baldwin on Shakespeare, Language as a Tool of Love, and the Poet’s Responsibility to a Divided Society

“The greatest poet in the English language found his poetry where poetry is found: in the lives of the people. He could have done this only through love — by knowing… that whatever was happening to anyone was happening to him.”

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James Baldwin and Chinua Achebe’s Forgotten Conversation About Beauty, Morality, and the Political Power of Art
James Baldwin and Chinua Achebe’s Forgotten Conversation About Beauty, Morality, and the Political Power of Art

“Those who tell you ‘Do not put too much politics in your art’ are not being honest. If you look very carefully you will see that they are the same people who are quite happy with the situation as it is… What they are saying is don’t upset the system.”

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