The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “writing”

Schopenhauer on Style
Schopenhauer on Style

“Truth that is naked is the most beautiful, and the simpler its expression the deeper is the impression it makes.”

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The Six Motives of Creativity: Mary Gaitskill on Why Writers Write
The Six Motives of Creativity: Mary Gaitskill on Why Writers Write

The art of integrating the ego and the impulse for empathy in a dynamic call and response.

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Joan Didion on Storytelling, the Economy of Words, and Facing Rejection
Joan Didion on Storytelling, the Economy of Words, and Facing Rejection

“Short stories demand a certain awareness of one’s own intentions, a certain narrowing of the focus.”

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Herman Melville on Writing and His Daily Routine
Herman Melville on Writing and His Daily Routine

“A book in a man’s brain is better off than a book bound in calf — at any rate it is safer from criticism.”

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John Green’s Superb Advice to Aspiring Writers and Creators in the Digital Age
John Green’s Superb Advice to Aspiring Writers and Creators in the Digital Age

A vital reminder of the only good reason to put something into the world.

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The Distracted Public: Saul Bellow on How Writers and Artists Save Us from the “Moronic Inferno” of Our Time
The Distracted Public: Saul Bellow on How Writers and Artists Save Us from the “Moronic Inferno” of Our Time

“The writer cannot make the seas of distraction stand still, but he [or she] can at times come between the madly distracted and the distractions.”

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Vladimir Nabokov on Writing, Reading, and the Three Qualities a Great Storyteller Must Have
Vladimir Nabokov on Writing, Reading, and the Three Qualities a Great Storyteller Must Have

“Between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story there is a shimmering go-between. That go-between, that prism, is the art of literature.”

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The Project of Literature: Susan Sontag on Writing, Routines, Education, and Elitism in a 1992 Recording from the 92Y Archives
The Project of Literature: Susan Sontag on Writing, Routines, Education, and Elitism in a 1992 Recording from the 92Y Archives

“A writer is someone who pays attention to the world — a writer is a professional observer.”

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John Updike on How to Have a Productive Daily Routine, and the Most Important Things Aspiring Writers Should Know
John Updike on How to Have a Productive Daily Routine, and the Most Important Things Aspiring Writers Should Know

“In a country this large and a language even larger … there ought to be a living for somebody who cares and wants to entertain and instruct a reader.”

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William Faulkner’s Beautiful Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech About How Artists Help Us Live
William Faulkner’s Beautiful Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech About How Artists Help Us Live

“The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is … to help man endure by lifting his heart.”

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