From On Not Winning the Nobel Prize: The Nobel Lecture, by Doris Lessing
IN ORDER
"In order to write, in order to make literature, there must be a close connection with libraries, books, with the Tradition."
"I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme." -- Henry James
I would like to see this incorporated into a sort of "pledge" to be signed by all participants in any writing workshop, especially poetry. They would be pledging to make that connection. I think I've mentioned to you that the many poetry workshops I used to attend were mostly full of people who admitted they rarely read poetry, thus establishing that what they were really interested in was "self-expression", the great art killer.
ReplyDeleteI still find that terrifying. It's like someone who never listens to or studies music deciding to become an opera star!
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