It seems that so much writing is being done in the nineteenth-century model, where every connection has to be thoroughly explained.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I think there have been some periods when the writing almost became a bit of a burden.
Isn't that what writing is about? The constant attempt to understand the world?
Reading is probably what leads most writers to writing.
For me, writing has always come out of living a fairly to-the-bone kind of life, just really being present to a lot of life. The writing has been really a byproduct of that.
As far as what I do, my value as a writer is certainly not to try to recapitulate a 19th century form. Certain styles of narrative don't conform to my style of experiencing the world.
On the Internet, everyone is writing. There is a great flowering of writing.
A lot of writing is thinking.
One thing that writers have in common is that they are readers first. They have read lots and lots of stuff, because they're just infested with lots of stuff.
Since its beginnings, American writing has been in dialogue with other literatures.
I was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.