Annie Dillard's reflections on a life spent writing are almost sacred among many writers. Neither mystifying nor demystifying the process, she explores the writing profession, writer's block, the physical aspect of putting words on a page, even the temptation to just mess around. This isn't a how-to manual—it simply examines The Writing Life.
Writing is lonely, she says. But it's a paradoxical loneliness, for while the act of writing is solitary, inspiration comes in company with natureandpeople.Dillard doesn't defend this, she simply presents it as fact.Throughout the book, vignettes support her statements, and we get a personal confession and prose poem rather than a celebration or apology.
The Writing Life follows the mystical, natural course of Dillard's famous memoir Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. It's a simple presentation of a craft she sometimes loves and is often battered by.
Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews
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