Tag Archives: Annie Dillard

“You make the path boldly and follow it fearfully.”

The last word of this sentence stunned me. The Annie Dillard I know is one of the boldest writers. Could she experience fear when writing? She does. She says, “In your humility, you lay down the words carefully, watching all … Continue reading

Posted in non-fiction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“The writer must solve two problems: Can it be done? and, Can I do it?”

Every book, story, and poem, Annie Dillard says, presents challenges, “which the writer discovers as soon as his first excitement dwindles.” That’s when the real work begins. Can it be done? Can the writer engage our intellects and our hearts? … Continue reading

Posted in non-fiction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“There is another kind of seeing that involves a letting go.”

Annie Dillard describes two kinds of seeing.  The first kind of seeing is like taking pictures with a camera, moving from shot to shot, reading your light meter.  In the second kind, you become the camera, and your body’s shutter … Continue reading

Posted in non-fiction | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The island where I live is peopled with cranks like myself.”

The essay “Teaching a Stone to Talk” opens with a description of cranky man named Larry who does, in fact, try to teach a stone to talk. Several times a day, he takes a certain stone off his shelf, removes … Continue reading

Posted in non-fiction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“It was the rough edge of the world, where the trees came smack down to the stones.”

Reading about the majestic trees in the northwest corner of the country in The Overstory made me want to learn more about the history of the relationship between the ancient trees and the new settlers who lived and died by … Continue reading

Posted in fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

“I had to live on the lip of a waterfall, exhausted.”

You might expect a coming-of-age book to have a plot, to describe the who-what-when-where-how-and-why. But Annie Dillard is not a typical person, nor is her book a typical memoir. She concentrated on describing how she wanted to notice and remember … Continue reading

Posted in memoir | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Terror and beauty are woven into the fringes of things both great and small.”

Surely the first test of  wonderful writing is whether it can recaptivate the reader who returns a second, third, or fourth time.  Annie Dillard’s essay “Seeing” passes that test. For her, seeing leads to understanding, which can then lead to transformation.  Her closing lines describe being moved … Continue reading

Posted in memoir | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment