Monthly Archives: July 2023

“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

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“Fiction . . . is not dropped like a pebble upon the ground, as science may be; fiction is like a spider’s web . . .”

Virginia Woolf continues, “attached ever so lightly, perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Often the attachment is scarcely perceptible; Shakespeare’s plays, for instance, seem to hang there complete by themselves.” It’s only when the web is … Continue reading

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“It’s quite therapeutic going through the archives.”

Some memoirists want to record their history, others wish to tell great stories, and others, like Pamela Anderson, want to make sense of their lives. She is more interested in exploring “Who am I – when I’m alone?” than in … Continue reading

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