Tag: a favorite writer

“Tell me, do you believe it? Really believe it? Bad and good are the same?”

A review of “Virgil” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

At first glance, it seems this novel is about a greedy rich guy who is dying, while being comforted by a simple angel who is interrupted by comic-relief angels. If that were the case, you’d expect a Christmas Carol ending, … Read More

“You put all the [decoy] mallards out there, but if you’re going hunting you need something like this egret, for a confidence decoy.”

A review of “The New Yorker Stories” in 100 words by Catherine Stover

How did she do that? Readers often ask this after reading an Ann Beattie story. Just when it seems as though not much is happening, boom! The story explodes. For example, in the final long paragraph … Read More

“I’ve sometimes wondered whether novelists like to be remembered for what they’ve said or because they’ve said it in their own particular way – in their own distinctive voice.”

In 1978, the BBC invited Barbara Pym to be a guest on its program where well-known writers discussed their work. Her views on the “distinctive voice” of a writer was of particular interest: in the 1960s, her publisher declined her seventh novel because he said her style was “old fashioned.” … Read More

“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo . . .”

Virginia Woolf argues that life is not comprised of an orderly series of events, but rather, life is complex and spiritual in nature. Therefore, when writing about life, novelists should “. . . convey this varying, unknown and uncircumscribed spirit, whatever aberration or complexity it may display . . .” … Read More