The famous Shakespeare and Company Bookstore in Paris, where the likes of Hemingway and James Joyce used to hang out.
via flickr
A Survey of Writers on Contemporary Writers
Listening to writers read and discuss their work at Newtonville Books, the bookstore my wife and I own outside Boston, I began to wonder which living, contemporary writers held the most influence over their work. This survey is not meant to be comprehensive, but is the result of my posing the question to as many writers as I could ask.
MARILYNNE ROBINSON
© Ulf Andersen
JAMES SCOTT: In my MFA program, I remember one teacher had us go around the table and name our favorite authors, and one of the first few people said Marilynne Robinson andthe collective gasp made me scribble her name down and read Housekeeping right away. I’ve re-read it every year since.
The first fifteen pages or so—the summary of her grandparents and the train accident—could teach one everything he or she needs to know about the art of writing. From the perspective to the voice to the pacing to the vividness of the scenes, it’s as close to a perfect section as I have ever read. It thematically sets up everything to follow, though that’s not totally apparent until much later, which it’s why it’s critical that those pages are memorable: they need to instantly make their mark and become the lore of the family and the town.
KAREN THOMPSON WALKER: I read Marilynne Robinson for her wisdom and her eye. Her writing has a way of reminding me how extraordinary all the ordinary things of this world really are. As the narrator of Gilead says, “This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.”
alwaysbringabookwithyou
