I have been neglecting my creative writing again, what I call my ‘literary’ contribution. My friends know this, know I would like to be writing again. So when they read this blog, they say Congratulations ! You’re writing again!
A touched-up version of a portrait of Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra Photo: Getty Images, Bettmann/Corbis
I try to explain that ‘literary’ writing is different.
They say But I like your blog!
I try to explain that ‘literary’ writing is different.
They say But I like your blog!
MY DOWNFALL
I try to explain that what I’m doing here is journalism, not literature, and my ‘downfall’ embarrasses me. Instantly I am a snob.
I’m not saying that every nonfiction blog, essay, book is automatically unliterary. ‘Literary’ has creative style and meaningful content. Nonfiction can be just as literary (I am a snob but not THAT much); for example the poet Diane Ackerman’s fascinating A Natural History of the Senses.
MY MONARCHY
I’m not saying that every nonfiction blog, essay, book is automatically unliterary. ‘Literary’ has creative style and meaningful content. Nonfiction can be just as literary (I am a snob but not THAT much); for example the poet Diane Ackerman’s fascinating A Natural History of the Senses.
MY MONARCHY
I have in mind a hierarchy of writing. My Monarchy includes the ‘classics’ like Proust, Dickens- authors recognizable simply by last name; I add to that moderns I discover at the wonderful Battery Park Library such as Daniel Mason (The Piano Turner). Reading 'classics' exclusively feels a bit provincial, timid, uninspired, like only listening to NPR- It’s so much more fun to discover a new or unknown ‘classic’ and feel really smart for finding it.
