“The life of an artist … differs from the lives of other persons in that its events are becoming artistic sources even as they command his present attention. Instead of allowing each day, pushed back by the next, to lapse into imprecise memory, he shapes again the experiences, which have shaped him. He is at once the captive and the liberator.” Richard Ellmann in James Joyce(Recommended)
American literary critic Richard Ellmann (1918-1987) was also an excellent biographer and wrote about Joyce, Wilde and Yeats. As far as I know, all three books are still in publication.
Joyce photo is in the public domain.
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Brevity might be the soul of wit (Shakespeare) and of lingerie (Dorothy Parker), but it has now evolved to be ubiquitous and fashionable in a wordy kind of way… Twitter stories, flash fiction, even one-sentence poems and one word responses to emails. However tantalizing or practical some of these are, too much abbreviated word-play is a bit like feeding mind and heart on nothing but hor d’oeuvres. I want to shout, “WHERE’S THE MAIN COURSE!”
An appreciation for short snappy creative writing seems somehow inevitable though. While the world lauds mindfulness, it demands multitasking and the expectations for productivity are ever-expanding. We just don’t have time for lengthy reads… and maybe we don’t have patience anymore. In any given moment it seems a thousand things call for our attention.
No doubt we also owe some of the penchant for sound-bites to our explosion of tech toys and social networking. I could certainly give them up if I had to, but I’d rather not. Nor do I want to give up the convenience and economy of my Kindle library, which is perfect for living in small spaces.
Nonetheless, on Saturdays like this – with no immediate deadlines, no appointments, no chores – I love to live in my big chair with a book and an iced coffee mojito. What luxury to get lost for long hours in an imagined world, painstakingly created, served up on paper with good old-fashioned paper binding.
Wishing you a pleasant Saturday. Jamie
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IMHO nothing beats a good legal thriller for escape and John Lescroart is the absolute master – my read for the day.
A mother reads to her children, depicted by Jessie Willcox Smith in a cover illustration of a volume of fairy tales written in the mid to late 19th century.
“We have that book at home.”
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“There is something utterly charming about little kids recognizing the books they have at home when they come to the bookstore. Little ones come in every day and almost all under the age of five feel the need to announce when they see a book they know from home. There is comfort in the familiar. The characters in the books have become friends, the artwork can be anticipated and there are no surprises.” MORE Josie Levitt yesterday in Publisher’s Weekly ShelfTalker, “In which children’s booksellers ponder all things literary, artistic, and mercantile.”
Illustration, public domain
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Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 