A number of books I haven’t read. I do love Vivian Gornick. She is a fantastic writer. I once met her and told her the story of picking up “Fierce Attachments” at a friend’s house in the Hamptons on a summer weekend some years before and could barely leave my room to do anything but read, I was so entranced. I will never forget her delight at that.
Great! These are still my go-to books. And so nice to hear that anecdote about Gornick. She visited Bennington when I was there but I never spoke to her. She got raked over the coals for “making up” scenes in Fierce Attachments but I agree with her position that they were still true. When fabrication is wrong, it leads away from truth.
Love this! Do you have any recommendations for books on nonfiction writing? Perhaps fodder fo a follow up post!
Good question! I’ll think, but 2 come right to mind:
Philip Lopate’s The Art of the Personal Essay:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-art-of-the-personal-essay-an-anthology-from-the-classical-era-to-the-present-phillip-lopate/f97e8be3a58a272b?ean=9780385423397&next=t
And John D’Agata’s books on the essay, including this one:
The Lost Origins of the Essay
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-lost-origins-of-the-essay-john-d-agata/e692eedb8acd7327?ean=9781555975326&next=t
A number of books I haven’t read. I do love Vivian Gornick. She is a fantastic writer. I once met her and told her the story of picking up “Fierce Attachments” at a friend’s house in the Hamptons on a summer weekend some years before and could barely leave my room to do anything but read, I was so entranced. I will never forget her delight at that.
Great! These are still my go-to books. And so nice to hear that anecdote about Gornick. She visited Bennington when I was there but I never spoke to her. She got raked over the coals for “making up” scenes in Fierce Attachments but I agree with her position that they were still true. When fabrication is wrong, it leads away from truth.
As @Laurie Stone says, all writing is fiction!
Charles Baxter’s Burning Down the House. Also Greywolf Press. Oldie but goodie
Definitely! The master Baxter.