Started: Feb. 15
Finished: Feb. 22
Notes: I've been on something of a John Gardner kick of late, so I thought I'd read some of his non-fiction, which I usually prefer to his fiction.
Mini review: Though this is a short book, it is heavy in its text and in its ideas, not making it a fast read. I don't think Gardner ever wrote anything that wasn't overly "thick," so to speak, and I don't mean that as an insult, though at times reading him can become rather tiresome I must admit. Anyway, this book is mainly about the emotional and mental growth of becoming a fiction writer, mainly a novelist. There is some talk of craft and some advice about profession, but mostly Gardner focuses upon the inner life of a writer. Gardner has been accused of being somewhat pedantic and definitely snobbish, and he might not have even disagreed with such sentiments, but I find him to be more of a realist and more egalitarian than he might at first seem. While his own goals as a writer and his interests and advice are in the area of the literary writer, the "serious" writer, he has good things to say about genre writing and writing on less seemingly worthy matters. Gardner's viewpoint is almost always about art, not so much about the business of publishing, of making money through writing, etc. He's more interested in ideas and emotions, and not in telling about them but about showing them. He also has a penchant for allegory to some extent, though he might deny that claim; even if he would admit to such, he would likely say it was not intentional. So, why I won't claim Gardner as a favorite read, I will admit to having a certain fascination about the man.
No comments:
Post a Comment