poetry mojo, writing & writers
Harold Bloom’s comment on Hart Crane (1899-1932) is all the more poignant knowing that Crane considered some of his major work to have been a failure, suffered recurring bouts of alcoholism, and appears to have committed suicide when he jumped overboard a ship...
poetry mojo, writing & writers
A telling comment by Christopher Isherwood on W.H. Auden’s approach to revising his poems. It makes one wonder how many scholars have wasted hours peering deeply into some poem of ‘celebrated obscurity’ which was never more than an accretion of lines...
writing & writers, you got mail
We don’t know how lucky we are, having access to many forms of communication, electronic or postal, and being free of censorship. Here Stefan Zweig describes the conditions in which he had to write The World of Yesterday, a moving, lucid account of his world...
poetry mojo, writing & writers
An insight into technique by a superb poet, using a wonderful metaphor. Time fixes colours, in words as in paints, and you should let your work dry before you alter it. And decisions? Might the same principle apply?Poems, like water-colours, should be left to dry...
readers & reading, writing & writers
Today is Shakespeare’s birthday & ours! The WritingRedux literary ink-fest is 4 years old with 2000+ dazzling illustrated quotes, reviews and other bright writing delights. Sign up for regular mind-feast despatches to hone your wits and lift your...
podcasts, print & publish, writing & writers
Listening time: under 3 minutes. I loved this drawn out account of Thoreau’s dealings with a publisher wanting to clear out his cellar of Thoreau’s unsold books, which Thoreau had in any case had to pay for. So he gets them sent to his house, schleps them...
