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How to Start Writing (and When to Stop)
Advice for Writers
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Check link for latest rating. ( 745 ratings, 153 reviews)
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How to Start Writing (and When to Stop)
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book suits aspiring poets and writers seeking practical yet inspiring guidance, as well as readers interested in the craft and philosophy of poetry. Fans of Szymborska’s poetry or those curious about literary creativity will find it particularly rewarding.
At once kind and hilarious, this compilation of the Nobel Prize-winning poet’s advice to writers is illustrated with her own marvelous collages
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Description
In this witty how-to guide, Wislawa Szymborska has nothing but sympathy for the labours of would-be writers generally: "I myself started out with rotten poetry and stories," she confesses in this collection of pieces culled from the advice she gave—anonymously—for many years in the well-known Polish journal Literary Life.
She returns time and again to the mundane business of writing poetry properly, that is to say, painstakingly and sparingly. "I sigh to be a poet," Miss A. P. from Bialogard exclaims. "I groan to be an editor," Szymborska responds.
Szymborska stubbornly insists on poetry's "prosaic side": "Let's take the wings off and try writing on foot, shall we?" This delightful compilation, translated by the peerless Clare Cavanagh, will delight readers and writers alike.
Perhaps you could learn to love in prose.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Critics praise Szymborska for her blend of wit, wisdom, and warmth. Booklist notes that "no reader, not even poetry-phobes, should miss the bright revelations of Nobel laureate Szymborska." Adam Gopnik from The New Yorker highlights her ability to imbue poetry with happiness and wisdom drawn from profound life experiences. Stanislaw Baranczak, writing for the New York Times, admires her genuine love for readers, while Charles Simic values her skill in surprising readers with fresh perspectives.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780811229715
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 October 2021
Country: United States
Imprint: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Contributors:
- Translated by Clare Cavanagh
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 10.0mm
Width: 135.0mm
Height: 203.0mm
Weight: 123g
Pages: 112
About the Author
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wislawa Szymborska, “is unquestionably one of the great living European poets. She's accessible and deeply human and a joy—though it is a dark kind of joy—to read. She is a poet to live with" (Robert Hass). Winner of the NBCC in criticism, Clare Cavanagh is the Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University. Her translations include Wislawa Szymborska’s Map: Collected and Last Poems, with Stanislaw Baranczak, and Adam Zagajewski’s Slight Exaggeration.
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