How to Start Writing (and When to Stop)

Name: How to Start Writing (and When to Stop)
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9780811229715
Price: 33.99 NZD
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Advice for Writers

By Wislawa Szymborska

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4.07

( 745 ratings, 153 reviews)

Summary

In How to Start Writing (and When to Stop), Wislawa Szymborska offers a witty and sympathetic guide for aspiring writers. Drawing from years of anonymous advice in the Polish journal Literary Life, she shares insights on the painstaking and sparing craft of poetry. Szymborska emphasises poetry's pragmatic side, urging writers to set aside flights of fancy and focus on grounded expression. This charming collection, translated by Clare Cavanagh, delights both readers and writers with its honest and warm approach to the writing process.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$33⁹⁹

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How to Start Writing (and When to Stop)

$33⁹⁹

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

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

Collections

Arts & Culture Biography & Memoir Education & Reference Non-Fiction Wislawa Szymborska

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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