A Writer's Moment: "It's what belongs to literature'

A Writer's Moment: "It's what belongs to literature':   “God would not give us the same talent if what were right for men were wrong for women.” – Sarah Orne Jewett   Born in Maine in Septem...

"It's what belongs to literature'

 

“God would not give us the same talent if what were right for men were wrong for women.” – Sarah Orne Jewett

 

Born in Maine in September of 1849. Jewett was a novelist, short story writer and poet, best known for her local color works set along or near Maine’s southern seacoast and recognized as an important practitioner of American Literary Regionalism.

 

Educated in Boston, where she met many of New England’s leading writers while still in her teens, Jewett was first published in Atlantic Monthly in 1868 and went on to become one of the most-read short story writers of the 1870s and ‘80s.  Fellow author William Dean Howells said Jewett possessed “an uncommon feeling for talk — I hear your people.”

 

Best known among her 20 books (many still in print today) are A White Heron, which is a collection of her best short stories; A Country Doctor: and the children’s book Betty Leicester.  Many of her best poems are collected in the book simply known as Verses.  

 

Jewett, who died in 1909, said she often contemplated whether her works deserved recognition. 

 

“The thing that teases the mind over and over for years and at last gets itself put down rightly on paper,” she said, “is whether – little or great – it belongs to Literature.”

 

A Writer's Moment: 'It's how you achieve a sense of wonder'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's how you achieve a sense of wonder':   “Ultimately, theatre is about creating a sense of wonder, and I think wonder is achieved not by a kind of wide-eyed silliness but by being...

'It's how you achieve a sense of wonder'

 

“Ultimately, theatre is about creating a sense of wonder, and I think wonder is achieved not by a kind of wide-eyed silliness but by being available to that which is most unknown, inside the material and inside yourself.” – George C. Wolfe

 

Born in Frankfort, KY on this date in 1954, Wolfe is a playwright and director in both theater and film, and an occasional actor.  He won Tony Awards for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and for the musical Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.  Most recently he has directed the Eugene O'Neill revival The Iceman Cometh (with Denzel Washington) and the musical Gypsy (with Audra MacDonald).  He also was seen as an actor in the hit movie The Devil Wears Prada 2.

 

Wolfe started writing both poetry and prose while still in high school and first tried his hand at writing plays while studying at Pomona College in California.  He went on to earn his MFA in dramatic writing and musical theater at New York University before embarking on an award-filled writing, producing and directing career.  In 2013 he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

 

“Confidence," he said, "comes in going on personal journeys in a public arena and feeling as though you have a right to do that.  You have to give yourself permission to discover what you need to discover and not worry about how pretty the journey is.  If you're aware of the pretty, you're not going to dig into the mess.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The essence of ideas'

A Writer's Moment: 'The essence of ideas':   “Human history in essence is the history of ideas.” – H. G. Wells Born in England on Sept. 21, 1866 Wells has been called “The Father o...

'The essence of ideas'

 

“Human history in essence is the history of ideas.” – H. G. Wells

Born in England on Sept. 21, 1866 Wells has been called “The Father of Science Fiction" (although some argue that it was Jules Verne).  Prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, and social commentary, he authored such Sci-Fi classics as The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The War of the Worlds, made even more famous after a 1938 radio broadcast by actor Orson Welles.

 

Born into a poor family, Wells suffered a broken leg at age 9 and while recuperating spent almost all his time reading books from the free library, deciding then and there he wanted to be a writer.  After putting himself through secondary school – overcoming financial and personal hardship in the process – he went on to earn a college degree in the sciences and begin his long, successful writing career.   

 

His scientific background stood him in good stead when he started writing his “fantastical” stories that became the foundation for what would be termed “science” fiction.  Also an artist, Wells made part of his living doing sketches but noted “I had rather be called a journalist than an artist” since it was also during that time – in his late 20s and 30s – that he started writing social commentary for newspapers and magazines.  But, while he was widely read in other genres, it was his science fiction that made him famous.

 

Wells noted that an author should always strive to make a story as credible as possible, even if both the writer and the reader know certain elements might be impossible.  That, he said, allows a reader to accept the ideas as something that might really happen.  

 

“What really matters,” he said, “is what you do with what you have.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's that place to belong'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's that place to belong':   “I just love writing. It's magical, it's somewhere else to go, it's somewhere much more dreadful, somewhere much more exciting...