A Writer's Moment: 'What if we take a risk?'

A Writer's Moment: 'What if we take a risk?':   “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – e. ...

'What if we take a risk?'

 

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – e. e. cummings

 

Born in Cambridge, MA in October of 1894, Edward Estlin "E. E." Cummings, who died in 1962, wrote nearly 3,000 poems; 2 autobiographical novels; 4 plays, and several essays and was one of the eminent “voices” of 20^th century literature.  While his poetry often dealt with love and nature, he said some, “were just for fun.”  For Saturday’s Poem, here is cummings’

                                        If

If freckles were lovely, and day was night,
And measles were nice and a lie warn’t a lie,
Life would be delight,—
But things couldn’t go right
For in such a sad plight
I wouldn’t be I.

If earth was heaven and now was hence,
And past was present, and false was true,
There might be some sense
But I’d be in suspense
For on such a pretense
You wouldn’t be you.

If fear was plucky, and globes were square,
And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee
Things would seem fair,—
Yet they’d all despair,
For if here was there
We wouldn’t be we.

A Writer's Moment: 'Someone to tell it too'

A Writer's Moment: 'Someone to tell it too':   “Someone to tell it too is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.” – Miles Franklin   Born in New South Wales, Australia in Oct...

'Someone to tell it too'

 

“Someone to tell it too is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.” – Miles Franklin

 

Born in New South Wales, Australia in October of 1879, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin was best known for her worldwide bestselling novel My Brilliant Career – now also a popular Netflix series.

 

Franklin grew up writing, first encouraged by her elementary school teacher Mary Gillespie and then by a local newspaper editor who published a number of her articles during her teenage years.   My Brilliant Career, published in 1901, is a semi-autobiographical retelling of those early writing years, following the life of an irrepressible teenage girl growing to womanhood in rural New South Wales.  

 

Her writing took her first to Britain and then the United States during the first part of the 1900s before she served as a nurse during World War I.  Returning to Australia she continued to find success with her books, including the popular novels All That Swagger and Who Was Joseph Furphy? (in collaboration with Kate Baker).  Both books won Australia’s coveted S.H. Prior Memorial Prize for fiction.

 

Traumatized by her war experiences, she became a staunch anti-war advocate, both cheered and vilified for her views.  Undaunted by those in the latter camp, she noted, “It’s a sign of your own worth sometimes if you are hated by the right people.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the great advantage of being a writer'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's the great advantage of being a writer':   “The great advantage of being a writer is that you're there, listening to every word, but part of you is observing. Everything is usef...

'It's the great advantage of being a writer'

 

“The great advantage of being a writer is that you're there, listening to every word, but part of you is observing. Everything is useful to a writer, you see - every scrap, even the longest and most boring of luncheon parties.” – Graham Greene

 

Born in England in October of 1904, Greene is listed among the greatest English language writers of the 20th century.  Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he produced 25 bestselling novels and wrote dozens of short stories, essays, plays and movie scripts while continuing to work as a journalist throughout his 67-year career. 

 

Born into a wealthy family, Greene studied history at Oxford but turned to journalism shortly after completing his education there.  He was working as an editor at The Times of London when his first novel, The Man Within, was published in 1929, earning him universal acclaim.  He went on to win Britain’s two oldest and prestigious literary prizes –  the Hawthornden Prize for his masterpiece The Power and the Glory and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Heart of the Matter. 

 

Also considered one of the most “cinematic” of 20^th century writers (nearly all of his novels and many of his short stories were made into movies or television shows), his characters are both interesting and controversial, for which Greene had a logical explanation.  

 

“(You know) the moment comes when a character does or says something you hadn't thought about.  At that moment he's alive and you just have to leave it to him to do whatever he prefers.”

A Writer's Moment: Just omit those 'dull bits'

A Writer's Moment: Just omit those 'dull bits':   “Fiction is life with the dull bits left out.” – Clive James   Born in Australia on this date in 1939, James was an author, critic, br...