The Best Writing on Writing

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Heffron likens this first-in-a-series volume to "a meeting of today's top writers... trading tips and opinions about their craft." It's more the literary equivalent of a diner menu: some familiar names and some new in a vast and eclectic collection whose only unifying theme is that everything within is written by a writer. Heffron has assembled essays on every aspect of writing, from the highly personal Why-I-Became-a-Writer variety to the more practical. Among the latter is "Why Stories Fail" by Kansas Quarterly editor Ben Nyberg, who includes examples of personal rejections that make form letters seem appealing. There's also plenty of advice. Edward Albee recommends reading lousy plays because "if you read only Beckett and Chekhov you'll go away and only deliver telegrams at Western Union." James Michener suggests looking into university writing programs, while British poet James Fenton warns against it: "Babies are not brought by storks," he reasons, "and poets are not produced by workshops." With 27 writers weighing in on everything from friendship to AIDS to why one should think twice before writing about relatives, it's doubtful that the entire collection will satisfy everyone, but there's enough variety to give most readers something worth thinking about.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Heffron's approach is as expansive as it is stimulating in this anthology of articles and essays published in the past year and dealing with the topic of writing, both fiction and nonfiction works. A vast range of periodicals has been tapped into for this provocative, articulate m{‚}elange of opinions and points of view--everything from downright humorous observations and straightforward instructional advice to highly personal and penetrating insights into the life of a writer. David Mamet, Adrienne Rich, Carolyn Heilbrun, and James Michener are among the poets, playwrights, biographers, novelists, and essayists featured. These are real writers discussing the gut-wrenching mission to write, or, as Lorrie Moore defines it, "working at the thing so that . . . life does not become . . . a pornography of wishing." Alice Joyce

Heffron, an editor at Story magazine, has selected reprints from a variety of publications to provide a broad commentary on the state of writing. He seeks to reconstruct a bull session among the masters with which to instruct the young cadres. To do this he has collected instructive essays by known voices such as James Michener, Anne Beattie, Edward Albee, Donald Murray, and James Fenton. They discuss their poetry, playwriting, fiction, and nonfiction and the fine points of the craft of using dialect and emotion. It may reflect the era that several pieces discuss writing about illness, including AIDS, and offer memorials on the passing of writers like Louis L'Amour and William Stafford. Despite the attempt at equal time, the discussion of fiction dominates, though Fenton's contribution on poetry is among the best. This collection is a snapshot of our times; its value may increase ten years hence as a historical piece. Useful for strong writing collections.
Robert C. Moore, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. Information Svcs., N. Billerica, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.