The True Subject: Writers on Life and Craft

Selected lectures from writers' conferences on the art and craft of finding and using artistic inspiration feature the works of Jane Smiley, Gary Snyder, Miroslav Holub, and Mary Clearman Blew

This anthology of 14 essays, first delivered as lectures at several writers' conferences around the country, contains some wisdom and inspiration but lacks coherence. Jane Smiley reflects thoughtfully on "the extreme paucity of mothers, and of the tradition of a maternal vision" in our literary culture, and suggests that a new "literature of real, live motherhood" is being forged. Christopher Merrill, reporting on a writers' conference in Slovenia, finds the famous panelists ignoring the nearby Bosnian war and instead haranguing the U.S. government about copyright law. William Kittredge, citing the disenfranchised, suggests, "We need stories that will encourage us toward acts of the imagination that in turn will drive us to the arts of empathy." Agha Shahid Ali criticizes American ethnocentrism for ignoring Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a great Pakistani poet who wrote from Beirut and whose death was front-page news in the Middle East and elsewhere. Several lectures, however, are slight, and despite the book's title, few pieces address the craft of writing. Brown, former director of the Aspen Writers' Conference, is co-founder of Writers' Conferences and Festivals.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edited by the president of Writers' Conferences and Festivals, this anthology of 14 lectures delivered by writers to various writers' conferences begins with Jane Smiley's thoughts on the difficulty of truly writing from a mother's point of view (men just can't do it). Christopher Merrill contributes a standout piece from the fringe of the Balkan civil war. In the title piece, Agha Shalid Ali analyzes the work of Faed Ahmed Faiz, arguing that the politics of exclusion keep Faiz little known in the United States. A few pieces stray as they analyze particular works, but most of these writers are discussing writing itself, not another writer; this is the book's strength. Writing instructors will find good material in this collection to spark discussion. Writers will find some inspiration, insight, and laughs. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
- Robert Moore, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. Information Svcs., N. Billerica, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.