Synopses & Reviews
Living with a Writer features some of our most insightful literary minds writing as only they could on the practical and personal considerations of being a writer. Entries include John Updike on being a writer; David Updike on being the son of a writer and a writer himself; Nadine Gortimer on living with herself; Margaret Drabble on her relationship with Malcolm Holroyd; Edmund Morris on his relationship with his wife, Sylvia Jukes Morris; John Bayley on Iris Murdoch; and Paul Theroux on V.S. Naipaul. These candid essays offer a rare opportunity to peer into and demystify the private lives of some of the very best contemporary writers of our time.
Review
"Salwak's dazzling collection of essays gathered from those who best know 27 of liberatures' most enigmatic and celebrated novelists, poets, playwrights and biographers reveals the keys to successfully living with someone who makes a living out of living with words...the insights into how wordsmiths approach their craft, and how that approach affects thier lifystyle, makes for fascinating reading....Salwak's beguiling, behind-the-scenes look at what is perceived to be a solitary pursuit explores both the vagaires of writerly relationships as well as the mysteries of the creative process." --
Booklist"Ah, the writer: suffering for art, he or she often subjects loved ones to poverty and neglect in service to the muse. So goes the myth. In this mostly engaging compilation from Salwak, an English professor at Citrus College in California, varying perspectives either debunk or uphold romantic notions of writers' lives. Most of the contributors are writers themselves, leading Nadine Gordimer to exclaim, 'There seems to be some confusion, here; I am the writer. So I can only conclude that I shall be relating what it is like to be living with myself.' Numerous pieces are halls of mirrors, writers writing about writing about someone who lives with them. And it's often strange to read writers' notions of what their loved ones experience. The book often becomes a consideration of the 'writer's wife,' who, as Malcolm Bradbury states in the charming opening piece, 'can be of either sex, though admittedly in the folklore it is almost always women who are famous in the role.' On the other hand, many writers are married to other writers; Michael Holroyd writes charmingly of being married to Margaret Drabble and how they keep their writing lives private: 'Though we share much, the secret part of ourselves remains our writing.' And Drabble, in turn, writes equally charmingly of how only a writer can understand a writer mate's untidiness." --Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Living With A Writer brings together a group of prestigious contributors to discuss the writing lives of contemporary poets, novelists, critics, dramatists, editors and collaborators. What are the practical considerations of being a writer? What are the household dynamics? How do the circumstances contribute to the work? What does it tell us about the creative process? The book features pieces from well-known authors and partners in famous literary relationships, including John Bayley, Amanda Craig, Nadine Gordimer, Ann Thwaite, Paul Theroux and John Updike.
Synopsis
An engrossing collection of essays by today's top literary minds on the topic of living with a writer
About the Author
Dale Salwak is Professor of English at Southern California's Citrus College.
Table of Contents
Preface--Dale Salwak * Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors *
Part One: Personal Lives * The Spouse in the House--Malcolm Bradbury * Living with Writers--Ann Thwaite * Lady of Letters: Living with Sylvia Jukes Morris--Edmund Morris * Hong Kong Time--George Howe Colt * Yesterday's News--Michael Holroyd * The Open Door--Margaret Drabble * Can This Collaboration Be Saved?--Anne Bernays & Justin Kaplan * Forget She (or He) is a Writer, and All May Be Well--John Bayley * The Pantomime Horse--Amanda Craig * Getting Along with Myself--Nadine Gordimer * I Am Two Fools; Or Home Alone--Catherine Aird * Margaret--Brian W. Aldiss * Living with Julian--Kathleen Symons * When Writing Entered My Mind--Frances H. Bachelder * Writing, Teaching, Being Two of Us: An Autofiction--Mary Ann Caws * Room for One--Betty Fussell *
Part Two: Other Lives * Writers as Progenitors and Offspring--John Updike * My Grandmother's Only Son--David Updike * Harbour and Voyage: The Marriage of Ann and Bill Golding, 1939-1993--Judy Carver * Lady Naipaul--Paul Theroux * The Mystery of the Vanishing Wife--Laurel Young * Peter Levi: A Corresponding Friendship--Rob Rollison * Pen and Ink: The Life and Work of Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy--James J. Berg * Maugham's Marriage--Jeffrey Meyers * George Gissing's Marriages--John Halperin * Damned by Dollars:
Moby-Dick and the Price of Genius--Hershel Parker * Related Works * Index