"What would be the point to discuss the craft of Jean Rhys, Janet Frame, Christina Stead, Malcolm Lowry, all of whose works can teach us little about technique, and whose way of touching us is simply by exploding on the lintel of our minds. It is not technique that guided them. Their craft consisted of desire. We are American writers, absorbing the American experience. We must absorb its heat, the recklessness and ruthlessness, the grotesqueries and cruelties. We must reflect the sprawl and smallness of America, its greedy optimism and dangerous sentimentality. And we must write with a pen—in Mark Twain’s phrase—warmed up in hell. We might have something then, worthy, necessary; a real literature instead of the Botox escapist lit told in the shiny prolix comedic style that has come to define us."
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Novelists from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesShort story writers from the United StatesWomen authors from the United StatesWomen academics from the United States
Original Language: English
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as quoted by Paul Winner,
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joy_Williams_(American_writer)
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Joy Williams (American writer)
(born February 11, 1944) is an American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and teacher of creative writing. She received in 1999 a , was elected in 2008 a member of the , and was awarded in 2021 a .
3 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Joy Williams (American writer) →
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