The Writer's Reader: Vocation, Preparation, Creation

by Robert Cohen (Editor), Jay Parini (Editor)

The Writer's Reader is an anthology of essays on the art and life of writing by major writers of the past and present.

These essays offer a wealth of insights into how writers approach their craft and represent a practical resource as well as a source of inspiration. The writings collected here range from classic to less well-known, historical to contemporary, and include, for example, essays on the vocation of writing by Natalia Ginzburg, John Berger, Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez, and Flannery O'Connor; thoughts on preparing for writing by Roberto Bolaño, Henry Miller, Jorge Luis Borges, Ha Jin, and Cynthia Ozick; and essays on the craft of writing by authors such as Italo Calvino, Colm Tóibín, Virginia Woolf, Philip Roth, Lydia Davis, David Foster Wallace, and Zadie Smith.

Taken together, this collection is a must-read for any student or devotee of writing.

Genres: Writing

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 2015

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as Robert Cohen

Reviews

[John Vanderslice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb collection of prose pieces by well-known writers writing about their craft and/or their vocation. Within that broad umbrella a vast array of subjects are covered, from early reading habits to stories about nearly giving up, to various rejections or embraces of literary forerunners, to thoughts about what fiction writers need to concern themselves with (and not concern themselves with) while composing). And, as they say, lots more! I like that the collection includes pieces from long-canonized writers (e.g., Flannery O'Connor, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Michal de Montaigne) to highly active and visible contemporary writers (e.g., Zadie Smith, Charles Baxter, Ha Jin, Edwidge Danticat, Binyavanga Wainaina). Also, there is an array of nationalities represented; true, there are more Americans and Brits than any other group--not at all surprising given that the book is published by Bloomsbury--but several other countries find their way into the collection too. I have to admit that a few of the pieces left me either lost or flat, or they just seemed outdated. (I couldn't go but a few minutes on Donald Barthelme's windy essay; sorry, Barthelme fans, but the man's writing has always struck me as very cold at heart, nothing but smirk, and so I can't begin to enjoy it.) But many others were so amazingly on the mark. Flannery O'Connor's "The Nature and Aim of Fiction" is still a marvel; maybe the smartest statement on fiction writing I've ever read (even now). But Zadie Smith's is excellent and relevant as well; as is Charles Baxter's, and Roberto Bolano's. (Bolano charmingly outs himself as a long-time book thief.) And Wainaina's parodic essay "How to Write About Africa" (really, how not to write about Africa) is worth the price of the book, all by itself.

[Laura Brackin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The editing is horrendous, but the essays are fabulous.