Comforts of the Abyss: The Art of Persona Writing

by Philip Schultz

A vivid, intimate, and inspiring exploration of how to write through persona, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning founder of an influential writing school. Throughout his growth as a writer, acclaimed poet Philip Schultz has battled with the dark voice in his head―the “shitbird,” as his late friend the poet Ralph Dickey termed it―that whispers his insecurities and questions his ability to create. Persona writing, a method of borrowing the voice and temperament of accomplished writers, offers him imaginative distance and perspective on his own negative inclinations. In this candid and generous book, Schultz reflects on his early life in an immigrant neighborhood of upstate New York, his first writing experiments inspired by Ernest Hemingway and John Keats, his struggles with dyslexia, and the failures he witnessed in his father’s life and his own. Through surprising, sometimes humorous, and encouraging encounters with the writers who influence him―including Elizabeth Bishop, Joan Didion, and Norman Mailer―as well as moving experiences of loss, Schultz learns how to fashion personas out of pain. Perceptive, enlightening, and profound, Comforts of the Abyss reveals how persona writing can be used as a tool for unlocking a writer’s own story, the philosophy on which Schultz founded The Writers Studio in 1987.

Genres: Writing, Memoir, Nonfiction, Poetry

240 pages, Hardcover

Published June 7, 2022

About the author

Philip Schultz is the author of seven collections of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Failure. He is the founder and director of the Writers Studio and lives in East Hampton, New York.

Reviews

[Kressel Housman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this book is the founder of the Writers Studio, where I have been taking classes since 2018. I always wondered if the school was connected to the Actors Studio, famously founded by Lee Strasberg, because it most definitely has a prescribed “method,” and it’s much more psychological than anything I’ve encountered in any other writing school. I was glad to have that confirmed, even though the association is nothing more than Philip Schultz borrowing their name, including the lack of an apostrophe. The methods are definitely similar. Philip Schultz calls his “persona writing,” which means students borrow the technique of some other established writer, but put their own “material” into it. One of the best classes I attended, for example, is when we wrote our own versions of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.” To a fanfic writer, it’s an easy adjustment, at least in concept, though not every persona works for every writer.

The book is more memoir than craft instruction, and even as a memoir, it’s more thematic rather than linear and chronological. Philip Schultz has won the Pulitzer Prize, but the memoir doesn’t build up his story from his coming of age to that glorious moment. He does describe his coming of age, and he talks about his relationships with such notable literati as Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, but the climb in between is missing. Instead, the central concept is psychological: how every writer must contend with “the shitbird,” that critical voice inside that tells you that your writing is worthless, or, in my case, that writing is impractical and self-indulgent. Writing from a persona, he argues, is a good way to dodge the shitbird, and it’s also apprenticeship. If you want to learn to write, imitate the greats. Your own voice will break through.

I’d advise anyone serious about writing to take a class at the Writers Studio. They’re absolutely top-notch, and in the age of Zoom, you don’t have to be in New York to join in. But I only give the book 4 stars. It was beautifully written, of course, but it wasn’t a life-changer.

[John Stepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an impulse buy from a local bookstore in Sag Harbor. (The author lives in Easthampton.) Poetry is usually opaque to me, so this glimpse into the life and work of a poet was interesting, and so many of the stories captivating. A peek into another life and world.

[Adrian Alvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I never took a class directly from Philip Schultz - you basically have to wait until someone dies for a spot to open up, and even then there's a long waitlist - I studied at his Writers Studio for nearly two years during and after the Covid lockdown in America. Sometimes Schultz would lead a weekly discussion of a novel, book of poems, or short stories and that was how I got to see his method first hand. A method that strips a writer raw and encourages them to move past "the shitbird" as he liked to call that little voice inside an artist's head telling them a subject is too embarrassing or shameful or anything else that might prevent them from putting an idea down on paper. This might seem trite or obvious encouragement but I assure you the process of breaking down that kind of barrier is methodical, emotionally involved, and at the heart of Schultz's core philosophy: that anyone can learn how to write.

Comforts of The Abyss is pure Schultz. By that I mean there were times reading this when I pushed it away because I considered it too raw. I reacted to scenes with a kind of embarrassment. In detailing his feelings about his good friend Ralph Dickey, who tragically committed suicide when they were younger, there were lines like "...I had recreated not only my father's world of failure but the one my friend Ralph lived in most of his brief life, the world of the extra and the exile, who lives essentially only in a world of dreams." I found myself literally pushing this book away and could only take it in a chapter at a time.

Well that's the method. Schultz gives an outline of his philosophy of writing and eventually comes around to more pointed descriptions of the work he does in the writers studio, but more than anything he demonstrates the process right there on the page, and he is a master of what he has been teaching all these years. This book can be like an old, hairy uncle with no shirt on in the summer coming over to give you a heartfelt and long embrace. Sometimes I just felt "blech get off me" but that was because it was so completely present with its emotional profundity. With a little time and some self-examination the book settles into a rhythm of powerful pedagogy.

We can only be who we are and yes I thought there were some moments that felt a little gossipy or even a bit narcissistic as Schultz went into his social world of famous authors and poets but as the book is so completely and unapologetically committed to a Buberian "I and thou" encounter with its reader, it's hard to find fault with any of these blemishes. In fact, including them shows the sheer force of effect a writer has when they let themselves be naked on the page.

Do I recommend this? Yes, but know what you're getting into. This isn't a breezy "how to" book but a wise and emotionally charged showcase of the kind of depths one can achieve following the path of Schultz's teaching. I value that.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comforts of the Abyss will be published on June 7 of 2022. W. W. Norton and Company provided me an early galley for this honest review.

While I was expecting a lot more instructional how-to out of a creative writing focused book, I still got a good bit from this one and discovered a fascinating author in the process.

Prior to this, I was unfamiliar with the work of Philip Schultz. He is the author of eight poetry collections, including Luxury and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Failure, as well the memoir My Dyslexia, and The Wherewithal, a novel in verse. The founder of The Writers Studio, he has been teaching creative writing since 1971.

Through this new book, Schultz reflects upon events of his life. He grew up in Rochester, NY, which gives me a bit of a connection to him. My father also grew up in Rochester and that is where I eventually went to college for my undergraduate degree. Schultz ties his story into writing, in particular first-person narratives by many great authors whom he encountered in his life. In a number of ways, this all reminded me of the literature electives I took in college. It was both scholarly and insightful.

[DesertDoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A talented docent explaining what we see in various rooms of the museum of his life, Philip Schultz engages us in a cinematic guided tour of the emotions and inspired souls who molded him as a writer. He brings Hemingway’s wife, Elizabeth Bishop and Norman Mailer so close to us we can hear them breathe.
An instruction by example, his words dance lyrically across the page as he deftly touches his foot down upon the legacies of suicide, failure, shame, and vulnerable self-reflection, but takes care to not allow any of us to get our boots stuck in the mud.
His book is the personification of his tutelage: “Serious writers are archeologists of their emotional and spiritual selves, risk-takers willing to excavate what lies hidden in our post private selves….”

[Gillian Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book by the founder of The Writers Studio. I have studied there for many years and find that it is one of the best writing schools I have ever attended. I already have a Master of Arts in Writing and am a published poet. I have studied at many fine institutions and concur that Phililp Schultz's Writers Studio is one of the best. This book explores his writing process from his earliest years until now. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the process of writing. I am going to re-read this book.

[Francescajemm · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s true that I am biased, but I found every word of this captivating. What Schultz wanted for himself - a place to commune with likeminded artists and writers, to live in community with others engaged in the painful but vital process of exploration - is exactly what makes The Writers Studio the marvel that it is. His persona approach to teaching creative writing has made me a better writer and a better person, in equal measure.

[Ronald A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In addition to being a brilliant and moving memoir by one of America's best living poets, COMFORTS OF THE ABYSS is a staggeringly moving elegy to a friend who died young but whose legacy lives on in the school of creative writing founded by Schultz. This book also reads as a magnificent anthology, a greatest hits of both hilarious and moving personal encounters with major writers like Norman Mailer, Elizabeth Bishop, Michael S. Harper, and Philip Roth. -- Ronald A. Sharp

[Christopher Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few books make me laugh and cry like this one. Mr. Shultz tells some powerful stories. At the core the book is about being a persona writer, but I think it has application to life too. We all have to face our "shitbird" and integrate it into our lives perhaps through writing, our job, or the family and community we build.

[Kimmen Sjolander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profoundly moving. Not simply a book about the craft of writing. This book is about finding a way to confront one's own brokenness.

[Christine Wzorek · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most honest books, and authors, I have encountered. For anyone exasperated by life’s dualisms and the inherent struggle to find balance, this book is better than therapy.