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Triage: On Reading, Writing, and the Interior Life
A Vintage Shorts Nonfiction Original
One of the most valuable spaces for an artist is the inner life—the sacred place where, outside of the constraints of time and space, meaning is extracted from raw experience and fashioned into art. In this timely new essay, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo discusses the work writers do as they sift through experience and work to cultivate rich interior lives. For authors, this often involves performing triage, a constant assessment of events that helps determine what’s useful for a story and potentially enduring.
But what is at stake when we perform triage? Is an artist’s interior life an act of generosity or selfishness?
Reflecting on a year of reading and meditations on the nature of interiority brought up by a global pandemic and orders to stay at home, Triage is a candid and arresting look at the process that goes into creative work, by one of our most celebrated and bestselling novelists.
An ebook short.
Look for Richard Russo's new book, Somebody's Fool , coming soon.
One of the most valuable spaces for an artist is the inner life—the sacred place where, outside of the constraints of time and space, meaning is extracted from raw experience and fashioned into art. In this timely new essay, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo discusses the work writers do as they sift through experience and work to cultivate rich interior lives. For authors, this often involves performing triage, a constant assessment of events that helps determine what’s useful for a story and potentially enduring.
But what is at stake when we perform triage? Is an artist’s interior life an act of generosity or selfishness?
Reflecting on a year of reading and meditations on the nature of interiority brought up by a global pandemic and orders to stay at home, Triage is a candid and arresting look at the process that goes into creative work, by one of our most celebrated and bestselling novelists.
An ebook short.
Look for Richard Russo's new book, Somebody's Fool , coming soon.
30 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 15, 2022
54 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Richard Russo
64 books4,792 followersRICHARD RUSSO is the author of seven previous novels; two collections of stories; and Elsewhere, a memoir. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which like Nobody’s Fool was adapted to film, in a multiple-award-winning HBO miniseries.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 11, 2022
I feel guilty even listing this as a book, since it was a short piece by Russo on his interior life during the Covid lockdown. As always with Russo, he strikes a chord with me. Like him, the lockdown did not destroy me emotionally, but gave me more time for other things. As he said, "It's like I'd been waiting all my life for someone to tell me to go home and stay there. What a gift." If you are a Russo fan, this is a good one.
April 21, 2022
Richard Russo, one of my go-to authors, delivers this, his pandemic memoir. It's always interesting to see how our idols are faring in this time and especially, for me, what they're reading.
April 9, 2022
excellent commentary on feelings and literature during the pandemic
Moments of terror and fear.
Inner thoughts when isolated.
Reading, writing and self analysis.
Richard Russo is such a great writer and I read most of the books he mentions by other authors. I’m going to make it my business to read all of them.
Moments of terror and fear.
Inner thoughts when isolated.
Reading, writing and self analysis.
Richard Russo is such a great writer and I read most of the books he mentions by other authors. I’m going to make it my business to read all of them.
March 24, 2022
A literary exercise in Russo catharsis
Russo doubly embarrassed himself. First, he stated in the last few paragraphs of Triage that he sometimes feels embarrassed as he takes from his life experiences the foundation for story lines or characters.
Secondly, and to my mind more poignant, he should be embarrassed for taking money from his readers for this self absorbed, self pity drivel.
But, if I give him the benefit of the doubt? Let's say he accidentally sold some of his notes to a future novel? If that's the case, he would have potentially only suffered a single embarrassment.
Russo doubly embarrassed himself. First, he stated in the last few paragraphs of Triage that he sometimes feels embarrassed as he takes from his life experiences the foundation for story lines or characters.
Secondly, and to my mind more poignant, he should be embarrassed for taking money from his readers for this self absorbed, self pity drivel.
But, if I give him the benefit of the doubt? Let's say he accidentally sold some of his notes to a future novel? If that's the case, he would have potentially only suffered a single embarrassment.
May 19, 2022
Triage: on Reading, Writing and the Interior Life by Richard Russo.
It is published as a Vintage Short in March 2022.
It is ‘short’. A Memoir of sorts.
Mr. Russo reflects on a year of reading and meditations; an uncertain year/two years of isolation and a world turned upside-down by Covid.
I love the title…Triage.
Instead of assigning degrees of urgency to medical issues, Mr. Russo attempts to ‘sort through’ or assign or ‘triage’ his experiences during Covid into workable, realistic, meaningful future stories.
I kept thinking of this ‘short’ long after I finished reading. (This happens with all of Mr. Russo’s works.) It is very insightful, realistic, thought-provoking. *****
It is published as a Vintage Short in March 2022.
It is ‘short’. A Memoir of sorts.
Mr. Russo reflects on a year of reading and meditations; an uncertain year/two years of isolation and a world turned upside-down by Covid.
I love the title…Triage.
Instead of assigning degrees of urgency to medical issues, Mr. Russo attempts to ‘sort through’ or assign or ‘triage’ his experiences during Covid into workable, realistic, meaningful future stories.
I kept thinking of this ‘short’ long after I finished reading. (This happens with all of Mr. Russo’s works.) It is very insightful, realistic, thought-provoking. *****
March 17, 2022
Good. But I wanted more.
April 13, 2022
Triage the truth
Russo accurately zeros in on the essential revelation of all writers~our view of the world is immoral; necessarily so. A thoughtful treatise.
Russo accurately zeros in on the essential revelation of all writers~our view of the world is immoral; necessarily so. A thoughtful treatise.
November 25, 2022
Another great Russo essay.
June 15, 2023
The Glimpses of a Writer
This is a quick little read by the incomparable Richard Russo. He shares his thoughts on writing, the pandemic and human nature.
This is a quick little read by the incomparable Richard Russo. He shares his thoughts on writing, the pandemic and human nature.
February 24, 2023
Full disclaimer: Richard Russo is one of my all-time favorite writers. He has written novels with lines and scenes that live with me daily. But, Triage, takes us into creative non-fiction territory. As the title implies, he takes us into the world of writing and what life is like for writers, and he also carries us through readings he experienced during the pandemic. However, the interior life portion of this book is where the heart of it lies. At a time we all were forced to live interior lives whether we wanted to or not (during the pandemic), he reminds us of the beauty and importance in that interior life. In fact, it’s the most important. I received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews