- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Beacon Press; 1 edition (Jan 19 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0807060070
- ISBN-13: 978-0807060070
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 1.1 x 21.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 286 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #568,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Critically acclaimed essayist Mairs ( Ordinary Times ) recounts the history of her development as a writer in a memoir that even those who are weary of the "what being a writer means to me" genre will find stimulating and insightful. Mairs's use of metaphor is dazzling, her self-scrutiny almost painfully candid. She reminds us that every writer's perspective is to a large extent shaped by circumstances, that one's "voice" is a product of his or her gender, social class, education, etc. Mairs's rigorous attention to the origins and growth of her voice is thus offered not so much as a "portrait of the artist" or a universally applicable guide to becoming a writer but as a meditation on the relationship between author and culture. Her contextual awareness leads Mairs to question many of the "rules" of the literary profession--the tradition, for example, of maintaining clear-cut distinctions between academic and creative writing--and to insist on breaking these rules. Mairs is an iconoclastic thinker; hers is an unusually original book and a great pleasure to read.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In her distinctive way, Mairs (Carnal Acts, LJ 9/1/90; Ordinary Time, LJ 4/1/93) tells her story on becoming a writer by intertwining theory, writing, life, intellect, and wit. She shares her experiences as a woman bound for 20 years by her ingrained repression and a patriarchal culture, and her liberation from these. She explores such dichotomies as writing by men and women, creative and critical writing, and writers in and out of the academy. Mairs devotes a substantial part of this book to the impact of reading on her life as a writer-of discovering Virginia Woolf in her teens and rediscovering her in her mid-thirties. Author of several autobiographical prose works, Mairs addresses the connectedness of feminine autobiographical writing to others than the self and of the importance of what she refers to as "literature of personal disaster." This is a provocative, honest, and revealing portrayal of how one writer deals with rejection and who is determined to fully despite multiple sclerosis.
Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
the writer's thin skin and faint heart,
By margaret ricketts (lexington, ky) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Voice Lessons: On Becoming a (Woman) Writer (Paperback)
Mairs describes finding a writer's voice- reflections of enormous value because she has a prose style to kill for- witty, candid, utterly original, intellucally rigorous. She talks about her lukewarm realationship with the academcy while managing to actually put some extremely murky lit crit to good use Finally she talks about the downside of the writing life -- bad reviews, grants denied-- ''the writer's thin skin and faint heart''. Read this for sensual prose and writerly companionship.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
the writer's thin skin and faint heart,
By margaret ricketts - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Voice Lessons: On Becoming a (Woman) Writer (Paperback)
Mairs describes finding a writer's voice- reflections of enormous value because she has a prose style to kill for- witty, candid, utterly original, intellucally rigorous. She talks about her lukewarm realationship with the academcy while managing to actually put some extremely murky lit crit to good use Finally she talks about the downside of the writing life -- bad reviews, grants denied-- ''the writer's thin skin and faint heart''. Read this for sensual prose and writerly companionship.
0 of 9 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
oy,
By chowda - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Voice Lessons: On Becoming a (Woman) Writer (Paperback)
way too thick, not very readable if your not very invested in the subject
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