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Page Fright: Foibles and Fetishes of Famous Writers
 
 
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Page Fright: Foibles and Fetishes of Famous Writers (Hardcover)

by Harry Bruce (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Description

Product Description

A witty round-up of writers' habits that includes all the big names, such as Dickens, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Hemingway
At public events readers always ask writers how they write. The process fascinates them. Now they have a very witty book that ranges around the world and throughout history to answer their questions. All the great writers are here — Dickens, dashing off his work; Henry James dictating it; Flaubert shouting each word aloud in the garden; Hemingway at work in cafés with his pencil. But pencil or pen, trusty typewriter or computer, they all have their advocates. Not to mention the writers who can only keep the words flowing by writing naked, or while walking or listening to music — and generally obeying the most bizarre superstitions.


On Shakespeare’s works: “Fantastic. And it was all done with a feather!” — Sam Goldwyn

“I write nude, seated on a thick towel, and perhaps with a second towel around me.” — Paul West

“I’ve never heard of anyone getting plumber’s block, or traffic cop’s block.” — Allan Gurganus

“I’m a drinker with a writing problem.” — Brendan Behan


About the Author

Harry Bruce, a Halifax-based author of many books, has been gathering these stories all of his life.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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5.0 out of 5 stars Page Fright got it right, Oct 21 2009
By Robert G. Patzelt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a great book. It is a book about writing and not about getting published. It is the writers' "how and why" and not a "how to". It is a joy to consume and it should be read by writers, would be writers, readers, historians and people with an interest in the curious workings of the writer's mind and life. This was a huge task as literature and writers are so diverse. It is seemingly impossible to unite them into a common theme but Harry Bruce has done this, and done it well. It is a travel through time and technology. It proceeds through papyrus to pen and it is about people and their personal peccadilloes - and much more. I agree with writer Ray Robertson's review in the Globe & Mail that it is "and admirably assembled and easily consumable compendium of choice anecdotes and most sensible reflections about all facets of the writing life." It is a superb work. It is easy to read due to the fine and fluid writing style, no doubt coming from Harry's own 50 plus years as writer and journalist. It is a pleasure to read. You can either devour just a few pages and easily pick it up at a later time, or what is usually the case, get immersed in the history and wonder of the topic through the grace of the writing and find that you have knocked off most of the book. As I did in one plane ride.

It should be noted that the Editor-in-Chief for this book is the Canadian publishing icon Douglas Gibson who only chooses a few books to personally work on each year. The editing is flawless. Even the cover art is good. On the front is a caricature of Mark Twain bashing an old style typewriter with his cane and on the back is Victor Hugo who would write would write naked standing up at his lectern. The book is filled with many well researched and juicy tidbits, such as, Voltaire using his naked mistress' back as a desk or the superstitions of Truman Capote which include refusing to fly if the plane included two nuns as passengers, allowing three cigarette butts in one ashtray or to be anywhere near yellow roses. Who knew?

Do not be misled by the sub-title as it does not do the book justice. The 351 pages is about more than "foibles and fetishes" and it does not adequately describe the depth and breadth of what is clearly one writer's passion about the lives and work of his peers. It has no less than 398 bibliographical references. One can only imagine how much research had to go into finding so much relevant, interesting and even arcane information.

Although it is about other authors, Harry's own writing is very good. In talking about papyrus he states it is a "tall reed that grew abundantly in the shallower waters of the Nile and its delta. Cyperus papyrus was a godsend to locals, and perhaps to the baby Moses." A nice play on words and biblical history. His writing allows you to imagine two fingered typists hunched over an old Underwood. "Decades later, even as tens of millions of people welcomed into their homes the low hum and blinking screen of the personal computer, countless writers stuck with either their beloved electric typewriters or the clackety-clacking, slam-banging, bell-ringing, ribbon-spinning manual antiques they'd been using all their lives."

It is too easy to fall into the trap of just trying to entice you with tidbits of the dark side of writing including suicide, depression, writers' block and substance abuse. There is lots of this in there but there is so much more. There are too many anecdotes to recount or do them justice, and of course, each one will move us differently. To show the depth of his research I choose one of national import. The great Canadian author Hugh MacLennan (a fellow Nova Scotian) and winner of five Governor General's Awards when writing his last novel, Voices in Time, suffered the set back of having his very old Underwood die. Peter Gzowski, a powerful national radio personality appealed on-air to the people of Canada to search their attics for a typewriter of a very specific vintage. Mr. Canada was able to finish and the book was declared to be "MacLennan's greatest novel". Although this was about a Canadian author, Harry literally covers the world from Papa Hemmingway to Proust and Erica Jong to Thackeray and beyond.

Harry Bruce aptly quoted Lord Byron early in the book and I will close this review with the same one. He has made fine use of the mighty instrument.

O nature's noblest gift - my grey goose-quill!
Slave of my thoughts, obedient to my will
Torn from thy parent bird to form a pen
That mighty instrument of little men!
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