Ann Patchett "This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

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Ann Patchett, "This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage" (2013)

 

[비디오]  Ann Patchett "This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage"

 

아래는 책 본문에서

 

In my junior year, I studied with Grace Paley. The fact that I even met Grace Paley, much less sat in her classroom for an entire year, is a wonder to me even now. There was no better short story writer, and very possibly no better persom, though she would smack me on the head with a newspaper were she around to hear me say such a thing. (Interested in being a better writer? Go buy yourself a copy of The Collected Stories by Grace Paley.) (p. 30)

 

Grace wanted us to be better people than we were, and she knew that the chances of our becoming real writers depended on it. Instead of telling us what to do, she showed us. Human rights violations  were more important than fiction. Giving your full attention to a person who is suffering was bigger than marking up a story, bigger than writing a story. (p. 31)

 

Set your sights on something that you aren't quite capable of doing, whether artistically, emotionally, or intellectually.... I raise the bar with every book I write, making sure I'm doing something that is uncomfortably beyond what I can manage. It is the only way I know to improve over time, and going back to Russell Bank's advice, I'm the only person who can make myself do better work. (p. 50)