For Lionel Trilling, his widow points out, seriousness, not happiness, was the goal worthy of an intellectual life.
This week I’m reading from David Lehman’s The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets, from which the above is excerpted.
Two-thirds of the way through a first revision of a 60,000 word novel is a good moment to consider what the next next step will be. Continue reading
Welcome to my first random act of occasional curating, where I use my blog to share those things that risk never being found again, by me (if I simply bookmark them). These are some of the links I find the time for, especially when work risks turning upside-down my usual smile, gleefully Continue reading
Hello and happy new year to all. May 2012 be one of health, happiness, and the making of your dreams come true. Instead of affirming a resolution, a word that brings to mind lawyers, politicians, and all that is devoid of charm and imagination, I have decided to make a promise, to myself.
A “Dear Writer,” note arrived all the way from Iowa City three days before Christmas.
My first real rejection from a literary journal.
I think I’m going to frame it, because notes can be framed, and feelings like the brief, hot flash of rejection thankfully can’t. Continue reading