Posted in John Lehman, books, creative writing, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, publishing, writing, tagged Bibi Anderson, Devil, Electra, Ingmar Bergman, Kali, Liv Ullman, Persona on January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
THE WRITER AS DEVIL
JOHN to the audience.
QUESTION: Are writers visible in mirrors?
This goes back to the Christian notion that any creature lacking a soul would not produce a reflection in a mirror. But, actually, with a few exceptions (and I think we all know who they are), writers are visible in mirrors, [...]
Posted in John Lehman, books, creative writing, nonfiction, poetry, publishing, writing, tagged Princeton, T.S. Elliot, Updike, Yale on January 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As many of you know the writer John Updike just died at the age of 76. By a freak accident (he was the keynote speaker at a writing conference in Princeton, New Jersey, where I put on a workshop) I once spent part of an evening with him and we also had breakfast the next [...]
Posted in John Lehman, books, creative writing, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, publishing, writing, tagged Lorine Niedecker, Louis Zukofsky on January 25, 2009 | 2 Comments »
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WRITER AS ESCAPE ARTIST
John changes the sign on the easel (to WRITER AS ESCAPE ARTIST) and over his shoulder asks the audience a question which he then goes ahead and answers.
JOHN:
QUESTION: Do writers (who are known to stay up all night and sleep all day) burst into flames in sunlight?
Sunlight renders [...]
Posted in John Lehman, books, creative writing, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, publishing, writing, tagged Blackhawk Island, Lorine Niedecker, Louis Zukofsky, Mary Shelly on January 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
WRITER AS ILLUSIONIST
Lighter in spirit than the first part.
JOHN:
QUESTION: Will religious symbols ward off writers?
Holy water does not affect writers other than it gets them wet, and getting them wet might really aggravate them. The same is true of religious symbols. Simply holding them up in front of a writer [...]
Posted in John Lehman, books, creative writing, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing, tagged Citizen Kane, Immortality, Orson Wells, The Writer's Cave on January 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I thought it might be interesting to follow up the last six months’ posts on writing with this little presentation. It is different from a traditional play—there’s only one person, me, for starters. But also the material focuses on inner discoveries of people who share some common stories. However for each, the truth is a [...]
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