Page Fright: Foibles and Fetishes of Famous WritersA 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 |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 3 | |
The Feather Is Mightier Than the Sword | 17 |
Inkwells Steel Nibs Billions of Ballpoints | 30 |
The Properly Pointed Perfectly Portable Pencil | 43 |
The Long Reign of Longhand | 51 |
First I Write by Hand | 60 |
The Almighty Typewriter Can You Hear the Rhythm? | 69 |
Panoramas Bare Walls Strange Habits | 140 |
While Working on It Shut Up About It Or Dont | 156 |
They Wrote Lying Down Standing Up Stark Naked | 165 |
Horror Rolls in Like Some Poisonous Fogbank | 175 |
Blocked | 187 |
The Wrong Stuff | 214 |
Walking the Walk and Other Steps to Creation | 231 |
Burning Kisses Animal Magnetism | 246 |
Hail the Conquering Word Processor | 84 |
Pins Paste Scissors Recorders The Right Paper Please | 95 |
Out of Their Mouths Popped Literature | 106 |
Keep Out Writer at Work | 120 |
To Hide Out or Greet Life | 130 |
The Daily and Nightly Grind | 257 |
And How I Get There Is Gods Grace | 270 |
We Are Only Telephone Wires | 278 |
Whats Worse Than Writing? Not Writing | 292 |
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Common terms and phrases
alcohol American novelist Anthony Burgess asked August Wilson ballpoint Balzac began biographer British C.P. Snow called century characters cigarette composed creative critic depression desk Dickens dictated dip pen draft drink everything eyes feel felt fiction finished five Flaubert fountain pens Gabriel García Márquez Graham Greene hand handwriting Hemingway hundred interviewer James John John Irving knew later letters literary literature lived longhand look machine manuscript Martin Amis mind morning National Book National Book Award never night novel novelist once paper papyrus pencil Philip Roth poems poet poetry Prize prose published Pulitzer quill pen rewriting sentence short stories Simenon Stellovsky talk there's thing thought thousand words told Tolstoy took typewriter walking wife William women word processor Wordsworth writer's block writing written wrote yellow York