| ISBN |
9780143130840 (paperback) |
| Title |
Light the dark : writers on creativity, inspiration, and the artistic process / edited by Joe Fassler ; illustrations by Doug McLean. |
| Published |
New York, New York : Penguin Books, [2017] |
| ©2017 |
| Description |
xiii, 330 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm. |
| Contents |
Preface / Joe Fassler -- Light the dark / Aimee Bender -- Leaving the reservation of the mind / Sherman Alexie -- In praise of stubborn gladness / Elizabeth Gilbert -- You've been here before / Stephen King -- Pixel by pixel / Amy Tan -- A friend of the mind / Junot Díaz -- The handshake / William Gibson -- Everything I meant to say / Khaled Hosseini -- Do not think, dream / Andre Dubus III -- I don't know you anymore / Mary Gaitskill -- To infinity and beyond / Michael Chabon -- How I awoke / Walter Mosley -- Stealing plums and counting stones / Jim Crace -- All immigrants are artists / Edwidge Danticat -- Into the deep heart's core / Billy Collins -- Please stop thinking / Kathryn Harrison -- Neglect everything else / David Mitchell -- Dreaming in drag / Roxane Gay -- Ordinary people / Tom Perrotta -- Against unreality / Ayana Mathis -- No one ever changes / Jim Shepard -- Lose yourself / Karl Ove Knausgaard -- On commonness / Leslie Jamison -- Letting the leopards in / Jonathan Lethem -- The edge of sense / Jesse Ball -- A place to call my own / Angela Flournoy -- Into the wardrobe, into the self / Lev Grossman -- Strangers on a train / Yiyun Li -- Time passes / Maggie Shipstead -- Translating the subconscious / Jeff Tweedy -- The long game / Nell Zink -- Lifting the blanket / Charles Simic -- Follow this voice / Viet Thanh Nguyen -- You and me / Emma Donoghue -- Words on paper will outlast us / Claire Messud -- Nobody asked you to write that novel / Jane Smiley -- My favorite curmudgeon / Jonathan Franzen -- Writing for right now / Hanya Yanagihara -- Recommended dosage / Ben Marcus -- Music for misfits / Mark Haddon -- Enough about me / Azar Nafisi -- How stories say goodbye / T.C. Boyle -- Rehearsals for death / Ethan Canin -- Happy accidents / Eileen Myles -- the brain is larger than the sea / Marilynne Robinson -- Random joy / Neil Gaiman. |
| Summary |
"What inspires you? That's the simple, but profound question more than forty renowned authors answer in Light the dark. Each author picks a favorite passage--from a novel, a song, a poem--to reveal what gets them started and keeps them going doing the creative work they love. From there, incredible stories of life changing encounters with art emerge, like how sneaking a volume of Stephen King stories into his job as a night security guard helped Khaled Hosseini learn that nothing he creates will ever be truly finished. Or how discovering Toni Morrison's Beloved in college taught Junot Díaz how art can create communities of shared experience. Here is a stunning guide to creative living and writing in the vein of Bird by Bird, Big Magic, and Daily Rituals for anyone who wants to learn how great writers find inspiration and how to find some of your own. Writer Joe Fassler has been collecting these lessons in his beloved "By Heart" series for The Atlantic, spinning conversations with hundreds of authors into motivating essays paired with striking illustrations. Light the Dark collects the best of "By Heart" and adds brand new pieces from award-winning writers like Marilynne Robinson, Junot Diaz, and Neil Gaiman"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subjects |
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) |
| Creative ability |
| Self-help |
| Other Names |
Fassler, Joe editor. |
| McLean, Doug illustrator. |
| Links to Related Works |
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