tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post8413061229960220187..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Return to the authorsD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-62684861225410390252010-04-28T17:20:58.181-04:002010-04-28T17:20:58.181-04:00Life-and-works essays require no other expertise t...<i>Life-and-works essays require no other expertise than wide learning, careful reading, and a good prose style.</i><br /><br />When you put it that way, it actually sounds simple. Which, of course, it isn't.<br /><br />Do you know if the complete essay on Prose be available online? All I've read of her work are assorted essays, "Goldengrove," and "Reading Like a Writer"---that last book one I return to often. Too much of my reading time is spoken for with new releases, but I would love to start exploring more of her work.Mark Athitakishttp://americanfiction.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-74763016631799002812010-04-27T23:36:52.099-04:002010-04-27T23:36:52.099-04:00Yes, exactly. Life-and-works essays require no oth...Yes, exactly. Life-and-works essays require no other expertise than wide learning, careful reading, and a good prose style. Most interpretivists have none of these.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-9306991523029082152010-04-27T22:52:57.296-04:002010-04-27T22:52:57.296-04:00Pritchard is so good. He has a little piece on Ma...Pritchard is so good. He has a little piece on Macaulay in the current <i>Hudson Review</i> that does just this sort of thing in seven pages.<br /><br />Career surveys seem particularly suited to amateurs like me. If I simply read all or most of a writer's work, I have already done more than most people - I gain expertise just by reading. And if I then <i>write something</i>, I've done something rare. Thus, my two week surveys of Balzac, Poe, and John Galt. That last one was truly in the spirit of William Maxwell's quotation.<br /><br />Looking forward to the Prose piece.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-82889967043024126022010-04-26T14:58:31.097-04:002010-04-26T14:58:31.097-04:00The focus on experience, as you have described it,...The focus on experience, as you have described it, suggests good old fashioned respect for aesthetics rather than preoccupation with contemporary theory. That works for me!R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.com