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"Beautifully written." In blurbs, on blogs, in reviews, we encounter the words. But what, I often wonder, do they mean? I've seen "beautifully written" engraved upon the syncopation of relentless noun-verb passages, "beautifully written" decreed upon textbook-quality texts, "beautifully written" applied to a bondage of cliches, "beautifully written" attached to stories that run thin, no soul, all plot.
"Beautifully written." Beholder's words. Confusing words. Too easy words?
Maybe.
But this morning, having finally completed Lila, of the Marilynne Robinson Gilead trilogy, I am going to use the words. I am going to suggest that they represent, among other things, an author's ability to manage the precarious balance of beleaguered/valued life, the tumble of senses, sensations, thoughts that assault us as human beings and that might be/can be set down delicately on the page. Beautifully written, to me, is depth. It is sentences that erupt from no prescription. It is the absence of short cuts. It is people and scene in addition to plot. It is color. It is the urge to embed a story with ideas.
One example, from Lila, the story of a vagabond girl who marries an old minister and speaks little of the past that haunts her. He has the courage of patience. She discovers the courage of trust. She carries his child now, she believes herself uneducated, she thinks and is like this:
... how could the world go on the way it did when there were so many people living the same and worse? Poor was nothing, tired and hungry were nothing. But people only trying to get by, and no respect for them at all, even the wind soiling them. No matter how proud and hard they were, the wind making their faces run with tears. That was existence, and why didn't it roar and wrench itself apart like the storm it must be, if so much of existence is all that bitterness and fear? Even now, thinking of the man who called himself her husband, what if he turned away from her? It would be nothing. What if the child was no child? There would be an evening and a morning. The quiet of the world was terrible to her, like mockery. She had hoped to put an end to these thoughts, but they returned to her, and she returned to them.
Beautifully written. Words from a novel that urge truth into our lives. Couplings of ideas, sentences that want to be read out loud, and returned to. Beautifully written. When I say that phrase, this is what I mean.
And you?
0 Comments on Lila/Marilynne Robinson: what is beautiful writing? as of 10/18/2015 10:01:00 AM
Our greatest writers do not merely assuage, entertain, delight, and challenge us. They teach us something about humanity, something about how art gets done.
Marilynne Robinson is one of our greatest writers, and while I have not yet read her new novel, Lila (I will), I have been taking great pleasure from the reviews and conversations surrounding its release.
Take the magnificent conversation Robinson has with New York Times Magazine writer Wyatt Mason, which can be found here. The profile goes far beyond the bounds of the writer's work and ways. It dives straight into the heart of us. Here, for example, the two are musing over fear—the control it has over our lives:
“I hate to say it, but I think a default posture of human beings is fear.” Perched on the edge of a sofa, hands loosely clasped, Robinson leaned forward as if breaking bad news to a gentle heart. “What it comes down to — and I think this has become prominent in our culture recently — is that fear is an excuse: ‘I would like to have done something, but of course I couldn’t.’ Fear is so opportunistic that people can call on it under the slightest provocations: ‘He looked at me funny.’ ”
“ ‘So I shot him,’ ” I said.
“Exactly.”
“ ‘Can you blame me?’ ”
‘‘Exactly. Fear has, in this moment, a respectability I’ve never seen in my life.”
Later, Mason returns to the topic:
And it was here that Robinson brought up fear: How it has come to keep us at bay from our best selves, the selves that could and should “do something.” In her case, that “something” has been writing. For Robinson, writing is not a craft; it is “testimony,” a bearing witness: an act that demands much of its maker, not least of which is the courage to reveal what one loves.
Fear less. Love more. An urging I needed desperately this weekend.
0 Comments on Fear less, love more: wise words from Marilynne Robinson, in conversation with Wyatt Mason as of 10/4/2014 10:21:00 AM
Lisa: How much would you pay to be at SCBWI LA right now?
Laura: *Logs into bank account and cries a little bit* $25. But I think that’s part of the problem.
Lisa: Maybe we should open up some sort of business on the side like Shelli. I mean, she’s at the conference right now.
Laura: YES. I wonder if anyone would pay for celebrity-inspired poetry. I could start that back up.
Lisa: *searches Craigslist* What are you doing next Saturday? There’s a want-ad for a couple face painters for a kids’ birthday party. I can paint a mean unicorn.
Laura: I’m actually busy. Cash for Gold is at the downtown Marriot. I have a few broken necklaces and my class ring.
Lisa: Well, after the birthday party I’ll probably have some writer friends over. I’m gonna host a few SCBWI-inspired workshops here.
Laura: When were you planning on telling me?
Lisa: Um…I mean…I don’t know…I just figured you’d be busy.
Laura: Yeah, well, I am. I mean, Cash for Gold is a popular event. Have fun “honing your craft.”
Lisa: What?
Laura: It’s just…that’s what the SCBWI Conference description says. You’ll hone your craft and take your writing to the next level. Is that what you’re going to be doing in your living room?
Lisa: Probably. I’ll have some snacks too. What will you be doing while instead of going to LA?
19 Comments on LILA's Blog Takes Over (Guest Post), last added: 8/1/2010
We're out in Colorado, right now (nice, yes). BUT--this weekend (as in tomorrow), we will start our 22 hour drive back to Mississippi. Yes. 22 HOURS. With our children. In a minivan.
I'm not a member of SCBWI...but I've been a member of RWA for 15 years or so. I'm thinking I need to do both, I guess? I still write both, but mostly middle grade, but the problem is, there's no local chapter of SCBWI. RWA has a local chapter that meets monthly...are there SOME local SCBWI chapters, just not Nashville?
LOL! Us authors who write for adults miss out on all the fun!! (and yes, I could write crime or romance and still catch some fun, but I don't do that either... kinda sucks).
I'll be at home drinking champagne and playing on my new computer and waiting for the inevitably enviable blog posts next week!
I SO BAD wish I was in LA! But maybe not . . . YOU are all not there either!
What am I doing? Oh, I got this deadline where I gotta write, like, um, 5,000 words a day until next Friday when I turn in my next book to my editor. I started three weeks ago. I probably should get off blogger then . . . . see ya!
I can't stand the excitement and have no idea how to put into words how rewarding and wonderful it is to watch writers I've been blogging with for the past year or so finally take another step towards their dream/.
I mean, it feels like it's happening to me all over again!
Cant wait til more book deals start coming through :)
Because I know the party's not over yet! I KNOW there are more of you out there getting ready to take your next step in this crazy journey. I can feel it! And if/when you do, PLEASE let me know when you do so I can do my dance for you too! :)
For now, here's to Corey, Lila, SF, Katie, and Elana! I'm so happy for you all and this dance is for you!
P.S. Congrads to LK Madigan, AprilLynne Pike, Cindy Pon, Maggie Stiefvater, Laini Taylor and more for being nominated for "Best Books for Young Adults (by YALSA)". Check out the rest.
20 Comments on Elana did it and so can all of you!, last added: 12/12/2009
Congrats to all these awesome peeps landing agents, and congrats to the ones being nominated for Best Books for Young Adults! There's something in the air, it seems--something that is good luck for all the writerly people. I'm not quite ready to start querying again yet, but I hope to be by March. :) Here's hoping!
Thanks, Shelli! November has been quite a month. I have another friend who just got an offer of representation and still another who got an offer on a PB but isn't ready to announce yet. (Waiting for contracts to be signed)
Leave it to LILA to come up witha hot new contest (AKA wonderful "bribe" to get all of us to pay more attention to their hilarious rants! tee hee ;).
They are giving away a KINDLE next week to one of their followers! (and don't worry, it's not too late to become one. Go! Join the fun!)
While you are there - be sure to congratulate them on their book deal! :) No wonder they don't "need" the Kindle. Now, they can afford several! They can purchase so many they have to "give" them away for free.
I want a book deal too! :)
8 Comments on Follow the LiLA brick road, last added: 11/9/2009
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Wishing I were there :)
no, actually, we have company this weekend, so I won't be missing it too much (okay, that's kind of a lie).
We're out in Colorado, right now (nice, yes). BUT--this weekend (as in tomorrow), we will start our 22 hour drive back to Mississippi. Yes. 22 HOURS. With our children. In a minivan.
Pray for my soul.
sf
*waves from her hotel in LA* :D
@Hardygirl--I'm in Colorado too. Good luck w/ the 22 hour drive--you're braver than I am.
LiLa--hilarious! You make me want to hone my craft too. :)
I will be writing. Or at least I'd better be writing. I NEED the time to work on some stuff, which is why I am not letting myself go.
I am such a meanie.
Shelley
This weekend I will finally finish this last round of revisions!!
Yes!
Hope everyone at the conference (and those sitting home alone guzzling Prosecco and eating Twizzlers) has a good weekend, too. ;)
Wishing I was there too!
And enjoying family time :)
I'm not a member of SCBWI...but I've been a member of RWA for 15 years or so. I'm thinking I need to do both, I guess? I still write both, but mostly middle grade, but the problem is, there's no local chapter of SCBWI. RWA has a local chapter that meets monthly...are there SOME local SCBWI chapters, just not Nashville?
Hmm. Not sure. Probably drinking heavily. Or WriteOnCon. Or both. When is it again?
Today's guest blogger is Rose Cooper!
moving, and cursing the gods who made moving so damn difficult.
LOL! Us authors who write for adults miss out on all the fun!! (and yes, I could write crime or romance and still catch some fun, but I don't do that either... kinda sucks).
I'll be at home drinking champagne and playing on my new computer and waiting for the inevitably enviable blog posts next week!
You girls are hilarious! I wish I lived close.
I SO BAD wish I was in LA! But maybe not . . . YOU are all not there either!
What am I doing? Oh, I got this deadline where I gotta write, like, um, 5,000 words a day until next Friday when I turn in my next book to my editor. I started three weeks ago. I probably should get off blogger then . . . . see ya!
Languishing on the couch? Yeah, that sounds good.
Editing for clients--I am so, so bummed not to be going. :-(
WriteOnCon will have to make up for missing it!!
I'll be working on two WIPs that have been collecting dust. And exercising. Haven't been doing enough og that lately.
Stephen Tremp
I'm trying to contain my jealousy. So far it's not going very well, but I took my frustration out on the weeds in my garden, so that's good.
Tomorrow we leave for vacation. that will help much.
人不能像動物一樣活著，而應該追求知識和美德............................................................