Re: Samuel Delany Will Come Into Your House And Shred Your Notebooks

I've been reading About Writing for several months now, renewing and 
re-renewing my library loan.  Like the reviewer says, it's quite dense, 
but also very rewarding, if the reward you're looking for is a series of 
complex insights into what makes good writing and what doesn't, and the 
nature of literary repute, and of course the 
socio-econo-genderized-polysexual matrix that it all takes place in.  
(It's also quite funny in lots of places, as SRD's nonfiction tends to 
be.)  If the reward you're looking for is heartwarming encouragement 
that you TOO can be a great writer, well, maybe not so much of that.  In 
fact I've cringed painfully again and again during the reading process, 
recognizing his acute and acerbic and undeniable descriptions of 
literary badness from my own prose.

I've been working on my first novel, and given that SRD's writing has 
been so important to my own intellectual development and how I think 
about literature and its possibilities, I was incredibly excited to turn 
to this book for insights into the writing process.  And they are there, 
in plenty.  However, he also sets a high standard, both by example and 
by description, and does it persuasively enough that...well, what I've 
come out of the whole reading with is this: About Writing may or may not 
help me to write a great book.  However, it's pretty much insured that I 
won't write a bad one.  Aspiring writers, gird your courage before you 
tackle this one.

David


Amy Harlib wrote:
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> Loved this review - must get!
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