The Writer's Life: Intimate Thoughts on Work, Love, Inspiration, and Fame from the Diaries of the World's Great Writers

PAUL AUSTER ¸ CHARLOTTE BRONTE ¸ WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS ¸ NOEL COWARD ¸ GUSTAVE FLAUBERT ¸ ANNE FRANK ¸ FRANZ KAFKA

Ambition. Fame. Sex. Envy. Gossip. Money. Death. They re all here, in this dazzling book of quotations--many of them previously unpublished--from the diaries, journals, and notebooks of the world s greatest writers. Arranged chronologically, from the fervent declarations of youth to the serene reflections of old age, The Writer's Life spans twenty-three countries and four centuries to observe the entire spectrum of the human condition, with particular attention to the joys and agonies of literary endeavor. Eloquent, candid, brimming with passion, insight and wit, the result is an invaluable resource for any writer--or for anyone seeking expert instruction in the art of being human.

On inspiration: "I am going to write because I cannot help it."


--Charlotte Bronte



On fame: "I dream that my face appears on a postage stamp."


--John Cheever



On sex: "In petting there is no Mason-Dixon line."


--Delmore Schwartz



On keeping a journal: "Writing a journal means that facing your ocean you are afraid to swim across it, so you attempt to drink it drop by drop."


--George Sand





HERMAN MELVILLE ¸ SYLVIA PLATH ¸ JAMES SALTER ¸ SAPPHIRE ¸ MARY SHELLEY ¸ HENRY DAVID THOREAU ¸ LEO TOLSTOY ¸ ALICE WALKER ¸ OSCAR WILDE