Interviews From The Edge: 50 Years Of Conversations About Writing And Resistance

Synopsis

Interviews From The Edge Presents A Selection Of Conversations, Drawn From 50 Years Of The International Journal New Orleans Review, That Dive Head-first Into The Most Enduring Aesthetic And Social Concerns Of The Last Half Century. From Reflections On The Making Of Literature And Films To Personal Accounts Of Writing Inside Racial Divides And Working Against Capital Punishment, The Writers, Poets, And Activists Featured In This Book Offer Not Only A Fresh Perspective On Our Present Struggles But Also Perhaps A Way Through Them-for Writers And Readers Alike. “writing Can Be A Form Of Activism-it Certainly Seems To Me That My Writing Is. But Most American Writers Probably Do Not Think Of Their Writing As A Kind Of Activism. And It Shouldn't Have To Be-i Don't Think We Can Impose That On Writers-but It Can Be. I Think For The Many Writers, The Ones I Admire-it Is.” – Viet Thanh Nguyen “i Think It's Frightfully Important, And This Is Really Much More Difficult Than It Sounds, Only To Say What You Absolutely Believe.” – Christopher Isherwood “no Writer Can Write Without Moral Commitments And Moral Feelings At The Very Root. They Think That If You Don't Write About The Civil Rights Movement, That Means You Don't Care About People, That You Don't Have Any Sense Of Right And Wrong Or Anything. Of Course, That's Just Nuts.” – Eudora Welty “i Try To Be A Good Reader Even If I Am A Bad Writer.” – Jorge Luis Borges “i Don't Think A Writer Ever Should Show Off, Anyway. Saul Bellow Would Say To Me Years And Years Ago, 'get That Fancy Footwork Out Of There.' The Hardest Part Of Developing A Style Is That You Have To Learn To Trust Your Voice. If I Thought Of My Style, I'd Be Crippled. Somebody Else Said To Me A Long Time Ago In France, 'find Out What You Can Do, And Then Don't Do It.'” – James Baldwin