Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 110
January 3, 2024
Finding 'true life' in literature
“It's in literature that true lifecan be found. It's under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth.” –Gao Xingjian
Born in China on Jan. 4, 1940 NobelPrize-winning author and critic Gao now makes his home in Paris where he is ascreenwriter, stage director, and celebrated painter. This past year hewas selected by the Royal Society of Literature for its prestigious"International Writer" award.
In China he wrote two of hisbest-known plays Signal Alarm and Bus Stop while holding down theresident playwright post at the Beijing People's Art Theatre (from 1981 to1987). Influenced by European theatrical models, his work there gained him areputation as a popular avant-garde writer.
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ButGao left China after running afoul of government officials for writing playsthat were critical of their policies. He said he feels that many writers“simply have to believe in themselves” in order to carry on with whatthey are doing, even when they are receiving little or no support for theirefforts.
“Inthe history of literature there are many great enduring works which were notpublished in the lifetimes of the authors,” he explained. “If theauthors had not achieved self-affirmation while writing, how could they havecontinued to write?”
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January 2, 2024
It's the 'language' of music
“Language is an inadequate form ofcommunication. If you've ever picked up an instrument, it's because you don'tfeel you are communicating sufficiently.” – Stephen Stills
Best known as part oftwo Rock and Roll Hall of Fame groups – Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills,Nash & Young – Stills was born on Jan. 3, 1945a literal “rolling stone.” The son ofmilitary parents, he traveled the world in his growing up years and didn’tquite know where to call home as he and his family moved from place to place.
Those experiences combined with his amazingmusical talent led him into professional performance before he was out of histeen years. Both his musicianship onmultiple instruments and his writing - most of the songs of the two groupsnoted above plus a longstanding solo list and writing for a third group Manassas - have made him an American musicalicon.
Ranked as one of the Rolling Stone magazine’sAll Time Greatest guitarists, Stills’ songs address everything from the American scene to politics to love. His “Love The One You’re With” is ranked oneof the 100 all-time greatest songs. He also has written many, many songs for other singers and about othersingers, including Judy Collins, with whom he had a longstanding on-again,off-again relationship and calling her a great influence on hiswriting. “Thereare three things men can do with women,” he said. “Love them, suffer for them, or turn theminto literature. I’ve had my share ofsuccess and failure at all three.”A Writer's Moment: It's the 'language' of music
December 31, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'An amazing literature'
'An amazing literature'
“Sciencefiction is an amazing literature: plot elements that you would think would becompletely worn out by now keep changing into surprising new forms.”– Connie Willis
Born inColorado (where she still makes her home) on this date in 1945, Willis has won an incredible 11 Hugos and7 Nebulas for her SciFi writing. Her two-part 2010 novel Blackout/All Clear won both awards and made herthe first writer to win a Hugo for every book in a series (the “Oxford TimeTravel” series). In 2011 she was namedby the SciFi Writers Association as a “Grand Master,” their highest honor.
An English and elementary educationmajor, she combined teaching with short story writing for more than a dozenyears before turning to full-time writing in the 1980s. Her portfolio includessome two-dozen novels, and many, many dozens of short stories, essays,novellas and novelettes. Her most recentwork is 2023’s The Road to Roswell.
While much of her writing isgrounded in the social sciences, she often weaves technology into her storiesin order to prompt readers to question what impact it has on the world.
An advocate of meticulous researchand exquisite detail (check out her books Passagesor Remake for terrific examples),she encourages new writers to do the same and never in just one take. “I have never written anything in one draft,not even a grocery list,” she quipped, “although I have heard from friends thatthis is actually possible.”
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December 30, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Is it a form of texting?
Just a form of texting?
“Audensaid poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true?” – Carol Ann Duffy
Born in Scotland in December of 1955 Duffy is a poet, playwright, professor, and Britain’s first female Poet Laureate. Among her popular and often-taughtcollections are Selling Manhattan, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award;Mean Time, winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture,winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize.
Calling thepoem "a form of texting," she noted, "(It's) a perfecting of a feeling in language - a wayof saying more with less.” ForSaturday’s Poem, here is Duffy’s,
TheLook
The heron's the look of the river.
The moon's the look of the night.
The sky's the look of forever.
Snow is the look of white.
The bees are the look of the honey.
The wasp is the look of pain.
The clown is the look of funny.
Puddles are the look of rain.
The whale is the look of the ocean.
The grave is the look of the dead.
The wheel is the look of motion.
Blood is the look of red.
The rose is the look of the garden.
The girl is the look of the school.
The snake is the look of the Gorgon.
Ice is the look of cool.
The clouds are the look of the weather.
The hand is the look of the glove.
The bird is the look of the feather.
You are the look of love.
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Is it a form of texting?
“Audensaid poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true?” – Carol Ann Duffy
Born in Scotland in December of 1955 Duffy is a poet, playwright, professor, and Britain’s first female Poet Laureate. Among her popular and often-taughtcollections are Selling Manhattan, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award;Mean Time, winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture,winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize.
Calling thepoem "a form of texting," she noted, "(It's) a perfecting of a feeling in language - a wayof saying more with less.” ForSaturday’s Poem, here is Duffy’s,
TheLook
The heron's the look of the river.
The moon's the look of the night.
The sky's the look of forever.
Snow is the look of white.
The bees are the look of the honey.
The wasp is the look of pain.
The clown is the look of funny.
Puddles are the look of rain.
The whale is the look of the ocean.
The grave is the look of the dead.
The wheel is the look of motion.
Blood is the look of red.
The rose is the look of the garden.
The girl is the look of the school.
The snake is the look of the Gorgon.
Ice is the look of cool.
The clouds are the look of the weather.
The hand is the look of the glove.
The bird is the look of the feather.
You are the look of love.
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December 29, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Thought for the Day
Thought for the Day
“Writingwell means never having to say, ‘I guess you had to be there.’"
- Jef Mallett, author and creatorof the comic strip Frazz
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