Voice Lessons: On Becoming a (Woman) Writer

by Nancy Mairs

Voice Lessons is a book about writing from a woman with a remarkable story to tell and an utterly distinctive voice in which to tell it. Nancy Mairs's essays have been called "triumphs... of will, style, candor, thought and even form" ( Los Angeles Times ). She has won acclaim for her autobiographical writing on themes from living with depression to renewing a marriage, from sex to religion. In Voice Lessons , Mairs's subjects are literary, but as always her approach is personal, revealing, and inspiring. Mairs first shares her sharply drawn story on how "finding a voice" as an essayist transformed her life when she was a graduate student, wife, and mother in her late thirties. In a tribute to the liberating power of literature and feminist ideas, she shows how the words of other writers made possible a new career, a new life in difficult times. Voice Lessons goes on to explore other women's writing and to outline a singular kind of literary life. Always grounding her writing in personal experience, always making ideas concrete, Mairs gives us essays on writing and the body, the challenges of autobiography, the revelatory power of Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker, the literature of personal disaster, and the art of dealing with rejection. Articulate, witty, incisive, and inspirational, Voice Lessons is a book for writers and aspiring writers, and for everyone who loves women's writing.

Genres: Writing, Essays, Nonfiction, Memoir, Womens

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Nancy Mairs was an author who wrote about diverse topics, including spirituality, women's issues and her experiences living with multiple sclerosis. She received an AB from Wheaton College, and an MFA in writing and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.

She was diagnosed with MS when she was 28, and wrote several essays on her experiences as a self-described "cripple", including "On Being a Cripple," "Sex and the Gimpy Girl," and the memoir Waist High in the World.

Reviews

[Joan Anderson]

One of my favorite authors. Her book Voice Lessons has freed me to write with some modicum of liberation.

[Elizabeth]

Gave up about 2/3 of the way through for reasons of "I am sick of reading about white women coming to feminism in middle age." And the French feminism herein is not written well. Moving on.

[Donna Robbins]

I ALWAYS finish a book. I gave up on this one as a total waste of my time. Yes, I understand the frustration of living in a patriarchy, but hashing and rehashing that doesn't give me helpful insights to writing. I guess it's ok, because it's her voice and she wrote it for herself, but not my cup of tea.

[C]

3.5 stars. I do love Nancy Mairs and a couple of these essays contained her usual brilliance about disability and the female (writing) experience; however, a majority were much more academic and relied heavily on feminist theory I am less familiar with.

[MountainAshleah]

A bit dated and a bit too self-specific, but that apparently was her style.

[Robin Kirk]

This was one of the books Martine Leavitt mentioned in a VCFA lecture on Voice. I found it interesting and, in some parts, incisive and painfully accurate. She straddles writing and academe in familiar ways, so I was sort of depressed about this also, since a lot is familiar: the hollowness of most academic writing and thought, the artificial distinctions between "real" inquiry and story-writing, etc. It was also a bit disheartening, though predictable, to see that some of the problems I think I face alone are really shared -- the quest to unify a life, navigate gender prisons, etc are largely structural (disheartening because they won't relent in my lifetime, I guess). Those insights are won my the fact that Mairs knows her theory, but also brings the passion of a writer determined to place her own life at the center of the writing, "keeping it real."

[Lisa Cole]

Having experienced the same MFA program and having known some of the same professors, this book has its interesting points, but what frustrates me is that at the same time that Mairs claims that she is not like the average scholar, she almost immediately lapses into these conversations with herself, throwing around the names of French philosophers like helium balloons. The end of the book was more engaging for me; I especially appreciated the chapter regarding the "Literature of Personal Disaster" as this is the kind of work I seem to tackle again and again. Other books by Mairs have intrigued me more, but this is still worth a read.

[Dottie Bossman]

This book was inspiring and full of great "writerly" advice. There were a few uses of feminist theory where she lost me, but this is still a powerful book to read if one is embarking on a serious writing project.

[Bridgett]

I think this is one of the best books for women writers, especially women writers who are searching for a voice in a world of language that doesn't always speak their stories.

[Kathleen]

Voice Lessons: On Becoming a (Woman) Writer by Nancy Mairs (1997)

[Anne Marshall]

Didn't finish

[Sarah]

I'd forgotten how much I love the company of Nancy Mairs.

[Mills College Library]

Biog M229m 1994

[Linda DeYounge]

Memoir reading that combines academic, philosophic ideas/writing with a personal flavor. Very interesting combination.

[Baxter Clare Trautman]

Those who prefer the intellectual over the heart-felt may appreciate Mairs' advice.