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Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives
For Denis Johnson, it was Leonard Gardner's cult favorite Fat City ; for Jonathan Safran Foer, it was a brief encounter with Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai; Mary Gordon's mentors were two Barnard professors, writers Elizabeth Hardwick and Janice Thaddeus, whose lessons could not have been more different. In Mentors, Muses & Monsters , edited and with a contribution by Elizabeth Benedict, author of the National Book Award finalist Slow Dancing , thirty of today's brightest literary lights turn their attention to the question of mentorship and influence, exploring the people, events, and books that have transformed their lives. The result is an astonishing collection of stirring, insightful, and sometimes funny personal essays.
In her communications with contributors, Benedict noticed a longing to thank the people who had changed their lives, and to acknowledge them the best way a storyteller can, by revealing the intricacies of their connection. These writers look back to when something powerful happened to them at an unpredictable age, a moment when a role model saw potential in them, or when they came to understand they possessed literary talent themselves. As most of these encounters occurred when the writers were young -- unsure of who they were or what they could accomplish -- several pieces radiate a poignant tenderness, and almost all of them express enduring gratitude.
When Joyce Carol Oates describes her public-rivalry-turned-wary-professional-acquaintanceship with Donald Barthelme, we are privy to the fascinating sight of one of today's most important writers being directly, personally affected by another influential writer. When Sigrid Nunez reveals what it was like to be Susan Sontag's protégé, we get a glimpse into the private life and working philosophy of a formidable public intellectual. And when Jane Smiley describes her first year at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974, she offers an intimate portrait of a literary milieu of enduring significance for American literature.
Rich, thought-provoking, and often impassioned, these pieces illuminate not only the anxiety but the necessity of influence -- and also the treasures it yields. By revealing themselves as young men and women in search of direction and meaning, these artists explore the endlessly varied paths to creative awakening and literary acclaim.
In her communications with contributors, Benedict noticed a longing to thank the people who had changed their lives, and to acknowledge them the best way a storyteller can, by revealing the intricacies of their connection. These writers look back to when something powerful happened to them at an unpredictable age, a moment when a role model saw potential in them, or when they came to understand they possessed literary talent themselves. As most of these encounters occurred when the writers were young -- unsure of who they were or what they could accomplish -- several pieces radiate a poignant tenderness, and almost all of them express enduring gratitude.
When Joyce Carol Oates describes her public-rivalry-turned-wary-professional-acquaintanceship with Donald Barthelme, we are privy to the fascinating sight of one of today's most important writers being directly, personally affected by another influential writer. When Sigrid Nunez reveals what it was like to be Susan Sontag's protégé, we get a glimpse into the private life and working philosophy of a formidable public intellectual. And when Jane Smiley describes her first year at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974, she offers an intimate portrait of a literary milieu of enduring significance for American literature.
Rich, thought-provoking, and often impassioned, these pieces illuminate not only the anxiety but the necessity of influence -- and also the treasures it yields. By revealing themselves as young men and women in search of direction and meaning, these artists explore the endlessly varied paths to creative awakening and literary acclaim.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
4 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Benedict
15 books100 followersMe: Lots of books, zillions of essays and articles. This season: REWRITING ILLNESS: A VIEW OF MY OWN. A very serious and kinda funny take on how my lifelong fear of illness collided with actual illness in 2017. I survived. I had time to think about doctor-speak, patient-speak, death, health insurance, CANCER, my husband, my friends, did I mention CANCER? I love this blurb: "As though Nora Ephron had written a book called 'I Feel Bad About My Tumor.'" --Thomas Beller.
I'm the author of the novels ALMOST and SLOW DANCING, and of THE JOY OF WRITING SEX: A GUIDE FOR FICTION WRITERS, and editor of three anthologies: ME, MY HAIR AND I: 27 WOMEN UNTANGLE AN OBSESSION, the NYTIMES bestseller, WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME: 31 WOMEN ON THE GIFTS THAT MATTERED MOST and MENTORS, MUSES & MONSTERS: 30 WRITERS ON THE PEOPLE WHO CHANGED THEIR LIVES.
I coach kids applying to college and grad school with their application essays at www.DontSweatTheEssay.com. Maureen Corrigan, on "Fresh Air" raved about ALMOST days after 9/11, and Anne Tyler reviewed THE BEGINNER'S BOOK OF DREAMS, saying, "The marvel is that such a sad book could be such a joy to read."
I'm the author of the novels ALMOST and SLOW DANCING, and of THE JOY OF WRITING SEX: A GUIDE FOR FICTION WRITERS, and editor of three anthologies: ME, MY HAIR AND I: 27 WOMEN UNTANGLE AN OBSESSION, the NYTIMES bestseller, WHAT MY MOTHER GAVE ME: 31 WOMEN ON THE GIFTS THAT MATTERED MOST and MENTORS, MUSES & MONSTERS: 30 WRITERS ON THE PEOPLE WHO CHANGED THEIR LIVES.
I coach kids applying to college and grad school with their application essays at www.DontSweatTheEssay.com. Maureen Corrigan, on "Fresh Air" raved about ALMOST days after 9/11, and Anne Tyler reviewed THE BEGINNER'S BOOK OF DREAMS, saying, "The marvel is that such a sad book could be such a joy to read."
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 4, 2011
I’m about to blow a secret about me. I can speed-read when I want to. In two of every three of these essays about inspiration, I did. It’s a fascinating premise, to ask writers about their mentors - the good, the holy, and the evil. I think there were two reasons I wasn’t motivated to dive in like I do with many other books I’m reading: I didn’t know about half these writers, and nothing in their writing made me want to pick up any more of their stuff.
There are some notable exceptions. The biggest one is Arnon Grunberg, who admits that fiction writing is partially gifted by an ability to spin BS. His ambling life – from medical school to art to acting to dance to fiction – is marked by his ability to lie to himself and others. Along the way, he finds some other fascinating characters who also have glamorous lives and are expert liars. Without Grunberg even telling us, we can sense that this is how his love of character emerges. It’s the start of his career. Or another captivating yarn laces with falsehoods, which is a funny possibility. (Though it probably is true; I just think it’d be funny to write a story about how lying was inspiration, and the story is even fictitious.)
That’s funny, delightful stuff.
Other stories also leap out, though less so. Sigrid Nunez was Susan Sontag’s daughter-in-law. That’s got to have some influence on you. They also shared a house. Scary. For all her feminism, Sontag – as represented by Nunez – strikes me as particularly eccentric overall.
Michael Cunningham is in here; I’ve always liked his stuff, and his essay is pleasant enough. Julia Glass and Jonathan Safran Foer also make good showings; his is about a poet, hers is about a gifted editor. It’s nice if not earth shattering. Joyce Carol Oates swears not to be able to pinpoint a single muse among her many inspirations. Edward White writes something rambling about a possibly gifted but egocentric author, Harold Broadkey, who published so infrequently and so quirkily that most of us have forgotten him.
Most of the other essays vary in pleasure. And again, they are affected by my lack of knowledge of these writers, along with their inability to completely captivate me in their short essays. I wish some of these authors would have thought of their writing as a way to garner more readers, but it seems most of them were not writing to the top of their form, paying scant homage, meeting the requirement, but refusing to hit the ball out of the park.
Or maybe it’s me. I thought I was well read, but maybe I’m not. Maybe nothing these authors I don’t know did inspired me as a reader. Maybe that’s the thing about muses; they work for some, but not every one works for all people.
There are some notable exceptions. The biggest one is Arnon Grunberg, who admits that fiction writing is partially gifted by an ability to spin BS. His ambling life – from medical school to art to acting to dance to fiction – is marked by his ability to lie to himself and others. Along the way, he finds some other fascinating characters who also have glamorous lives and are expert liars. Without Grunberg even telling us, we can sense that this is how his love of character emerges. It’s the start of his career. Or another captivating yarn laces with falsehoods, which is a funny possibility. (Though it probably is true; I just think it’d be funny to write a story about how lying was inspiration, and the story is even fictitious.)
That’s funny, delightful stuff.
Other stories also leap out, though less so. Sigrid Nunez was Susan Sontag’s daughter-in-law. That’s got to have some influence on you. They also shared a house. Scary. For all her feminism, Sontag – as represented by Nunez – strikes me as particularly eccentric overall.
Michael Cunningham is in here; I’ve always liked his stuff, and his essay is pleasant enough. Julia Glass and Jonathan Safran Foer also make good showings; his is about a poet, hers is about a gifted editor. It’s nice if not earth shattering. Joyce Carol Oates swears not to be able to pinpoint a single muse among her many inspirations. Edward White writes something rambling about a possibly gifted but egocentric author, Harold Broadkey, who published so infrequently and so quirkily that most of us have forgotten him.
Most of the other essays vary in pleasure. And again, they are affected by my lack of knowledge of these writers, along with their inability to completely captivate me in their short essays. I wish some of these authors would have thought of their writing as a way to garner more readers, but it seems most of them were not writing to the top of their form, paying scant homage, meeting the requirement, but refusing to hit the ball out of the park.
Or maybe it’s me. I thought I was well read, but maybe I’m not. Maybe nothing these authors I don’t know did inspired me as a reader. Maybe that’s the thing about muses; they work for some, but not every one works for all people.
May 1, 2012
I really enjoyed some sections of this book, but it's not a book to read straight through. Better to come and go from it, and to pick and choose the writers that interest you. It was fascinating to learn who or what influenced some of the writers, and to hear the stories of their early, or continuing struggles with writing.
November 20, 2025
Reading a collection by writers about their formative experiences of becoming writers--typically you get a lot of very good writing, which is the case here. You also get to see names you only see on books in the flesh as experienced by the writers who lived with them, studied with them, and studied them.
Donald Barthelme to Joyce Carol Oates: "Happy? Nabokov died yesterday, we all move a notch." First of all, the names involved--Vladimir Nabokov! Joyce Carol Oates! Donald Barthelme! and the sentence "with a puckish lift of his upper lip and what in non-Barthelmeian prose might be described as a twinkle of the stone-colored eye behind wire-rimmed glasses."
You just have to sigh.
A few selections disappoint: ZZ Paker on James Alan McPherson; Anita Shreve on Anita Shreve; Lily Tuck on Gordon Lish; Edmund White Harold Brodkey--because they seemed too self-focused and I felt as if I did not learn much from their offering and experiences or the writing did not seem as phenomenal as expected from such an exalted crowd.
Donald Barthelme to Joyce Carol Oates: "Happy? Nabokov died yesterday, we all move a notch." First of all, the names involved--Vladimir Nabokov! Joyce Carol Oates! Donald Barthelme! and the sentence "with a puckish lift of his upper lip and what in non-Barthelmeian prose might be described as a twinkle of the stone-colored eye behind wire-rimmed glasses."
You just have to sigh.
A few selections disappoint: ZZ Paker on James Alan McPherson; Anita Shreve on Anita Shreve; Lily Tuck on Gordon Lish; Edmund White Harold Brodkey--because they seemed too self-focused and I felt as if I did not learn much from their offering and experiences or the writing did not seem as phenomenal as expected from such an exalted crowd.
May 17, 2017
The concept has potential. However, particularly in the first third or so of this book, I couldn't get over the feeling of insularity as most of the authors were: (1) novelists (2) living in NYC (3) in a particular age range (4) and possibly in the same social circle, as some figures appeared in multiple essays, most noticeably Elizabeth Hardwick. (Prob goes without saying that they were also majority white.)
December 11, 2009
I didn't read all of these essays, but I loved the ones I chose to, especially Neil Gordon's "Please Don't Write." He pulls that three-word phrase from a particular sexual experience he has in college in the 70s, and it becomes a challenge that motivates and haunts him, in variant inflections and emphasis, at pivotal times in his life.
My other favorite was Alexander Chee's "Annie Dillard and the Writing Life." He was 1 of 13 (out of 130 applicants) lucky enough to take a class with one of my favorite writers and he clearly was influenced by her no nonsense approach. She instructed the 13 fortunate ones not to worry about being original. Yes, she said dismissively, everything's been written, but the thing You want to write, before you wrote it, was impossible to write. Otherwise it would already exist. You writing it makes it possible.
Other good reads were Julia Glass' "When Julie Met Deb..." and Denis Johnson's "On Fat City."
My other favorite was Alexander Chee's "Annie Dillard and the Writing Life." He was 1 of 13 (out of 130 applicants) lucky enough to take a class with one of my favorite writers and he clearly was influenced by her no nonsense approach. She instructed the 13 fortunate ones not to worry about being original. Yes, she said dismissively, everything's been written, but the thing You want to write, before you wrote it, was impossible to write. Otherwise it would already exist. You writing it makes it possible.
Other good reads were Julia Glass' "When Julie Met Deb..." and Denis Johnson's "On Fat City."
Read
April 6, 2012A must-read for anyone who wishes to create in any medium. Writing is the focus but the treasures apply to visual art as well as architecture and/or archaeology. Whatever you wish to accomplish you will find inspired direction in this well-crafted collection of recollections from outstanding wordsmiths. The key word is inclusive. Be included. Read it and share
Highly recommended.
DISCLAIMER
I don't know any of the authors and am not getting any kickbacks. I just think it is one damn good book.
Highly recommended.
DISCLAIMER
I don't know any of the authors and am not getting any kickbacks. I just think it is one damn good book.
July 29, 2010
I attended a book reading event in Blue Hill, Maine this summer with the editor of this book, Ayelet Waldman (author of Red Hook Road) and Heidi _ (cannot remember her last name). It was an interesting talk: how a writer's success or lack thereof may depend on a muse, monster or mentor. Great writers talk of their influences. Some dish on giants in literary circles and others reveal gratitude. Interesting read.
October 2, 2012
I had the honor of studying fiction with Elizabeth Benedict who put this invaluable anthology together. Here, you will find the inside scoop on mentors who inspired some of our favorite authors. Each essay is so well written--it is a delightful and unique read. One of my favorite books on my shelf!!
August 1, 2014
I really enjoy reading this book. I read passages in it frequently. As a writer, it is always inspiring to read what other writers have to say about their experiences and inspirations. These seem to be very honest, thoughtful and engaging, as well. It would be a great gift -- especially for a fan of any of these writers, as well as writers themselves.
February 27, 2016
This was a bit of a mixed bag. Some of these essays were incredibly written tributes and a joy to peruse, while others were a whole lot less interesting. Also, several of the essays are about the same mentors, which made it feel a bit repetitive.
July 6, 2010
Fiction authors talk about the people, writers, and books that influenced and helped shape their writing and their lives.
January 12, 2015
Quite a variety of writing styles. I found some authors I wish to read.
December 9, 2010
I really enjoyed the range of writers and experiences offered in this book.
May 9, 2011
Wonderful series of essays. Try reading Sigrid Nunez' essay "Sontag's Rules" out loud to get the real frisson of Sontag's voice -- alternately shocking, funny, outrageously privileged, and sad.
January 29, 2015
A wonderful book for any writer! It's not at all a how-to, but a book that discusses writing as art (as opposed to craft). Terrific writers discuss here what inspired and helped their work.
December 29, 2016
I now have a longer reading list.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews