[ilds] The Education of a Writer

[Charles Sligh]

I think you may be right about this issue of "discipline," Bruce.   There is an _ascesis_ in Nabokov's style that you do not find in Durrell's style.

Despite that note, I prefer Durrell's writing to Nabokov's writing.  

I would never insist that Durrell is a stronger writer than Nabokov.  There are too many subjective variables to consider.

I think I gather up writers who have a special fascination for me, writers who--how to say it?--have a "mixed and uncertain condition."   


These days I shrink from the "greats."   Why?  

I think I like mortal things, varied things.  The giants throw such terrible shadows, and I suspect them of not being very much like us.  

And those giants, they do re-arrange all of the furniture when they come over for a visit. . . .

Charles 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>

Nabokov is an excellent example of what a good education can do for a  
young writer[. . . .] I think Durrell suffered from not having  
such training and discipline.  
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Charles L. Sligh
Department of English
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Charles-Sligh at utc.edu
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