Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
1

I won’t lie. It hasn’t been the brightest week.

Alan Cheuse, 1940-2015

Alan Cheuse
Alan Cheuse

Last Friday afternoon came the sad news of Alan Cheuse’s passing. Very shortly thereafter, I went to work on a statement for the Fig Tree Books website. You can read it here. But I’ll point you also to a couple of online appreciations and tributes I’ve found especially memorable: Bethanne Patrick for Lit Hub and Susan Stamberg for NPR.

Most of all, though—and turning to happier thoughts—I’ll point you to one of Alan’s essays about his own writing life and to his recent interview with Michael Silverblatt of KCRW (I loved this conversation when I listened in at the time), so you can figuratively and literally hear Alan’s voice. (more…)

Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
Alan Cheuse
Alan Cheuse

In which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, sharing the best sentence I’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

You may have read about an imaginary Southern piece of turf where the past presses on the present with such force that characters find themselves transformed with the pressure of it, where the landscape comes alive, where human beings seem sometimes like gods and sometimes like devils, and the language of the story lights up your mind: William Faulkner’s half-historical, half-fabulized Yoknapatawpha County, yes?

Source: Alan Cheuse, review of Steve Stern’s The Pinch, for NPR.

[This “Sunday Sentence” was initially shared on June 14, 2015; shortly after we received the sad news of Alan’s passing on Friday, I noticed that someone had cited some words from this line on Twitter. And since I’ve been thinking of Alan all weekend, I wanted to share the post anew.]

Midweek Notes from a Practicing Writer

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

The Alan Cheuse Literary Review

Among the new writing that I’ve done this past week is a short piece that I sent in for the Alan Cheuse Literary Review, a project spearheaded by Alan’s students as Alan remains hospitalized in California. I’ve offered to help the organizers as they assemble and publish the contributions; in any case, I will be sure to share the finished product when I see it. (FYI: Alan’s family continues to post updates on his progress on this CaringBridge page.)

Also New

Posted on the My Machberet blog: appreciations and concerns associated with a “New Hebrew Writing” feature in World Literature Today.

It’s Good to Have Friends!

Finally: This lovely tweet from my friend Sara has made my week (already!):


What’s new in YOUR writing world?