“When I re-read the Odyssey, it felt like I was reading PD James or Minette Walters - you feel that you are sharing in something that hundreds of millions of people have read with love, and I think that this is worth holding onto. It is not a matter of canonical texts or elitism, which the universities are trying to make us wary about. It is about shared language and metaphor and experience and imagery and that is all good.” PeopleThinkingFeelsTryingMatterReadingLanguageFeltMillionsUniversityMetaphorImageryHolding OnElitismOdyssey Author:Robert Dessaix
“One of the unfortunate things about creative writing courses is that they make people impatient. People feel that they have prepared themselves and that they must now do it. In fact there are positive incentives for doing so - universities are offering degrees for writing novels.” PeopleFeelsWritingFactsCoursesNovelCreativeDegreesPreparedUniversityOfferingUnfortunateCreative WritingIncentivesImpatientUnfortunate Things Author:Robert Dessaix
“I am coming from an older school, and I feel that you must learn to wait. There is that essay which was about the great notion of sitting on the mountain and waiting for the muses to cross the stream, and give you the symbols that would allow you to create. The word wait seems to me to be terribly important.” GivingFeelsImportantSeemsSchoolWaitingMountainSittingCrossesNotionSymbolsStreamsMuseEssays Author:Robert Dessaix
“Writers feel that they can't afford to wait. They must do it now, and they are so clever, and there is so much competition. I'm quite happy to wait, and quite confident that the muses will cross the stream.” FeelsWaitingCrossesCompetitionCleverStreamsMuse Author:Robert Dessaix
