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Quote by Stephen Dobyns

“I remember coming upon Philip Larkin in my 20s in the early '60s and when Sylvia Plath's "Ariel" came out it knocked me off my feet.”

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Stephen Dobyns

Stephen Dobyns is an American poet born on February 19, 1941. His poetry is known for its profound emotion and rich imagination, covering a wide range of themes including love, death, history, and religion. more

“There was one sequence of days [making Lincoln in the Bardo] when I had halfway decided to use the historical nuggets, but I wasn't quite sure it would work. I'd be in my room for six or seven hours, cutting up bits of paper with quotes and arranging them on the floor, with this little voice in my head saying, "Hey, this isn't writing!" But at the end of that day, I felt that the resulting section was doing important emotional work”

Writing Littles Important Ends Use Felt Bits Voice Hours Rooms Cutting Emotional Paper Six Decided Historical Seven Hey Sections Sequence Halfway Arranging Nuggets Voices In My Head

Author:George Saunders

“Later, I went one step further, by putting in some invented "historical" bits [into the Lincoln in the Bardo]. And reading those alongside the actual historical bits was like looking into a sort of a painful mirror, because "my" parts were so show-offy at first. They stood out because they were so flamboyant.”

Firsts Shows Reading Bits Steps Mirrors Historical Painful Flamboyant

Author:George Saunders

“I had to go in and do the work of toning [invented "historical" bits] down in order to make them fit [in Lincoln in the Bardo]. It's like if you're an actor and you're always overacting, well, you're a bad actor. But if you're an actor who subdues yourself to the extent that's necessary, then you're really acting.”

Ifs Wells Order Actors Bits Acting Fit Historical

Author:George Saunders

Quote by Stephen Dobyns

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