Josephine Hart

"Poetry has never let me down. Without poetry, I would have found life less comprehensible, less bearable and infinitely less enjoyable."

— Josephine Hart

Irish Novelist, Writer

1942 - 2011

Commentary

Reading is a habit that many of us cultivated at a very young age.  And most of us would admit that reading has helped us through some difficult times in our lives.  What do you read?  Poetry?  Novels?  Biographies?  History?  Memoirs?  Reading has brought me much comfort during my life.  Without reading I would have been a much different person.  Reading has opened my heart and shown me many worlds.  I remember once while I was in college of going to a restaurant late at night and reading poetry aloud for the shocked customers.

Creative Practice

Read aloud  one of your favorite poems for family and friends to hear.

About the Novelist

Josephine Hart who was born in 1942 in Ireland.  She wrote six novels and hosted public readings of poetry.

Video:

Here is a video of Hart discussing her novel, Damage.

Biography Sources:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stothard/2011/06/josephine-hart-in-a-few-words.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Hart

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/josephine-hart-obituary

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8555567/Josephine-Hart.html

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Mark Strand

"Increasingly, I have felt that I don't see a painting until I turn away from it and don't read a poem until I close the book.  What I know or retain of either depends on what I am able to invent in their place."

— Mark Strand

Canadian Poet

1934 -

Memory is a teller of tales.  What we remember of a painting or a book has less to do with what is in it and more to do what is in our memories.  As readers we bring so much to a book and often we change the intention of the author and the meaning of the book through our reading.  Think about the books you have read or the paintings you have seen.  How much do you remember of the work itself versus your own experiences at the time?  The same is obviously true of songs.  Songs bring back memories of a time and place.  Song connects a generation.  Song connects lovers.  We shape our experience of art probably more than the art shapes us.  What do you remember of the last book your read or the last painting you saw? 

What does this have to say to us as creative leaders?  Don't let the comments of your audience and critics trouble you.  If the comments are negative, they are a reflection of the heart of the person expressing them.  If the comments are postive, they are a reflection of the heart of the person expressing them.  The comments are not about our art but about who they are as people and how they see the world.

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John Steinbeck

"The story was gradually taking shape.  It ruined a story to have it all come out quickly.  The good story lay in half-told things which must be filled in out of the hearer's own experience."

— John Steinbeck

American Novelist

1902 - 1968

The painter and writer are only half the equation.  The people who make up the audience are the other half.  They bring their own experiences to the story and interpret what they read and see based on past experiences.  If a reader doesn't like your writing, more than likely it is because of something in his past experience.  I am sure that you have read a book that you loved and most of your friends did not or visa versa.  I read a discussion recently on Goodreads.com by some people who did not like Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky which is one of my all time favorite books.  I also know people who love Moby Dick by Melville which I tried to read on four occasions and I could never finish it.  The audience and readers play a role in their enjoyment of a work of art.

Have you ever loved a book that you read, but hated the movie when you saw it?  Most readers have had that experience.  The movie does not live up to how we experienced the book.  And the reason is that we brought our own experiences to the reading, just as the screenwriter brought his experiences to the book and the movie.

Would you still write if you did not have any readers?  Would you still paint if no one saw your paintings?  I would and have.  Yes, I would love to have readers but I don't stop writing because they are few and far between.  My writing is driven by more than the need for readers.  It is driven by the need to express myself.  Why do you write or paint?  What drives you?

(Quote source: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck)

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Stephen King

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: 

read a lot and write a lot."

— Stephen King

American Novelist

1947 - 

The key to being successful in any of the artistic endeavors is practice.  If you want to be a writer, then write every day.  Write thousands upon thousands of words.  Spend more time writing than rewriting.  Keep creating day in and day out.  Also read every day.  Read and study other authors.  

If you want to be a painter, then paint every day.  Draw thousands of pictures.  Paint thousands of pictures.  Success comes from practice.  And study the paintings of other painters.  Study the masters.  Visit the art museums.  

For most of us, the practice of our chosen craft does not come easy.  We must practice, practice and practice.

Here is Stephen King talking about writing.

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Ray Bradbury

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.  Just get people to stop reading them."

— Ray Bradbury

American Novelist

1920 -

If you have read Fahrenheit 451, you will understand the irony of this statement.  Fahrenheit 451 is about a culture where books are burned.  And if you haven't read it, you should.  But Bradbury is correct.  Not reading books is even more dangerous than burning them.  If a person doesn't read, he is limiting his understanding of the world around him and the pleasure he can find in inhabiting another world.



In my classes I often meet business people who admit to not reading a book about since school.  This is very sad and senseless.  Books help us understand the past so that we are better prepared for the future.  Books teach us and educate us about the world in which we live.  I tell people if they want to understand what makes people tick, they should read novels.  For novelists to be able to tell a great story, they have to understand at some level what makes people tick.



I am also surprised by want-to-be writers who don't read.  This is particularly true of some people who write poetry.  They say they write it but don't read it.  A curious fact.



As creative leaders, we need to be constantly learning and growing.  Books are one avenue for learning?  When was the last time your read a book?  What books are you reading now?  What are your favorite books?



This video of Ray Bradbury is a must see for all lovers of books and lovers of the work of Ray Bradbury.

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Ernest Hemingway

"I sometimes think my style is suggestive rather than direct.  The reader must often use his imagination or lose the most subtle part of my thought."

— Ernest Hemingway

American Novelist

1899 - 1961

The writer and the artist should not tell everything.  They should respect the intelligence of their readers and admirers.  One important concept that my study of haiku has taught me is that the reader must bring something to the table.  The artist's job is to suggest.  The reader must discover the meaning in the writing or the painting.  My writing like Hemingway's is often suggestive, not direct.  Simple, not complex.  My painting is even more suggestive and simple.  

What this also means is that our state of mind when we read something impacts our response to what we read.  It impacts our experience of what we read.  Readers always bring something to the table.  Some books should be read when we are young and others when we are more mature.  Some books should be read again and again.  Each time we read it, we find new meaning in the words because we are a new person.  The same is true of painting, music, dance and theater.

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Naomi Shihab Nye

"I love the solitude of reading.  I love the deep dive into someone else's story, the delicious ache of a last page."

— Naomi Shihab Nye

American Poet, Novelist

1952 - 

One of the great joys of life is reading novels.  From the first page to the last, I enter another world and explore the lives of people who I don't know.  From a very young age I have enjoyed reading novels.  And as Nye says, sometimes I don't want to close the book after I finished the last page.  I don't want the novel to be over.  

I believe we ought to applaud anyone who finishes a novel whether he publishes it or not.  Writing a novel is a lot of work.  I spent four years working on a novel that I have never finished.  John Cheever spent over twenty years writing his first novel.  Some novelists can turn out a book or more a year.  Piers Anthony, author of 36 novels in the Xanth series, works on three novels at the same time.  He is outlining one book, writing a second book, and rewriting a third book.  Are you working on a novel?  Please share your experience with others who read this blog.

If you are not a reader of novels, I would highly recommend it.  In the right hand column of this blog, you can find fourteen of my favorite novels.  Dive into one of these novels and experience the joy of entering another world.

Here is Naomi reading her found poem, One Boy Told Me.  Don't skip this.

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