Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley
Jane Smileyis an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel A Thousand Acres...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth26 September 1949
CityLos Angeles, CA
CountryUnited States of America
reading play eras
Why are we reading a Shakespeare play or 'Huckleberry Finn?' Well, because these works are great, but they also tell us something about the times in which they were created. Unfortunately, previous eras and dead authors often used language or accepted as normal sentiments that we now find unacceptable.
reading writing two
A novelist has two lives-- a reading and writing life, and a lived life. he or she cannot be understood at all apart from this.
book reading school
There weren't too many books by women that were taught in school, so I read those on my own, and the books I read were as accessible as the ones we were reading in school.
reading tubs sound
Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.
consciousness effect faith good inspired national novelist ok reading room several terrorism thoughts ways wonderful worked
My reading had a wonderful effect and it worked in several ways on different levels. It inspired in me the idea that it was OK to go on as a novelist in good faith and that there could be room in my consciousness and the national consciousness about thoughts other than terrorism and 9/11.
clean entirely imagine iraqis junk leave next opposed practical since
I've been entirely opposed to it since Day one. The next practical thing to do is to get out, and since I don't imagine we're going to clean up after us, the Iraqis are going to have to clean up all the junk we leave behind.
dual eternal life poems taught
Literature - novels, plays, and poems - can have an uncanny dual life, where they simultaneously represent something eternal and something historical, and this is often how they are taught in school.
beginning boy desperate life merely painful portrait tone
'Lean on Pete' is the story of a boy and his horse, but it is never heart-warming - it ranges in tone from desperate to merely painful - and, while fascinating, it is never entertaining or redemptive. But if you want an unadorned portrait of American life (at least in some places) at the beginning of the 21st century, this is the book for you.
almost good maybe odd perfect readers repeated surprise unique
'The Good Soldier' is an odd and maybe even unique book. That it is a masterpiece, almost a perfect novel, comes as a repeated surprise even to readers who have read it before.
produce pure
It's pure hackwork. Here it is: I produce fast, I can do it on a deadline, and I usually have something to say about anything.
produce pure
It's pure hackwork. ... Here it is: I produce fast, I can do it on a deadline, and I usually have something to say about anything.
author bit compelling creature deer exactly mug night standing trying
It's a gimmick. It's more fun. Usually, you're just standing there, trying to look compelling in some way and not succeeding. It can look like a mug shot. The author can look, not exactly like a deer in the headlights, but a little bit like another night creature scuttling from burrow to burrow.
eye desire blind
There is something I have noticed about desire, that it opens the eyes and strikes them blind at the same time.
might phrases walkers
One of the things that Ivar knew about Mrs. Walker was that she would only tell him what she knew if he asked the right question, so he spent a portion of his time meditating over what he might ask Mrs. Walker and how he might phrase the question.