Robert D. Richardson, series editor

Writing is always a desperate venture. Flaubert compared language to “a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity,” and Emerson said, “The way to write is to throw your body at the mark when your arrows are spent.”

Although neither Flaubert nor Emerson ever wrote systematically and specifically about the act of writing, the observant writer can mine gems of creative advice from their letters, journals, essays, and conversations. Each Muse Book will present what a seminal literary figure had to say about ages-old questions of reading, writing, and creating, in essence shaping a literary guide and writer’s handbook.

This series is no longer accepting submissions.