Comments on: On Studying with Annie Dillard in 1989

By: The Nervous Breakdown

The Nervous Breakdown — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:05:18 +0000

[...] college, I had two writing teachers with opposing views of the MFA: Annie Dillard urged me to go right away, and Kit Reed said don't go, in fact never go, get a job, preferably a [...]

By: When to Get Your MFA. Or Not. « Koreanish

When to Get Your MFA. Or Not. « Koreanish — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:43:04 +0000

[...] college, I had two writing teachers with opposing views of the MFA: Annie Dillard urged me to go right away, and Kit Reed said don’t go, in fact never go, get a job, [...]

By: When you drink a lot two nights in a row « Fall Upwards.

When you drink a lot two nights in a row « Fall Upwards. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:16:17 +0000

[...] Fort Greene (I bought a copy! All you writers should too!). I went primarily because I had read Alexander Chee’s really awesome essay on his time with Annie Dillard and was interested to see what others had to say. Two Barnard [...]

By: koreanish

koreanish — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:08:51 +0000

Thanks, Ben. I couldn’t be more proud of you right now. And yes, there was a method…

By: Ben G.

Ben G. — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:47:22 +0000

As one of those former students, I loved this piece – a lot of those exercises, especially verb-counting, are familiar from your class, and of course I remember you passing on AD’s wisdom on many occasions. Retracing the lineage of those exercises is exhilarating; reading this piece is like being re-inducted into a literary society of trade secret-sharers. At the very least, it proves there was a method to your madness! Hope all’s well.

–Ben

By: David Block

David Block — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:32:11 +0000

I very much enjoyed your post on Annie Dillard. I, too, took a writing course from her at Wesleyan, in the spring of 1980. At the time she was teaching poetry writing.

I was prodded, earlier this year, to write my own recollections of Annie as a teacher, and I have emailed them to you, as this is probably not the forum for such a memoir.

What you wrote was very consistent with my experience. I tell anyone who asks that she is a far better teacher than she is a writer.

Thank you for your recollections!

By: 12 writing points from Annie Dillard via Alexander Chee « catching days

12 writing points from Annie Dillard via Alexander Chee « catching days — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:45:12 +0000

[...] and the Writing Life,” by novelist Alexander Chee who took a class from Annie Dillard in 1989. He writes, “By the time I was done studying with Annie, I wanted to be [...]

By: koreanish

koreanish — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:24:57 +0000

Jennifer, thanks. I’m really glad to hear it helped like that. Welcome, and thanks for coming by.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:43:38 +0000

I’ve read your essay three times. I will, I’m sure, read it a fourth before I rework a short story that is kicking my a&%.

Your link to Diaz’ piece helped, too. (I can find one good thing. I think. )

New to your blog, via Moonrat. Love it.

By: koreanish

koreanish — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:45:31 +0000

The cute one here is you. And thanks.