Re: RARA-AVIS: day jobs and grad school

From: Mario Taboada ( matrxtech@yahoo.com)
Date: 28 Nov 2001


<<On the other hand, a writer who can afford to quit the dull day presumably has the time and funds to travel, explore and experience things that wouldn't be available to them otherwise.>>

I just want to point out that days and jobs are not
*intrinsically* dull: someone with a keen eye and a sharp ear can find even office chitchat and backbiting interesting. I bet KCC's mastery of realistic dialogue doesn't come from deep philosophical discussions but from mundane conversations with real people. And I suspect Balzic's incredibly realistic conversations (and situations) with his wife Ruth are based on real conversations. In summary, I think he was referring to the virtues of contact with all sorts of real people and situations, not to the virtues of day jobs.

Slightly off topic: I think Constantine's greatest achievement has been to tell what it's *really* like to get old, a subject that US writers have not been too eager to explore (because here, death is optional, or so goes the dream). I was made aware of this once again while rereading his Family Values, a tough and somewhat bitter novel.

Regards,

MrT

=====
"Don't just do something, sit there!" Thich Nhat Hanh

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