Something to Declare - Softcover

Alvarez, Julia

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Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452280672 ISBN 13: 9780452280670

Publisher: Plume, 1999

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"Reading Julia Alvarez's new collection of essays is like curling up with a glass of wine in one hand and the phone in the other, listening to a big-hearted, wisecracking friend share hard-earned wisdom about family, identity, and the art of writing." —People

The rich and revealing essays in Something to Declare offer Julia Alvarez's dual meditations on coming to America and becoming a writer. In the first section, "Customs," Alvarez relates how she and her family fled the Dominican Republic and its oppressive dictator, Rafael Trujillo, settling in New York City in the 1960s. Here Julia begins a love affair with the English language under the tutelage of the aptly named Sister Maria Generosa. Part Two—"Declarations"—celebrates Alvarez's enduring passion for the writing life. From the valentine to mythic storyteller Scheherazade that is "First Muse," to a description of Alvarez's itinerant life as a struggling poet, teacher, and writer in "Have Typewriter, Will Travel," to the sage and witty advice of "Ten of My Writing Commandments," Alvarez generously shares her influences and inspirations with aspiring writers everywhere.

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About the Author:

Julia Alvarez is the author of the novels How the Garc�a Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies (a national Book Critics Circle Award finalist), and Yo!. She has also published two poetry collections (Homecoming and The Other side/El Otro Lado) and a collection of essays (Something to Declare).

TEN OF MY WRITING COMMANDMENTS

I. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few.

--ZEN MASTERS

II. The obligation of the artist is not to solve the problem but to state the problem correctly.

--ANTON CHEKHOV

III. Do not be afraid!

--ANGELS APPEARING TO SHEPERDS TENDING THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT

IV. If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will destroy you.

--ST. THOMAS, GNOSTIC GOSPELS

V. Poetry presents the thing in order to convey the feeling. It should be precise about the thing and reticent about the feeling.

--WEI T'AI

VI. One must write a poem the way one rules an empire, the way one cooks a small fish.

--AUTHOR UNKNOWN

VII. El papel lo aguanta todo. (Paper holds everything.)

--MAMI

VIII. You must change your life.

--RAINER MARIA RILKE

IX. The function of freedom is to free someone else.

--TONI MORRISON

X. If you want to be a writer, than write. Write every day!