3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers [Paperback]

Pen/Faulkner Foundation (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2000

An anthology of never-before-published short essays by America's literary greats. Each October at the PEN Gala, well-known authors take the stage of the Folger Shakespeare Library's Theatre to ponder the meaning of such universal mysteries as "obsession," "illusion," "first love," and more. Each author is given only three minutes or less to speak. The results have been unpredictable--clever, confessional, inspiring, hilarious, profound, and all of them entertaining. These essays have been transcribed for the first time, and comprise this unique anthology.

Among the authors are: Russell Banks, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Annie Dillard, Gail Godwin, Allan Gurganus, Jane Hamilton, Alice Hoffman, Susan Isaacs, Charles Johnson, William Kennedy, Chang-rae Lee, Larry McMurtry, Sue Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, George Plimpton, Francine Prose, Maurice Sendak, Anita Shreve, Jane Smiley, William Styron, Deborah Tannen, John Edgar Wideman.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation confers an annual national prize for the best work of fiction by an American author and brings literary programs of quality to the citizens of the Washington metropolitan area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1st US ed edition (May 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582340692
• ISBN-13: 978-1582340692
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars if you're here, this book is certainly for you., September 7, 2005

By 

Robert Nagle "idiotprogrammer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers (Paperback)

If you are lucky enough to stumble upon this Amazon.com page, you should buy this book immediately. Why on earth would anyone actively seek such a book? Why does the world need another anthology and by the already famous? I found this at a discount chain store, and my one regret was not buying 10 copies when I had the chance. These short forms are little gems on universal themes (growing up, first love, etc). Susan Sontag has a great piece about writing; she observed, as time goes by, writing doesn't become easier; it becomes harder; wow! I've read about 3/4 of these shorts, and each one gives a different pleasure; try to write a complete story in less than 3 minutes. It ain't easy. The pieces remind me of Dinty Moore's creative nonfiction as well as the pieces you'd find in Brevity literary magazine.

I've been recommending this book to teachers for teaching classes. These pieces are short enough that it will keep the interest of students in this instant gratification world.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Cheers, April 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers (Paperback)

The editorial review for this book mentions that all of the stories are "entertaining." That's not quite true, some of the three minute stories are great, and some of them are downright annoying--but then again, perhaps that's the point. You don't buy a book by hundreds of writers so you can enjoy every letter of it. You buy it to embrace even the minutia of authors you already enjoy, and to sample, even if only briefly, the writings of others without having to invest the time and money required of a hundred different books. Towards that end, this book is simply fantastic. Some of the individual stories are, alone, worth the price of the entire text. Taken as a whole, this novel could only be a disappointment to the illiterate, or to the overly verbose.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars HIT AND MISS MENAGERiE, June 21, 2011

By 

Roy Clark "rclarknv" (Edge of Toiyabe Nat'l Forest, NV) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 3 Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers (Paperback)

Writers like to write, some profusely, others pithily. But when constrained to three minutes, sans editors or their own self-editing,
their mini-speeches show a whole new side to well-known writers. This book is all ups ands and down. Some clever, some confused
and wandering. Best you use Amazon's Look Inside Feature to sample these ninety-second wonders or wanderers.

Nice spread of top talents though; you might like to read the candid thoughts of writing celebs, focussed or consciously rapids-
streamed. For my taste (and these are real subjective nuggets) there are more ups and downs. This I'd call one-time-through
reading. (And yes, no power on earth could stop some writers from running over their three minutes. Now, this isn't chauvinistic,
but this seemingly holds truest for women writers.)