Customer Reviews

The Writer's Desk

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Every writer looks around his workplace sometimes and wonders what other writers' desks look like. It's almost a prurient interest. Krementz, who is married to Kurt Vonnegut and is a leading photojournalist, has photographed more than 1,500 writers at work in the past thirty years. This splendid slender book brings together photos of fifty-three authors in their habitats, from Pablo Neruda and Archibald MacLeish to Stephen King and Edwidge Dandicat. Each photo is accompanied by each author's thoughts on desks, typewriters, and writing methods and times of day. This is the sort of book you'll pick up over and over again, examining the clutter on James Merrill's desk, or wondering if you should try writing in bed, like Walker Percy or Cathleen Schine. Highly recommended.

A wonderful book of black and white photos of writers in their habitats, some spartan, some cluttered. Accompanying each picture is a short blurb by the featured author. I only wish this book were longer and included more of my favorite authors.

John Updike's introduction is a must-read. He points out details that perhaps one might miss at first glance.

First let me say that I am attached to my copy of The Writer's Desk. It may not leave the house. Get your own!

That said, I have to profess some mystery as to the depth of my own feeling or why someone should purposely purchase this for themselves. It is a small scale coffee table book for English majors, a nice gift for the contemporary lit minded or a gem to pluck off a sale table for oneself. Krementz's black and white photographs speak of her talent though I'm not sure I learn that much from them. They are more like illustrations for text that is all but missing, except for brief author quotes, or like roped off rooms in a writer's house turned local museum. But that's the problem we have with any creative artist--we can collect and assemble the physical life molecule by molecule (anyone here read Flaubert's Parrot?) and we will never quite understand how those great sentences get shaped the way they do.

At least we can marvel at the conditions under which those sentences get down, how each writer exerts order and control in a corner of their lives, to get their work done.

The main purpose of this book is to show the working environments of writers and to describe their work habits, but it is also a treat for typewriter collectors. As an amateur collector, I enjoyed trying to guess the makes of typewriters being used. It was especially interesting seeing how some writers continue to use manual typewriters, even in the 1990s.

Writing is an act of love from the many authors who have devoted their lives to telling us their stories. Now, for the first time we are given a glimpse of the varied environments in which they work through the lens of Jill Krementz. This wonderful photographer unfolds before our eyes the work habitats of some of our most noted authors. You will be delighted and pleasantly surprised on seeing them at work.

Some of the writers come to work dressed as blue collar workers ready to sweat and give their full attention to the task at hand. Others bring their pets who provide inspiration and sharp criticism of their owners' efforts. What is most amusing is peering into a writer's workspace and seeing it filled with junk. How can they possibly write in all of that disarray? Only heaven knows.

Krementz's pictures captures the essence of a writer's work in their faces, space, and devotion to detail. The places and spaces in which they work are diverse but through that diversity art is created. After each photo, the writer gives his or her philosophy about how they work and why they work. The details they give are not long. The pictures tell the story rather than the sparse text.

The Writer's Desk is an excellent book for an aspiring writer or for one who wants to see their favorite author in a different way beyond the written word. The book doesn't pretend to be a biographical work about the writers and moves beyond being a mere picture book. Through the eye of Krenentz's lens you will see, experience and appreciate the craft of writing in a different way.

Yes, indeed, it is enthralling to see such writers at work or just sitting around getting ready to work or just sitting around but for the hefty price tag, the small number included here can only be considered stingy at best. Unfortunately, the text often adds little, if any, relevant commentary on the picture at hand. It is interesting though to see the domestic surroundings of so many famous people and I suppose that the voyeur in us receives some satisfaction. The photography itself is well done and captures the look of the writers as we've come to know them through other photos. Since there are only 58 subjects out of a possible 1500 that the author has taken, I was able to read the whole book and look at the photos in sixteen minutes. Before you buy, check it out in a library first to make sure you want to spend you hard earned money on such a minuscule offering.

I don't know why I love this book so much, maybe it's those moments of just seeing others spaces just as messy as ones own I assume. I love this book for the deep rich details and I think of my own writing space and know that I'm not alone. I think many writers out there love this book as well, I can tell from the reviews. I know there is scant information on the authors but I can look into the pictures and see the stories themselves. I can see most of them hunched over writing some amazing line, or something. And to see the diversity of how they write.

Definately recomend this to anybody.

A mesmerizing book that provides a glimpse into the creative world of writers. I return to look at the book often hoping to gain some insight into and about writer's and their art. The book succeeds in wetting the apetite and creates even more mystery. Surely, there must be some common thread amongst writer's and surely that thread must be visible in the photographs in the book if only we look hard enough. A very intimate book, by design and a very private book to own and possess. One of the very few books that I continue to look and to seek inspiration.

A fascinating look at how and where a number of excellent writers work and write. A great gift book. Too often writers feel singularly alone when writing. These photos and anecdotes are great company and great inspiration for writers who spend all too much time working alone at their own desks.

This is primarily a picture book: you're not going to get a lot of biographical information or much of anything about the deep thoughts of the writers featured here.

But still, it's a fun book. If nothing else, there is something reassuring in knowing that some of my heroes have even sloppier desk-keeping habits than me.... I think the nicest part is just the dream of writing that many of us have...the dream of the home office, arranged in an unabasedly intimate way. This is an especially fun fantasy for us drones who, trapped in Herman Miller cubiclesville, yearn for a meaningful, soul-feeding place to do work.