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You are here: Home / Writing / Write posthumously

Write posthumously

December 31, 2012

In his 1988 book of essays, Prepared for the Worst, Christopher Hitchens recalled a bit of advice given to him by the South African Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. “A serious person should try to write posthumously,” Hitchens said, going on to explain: “By that I took her to mean that one should compose as if the usual constraints—of fashion, commerce, self-censorship, public and, perhaps especially, intellectual opinion—did not operate.

Jeffrey Eugenides (read the whole thing here)

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Christopher Hitchens, Jeffrey Eugenides, quotes for writers

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