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The Writer Desk Jill Krementz John Updike Books

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The Writer Desk Jill Krementz John Updike Books

This is among my absolute top 5 favorite picture books. The black and white photos are beautiful. I have looked at this book maybe 300 times because the photos are that good. It contains photos of writers that just about everyone has heard of unlike other writer books that include writers that leave me saying who is that. I like this book so much that I bought a second copy to have as a backup because my first copy is breaking down from so many hours of looking at it.

I can not think of a better gift to someone who is either fascinated with writing or is a writer.


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The Writer Desk Jill Krementz John Updike Books Reviews

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.
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.
I got this little gem second-hand. It is simply a collection of black and white portraits of writers in their writing spaces, accompanied by a few paragraphs in their own words about the writing life. The text was mostly gleaned from interviews from The Paris Review, and there is a introduction by John Updike.

It's a peek behind the scenes of these people doing what they do in utter solitude. It's pretty safe to say that there is no commonality except that they all found their way to publication and acclaim.

The photos were taken from the 1970s to the mid-90s, and the way they got from idea to page is varied lots of big, old typewriters, and many clunky tan desktop computers and word processors, not to mention a couple thick, boxy laptops. But just as many write in longhand on plain lined paper. Some writers sit at true desks, like Pablo Neruda, who looks like a state official, with a flag on the wall behind his massive formal desk. He's as formal, in suit and tie and pocket square. Others have improvised desks, like Susan Sontag's long pine table that looks like it came out of some Irish kitchen. Toni Morrison sits on a sofa with a notebook in her lap. Rita Dove stands at what almost seems an altar treasured photos and stones between lit candles, pen and a sheet of paper. Some of the workrooms are messy and chaotic, some are spare, some have lovely views out the windows, and some have the blinds drawn, or are even windowless to keep focus on the page. And here's no surprise some of these eminent writers aren't even writing. Kurt Vonnegut, for instance, is ignoring the manuscript in his typewriter and doing a cryptogram in his bare feet.

About the only thing all these writers have in common is that they write alone (well, except for George Plimpton, who oddly has twin babies on the floor behind him sucking on bottles). They often talk about the need for uninterrupted time alone in order to do their work. I love this bit from Dorothy West, which pretty much sums it up "When I was seven, I said to my mother, may I close my door? And she said yes, but why do you want to close your door? And I said because I want to think. And when I was eleven I said to my mother, may I lock my door? And she said yes, but why do you want to lock your door? And I said, because I want to write."
I can't help reading this wonderful book. so I keep it on my desk for easy access!
Book is in excellent condition as described. I was very pleased with it. It shipped fast and the rates were reasonable.
As a writer, it was fascinating to me to see what other writers' environments were like. I could appreciate Piaget's clutter! I wish there was a second volume for children's writers.
This is among my absolute top 5 favorite picture books. The black and white photos are beautiful. I have looked at this book maybe 300 times because the photos are that good. It contains photos of writers that just about everyone has heard of unlike other writer books that include writers that leave me saying who is that. I like this book so much that I bought a second copy to have as a backup because my first copy is breaking down from so many hours of looking at it.

I can not think of a better gift to someone who is either fascinated with writing or is a writer.