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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 808.1 EAN: 9780393309331 ISBN: 0393309339 Label: W. W. Norton & Company Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 109 Publication Date: 1992-08 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Studio: W. W. Norton & Company Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Richard Hugo's The Triggering Town, originally published in 1979, remains one of the freshest and most refreshing treatises on the writing of poetry. While you won't find formality or nicety here, Hugo has the unusual quality of being highly opinionated and yet not at all convinced that what works for him will work for you. Hugo doesn't believe that he can teach you how to write; he believes he can teach you how he writes, and by doing so, teach you "how to teach yourself how to write." And while most writing instructors claim that one can't be a good writer without being a good reader, Hugo claims "that one learns to write only by writing." Hugo's essays are strong-willed and funny and by turns full of bluster and cloaked in modesty. While "a good teacher can save a young poet years by simply telling him things he need not waste time on, like trying to will originality or trying to share an experience in language or trying to remain true to the facts," he writes, "ultimately the most important things a poet will learn about writing are from himself in the process." Above all, Hugo stresses that creative writing is creative because it is a creative act: "if one is writing the way one should, one does not know what will be on the page until it is there." So, he warns, "If you want to communicate, use the telephone." And "Think small.... If you can't think small, try philosophy or social criticism." Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Triggering Great Writing and TeachingRichard Hugo begins his collection of essays on poetry and writing the same way he begins his poetry classes: "You'll never be a poet until you realize that everything I say today and this quarter is wrong. It may be right for me, but it is wrong for you" (3). It is with this caveat that Hugo proceeds to presents his ideas on writing and poetry. Hugo writes in a voice that is at once omniscient and intensely personal--it is this voice, and the attitude it embodies, which Hugo believes is necessary ... Read More Rating:  - For club members onlyThis book is neither a guide to writing poetry, nor does it provide much insight about it for "the public at large", this book is written for a very private audience, that of students of creative writing classes in the faculty where the author has been a teacher, or any students of poetry who are particularly keen on following specific personalities from the author's particular academic world. It is a private club of sorts, where the bulk of the lectures are regarding issues that would be of interest ... Read More Rating: - A noteworthy collection of advice and wisdomRichard Hugo was a noted American poet (d. 1982) and also a noted teacher of poetry-writing at the University of Montana. This slim book collects nine lectures or essays ostensibly on the craft and practice of writing poetry. It also contains, by way of illustration, a few of Hugo's poems. Curiously, I get more out of his prose writing than I do from his poetry. THE TRIGGERING TOWN certainly contains much that should be helpful to a young poet. But the book should not be pigeonholed simply ... Read More Rating:  - Place and MemoryI can say one certain thing about the book. It makes me want to write. I woke up early the following morning after reading it until three a.m. and wrote a new poem. The book has so many interesting themes I could not comment on them all in this small space, but I will say it talks profoundly about Place and Memory. The book falls into my personal list of best books on the craft of writing. Rating: - Best book on writing I've ever readAnd that's saying quite a bit, as I've read more than a few. I also like Ted Kooser's Poetry Home Repair Manual, so if you like that I'm pretty sure you'll like The Triggering Town. I think what I like best (so far - I'm not quite done) from Hugo is his concept of writing "off the subject" - as a poet it just seems to make so much sense to me. I've already ordered several other copies of this book to give as presents to folks in the graduate program here at UT. |
