In this collection, editor Lynn Stegner brings together eight of Wallace Stegner’s previously uncollected essays on writing fiction and teaching creative writing. The Pulitzer Prize–winning author and founder of the acclaimed Stanford Creative Writing Program, addresses every aspect of fiction writing: from the writer’s vision to his or her audience, from the use of symbolism to swear words, from the mystery of the creative process to the recognizable truth it seeks finally to reveal. “The work of art is not a gem, as some schools of criticism would insist, but truly a lens. We look through it for the purified and honestly offered spirit of the artist,” writes Stegner.
