One night I begged Robin, a scientist by training, to watch Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' with me on PBS. He lasted about one act, then turned to me in horror: 'This is how you spend your days? Thinking about things like this?' I was ashamed. I could have been learning about string theory or how flowers pollinate themselves. I think his remark was the beginning of my crisis of faith. Like so many of my generation in graduate school, I had turned to literature as a kind of substitute for formal religion, which no longer fed my soul, or for therapy, which I could not afford.. I became interested in exploring the theory of nonfiction and in writing memoir, a genre that gives us access to that lost Middlemarch of reflection and social commentary. Mary Rose OReilley
About This Quote

This quote is from a book by Mary Karr, called Lit by the Dead. She explains that as she tried to reconcile her need for both fiction and nonfiction writing, she had her first "literary crisis." This is a common issue for many writers. Mary Karr's story shows how she found a way to write poetry and nonfiction at the same time.

Source: The Barn At The End Of The World: The Apprenticeship Of A Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

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