And a dog called Fig : solitude, connection, the writing life / Helen Humphreys.
Publication details: Toronto : HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, 2022.Edition: 1st edDescription: 253 p. : ill. ; 20 cmISBN:- 9781443463416 (hc)
- 813/.54 B 23
Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
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800 - 899 | Flesherton Branch Shelves | 819 .354 Hump (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 32241001145541 |
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819 .12 Hiege Love's design : reaching heaven on earth / | 819 .154 Coh The flame : poems and selections from notebooks / | 819 .32 Copel Daring to Hope at the Cliff's Edge : Pangea's Dream Remembered: A Poetic Odyssey. | 819 .354 Hump And a dog called Fig : solitude, connection, the writing life / | 819 .4 Taylo The age of insecurity : coming together as things fall apart / CBC Massey lectures | 819 .454 McLea Stories from the vinyl café / | 819.0809282 The Canadian children's treasury. -- |
Includes bibliographical references.
"A writer's solitude is a sacred space, one to be guarded and kept apart from the chaos of the world. This isolation allows for uninhibited wandering, uninterrupted meditation and the nurturing of sparks of inspiration into fires of creation. But in the artist<U+2019>s quiet there is also loneliness, self-doubt, the possibility of collapsing too far inward. What a writer needs is a familiar, a creature perfectly suited to accompany them on this coveted, difficult journey. They need a companion with emotional intelligence, innate curiosity, passion and energy and an enthusiasm for the world beyond, but also the capacity to sleep contentedly for many hours. What an artist needs, Helen Humphreys would say, is a dog. And a Dog Called Fig is a memoir of the writing life told through the dogs Humphreys has lived with and loved over a lifetime, culminating with the recent arrival and settling in of Fig, a Vizsla puppy. Interspersed are stories of other writers and their irreplaceable companions: Virginia Woolf and Grizzle, Gertrude Stein and Basket, Thomas Hardy and Wessex -- the dog who walked the dining table at dinner parties, taking whatever he liked -- and many more. It<U+2019>s a book about companionship and loss and creativity that is filled with the beauty of a steadfast canine friend and the restorative powers of nature. It is also a book about craft, divided into sections that echo the working parts of a novel -- Beginnings, Character, Pacing, Setting, Structure, Process, Endings. Just as every work of art is different, every dog is different -- with distinctive needs and lessons to offer. And if we let them guide us, they, like art, will show us many worlds we would otherwise miss."--Publisher.
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