Advice from Balllzac

[PJS]

From a review in Times Literary Supplement:
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article993720.ece

In his letters, Balzac lists some of the things necessary to a novelist.

a peaceful place to work; … coffee strong enough to maintain the flow of inspiration for two months; debts and publishers’ contracts with draconian penalty clauses to reinforce self-discipline with compulsion; … a constant state of romantic excitation without the time-consuming consequences of love.

It may be that you have to hear the townswomen in Music Man singing “Shakespeare, Rabelais, Balzac” to appreciate some of the advice.

ps

[JennK]

My twins’ high school is performing The Music Man this week. Saw it last night, and now have the music running through my head on an endless loop. Kind of defeats the “peaceful place to work” aspect of Balzac’s advice!