IF WRITING IS ANYTHING, IT IS A PERFORMANCE. The writer is the lone figure on the stage. A world may watch, judge, applaud, hiss, throw...

The infinite is liberated through the finite, that is, through the absolute completeness of a line.

Effective writing is all about fascination—being instructed and fed by it, following where it leads, submitting to its word choices . . .

THE DISCERNING WRITER, the writer who respects his audience and his craft will consider execution with the same weight, or gravity, he...