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  • What We Do
    • Portland Arts & Lectures
    • Youth Programs
    • Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
    • Delve Readers Seminar
    • Portland Book Festival
    • Writing Classes
    • The Archive Project
    • Event Calendar
  • Who We Are
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Our History
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Supporters
    • What Writers Say
    • Open Positions
    • Brian Booth Writers’ Fund
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Tickets & Class Registration
https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/November_Release_OPB_10.22.14_Wallace_Stegner.mp3

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https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/November_Release_OPB_10.22.14_Wallace_Stegner.mp3

Podcast (literary-arts-archive): Play in new window | Download

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SHARE

Twitter

TWEET

Thanks to our Supporters

J.W. & H.M. Goodman Family Foundation

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Thank you to Emancipator for donating their music to The Archive Project. Learn more about them at www.emancipatormusic.com.

 

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Wallace Stegner

The “dean of Western writers” discusses fiction’s agenda to tell the truth and the ongoing adventure of the writing life.

November 20th, 1990

1990-91

Portland, Oregon

Topic:

  • Career
  • Craft & Writing
  • History

Tone:

  • Conversational
  • Educational
  • Inspirational
  • Philosophical

Genre:

  • Fiction

Wallace Stegner, “the dean of Western writers,” grapples with his process of reconciling the need for conflict and ambiguity in plot with his distaste for mechanical, method-oriented writing. “The writers I admired and still admire were not carpenters, but more like sculptors,” he says. “Their art was and is a real probing of real and troubling human confusions.” He discusses writers as shape-shifters and ventriloquists, seeking to tell the truth through fiction, and declares that writing is an attempt to impose order on the chaos of our lives. This lecture is printed in The World Split Open: Great Authors on How and Why We Write, published by Tin House Books.

Wallace Stegner wrote 30 books, both fiction and nonfiction, and several short stories over a 60-year career. His legacy includes The Wilderness Letter (1960), used as the introduction to the National Wilderness Preservation System Bill in 1964. He also founded the Creative Writing program at Stanford University, worked with the Kennedy administration to expand U.S. national parks, and won numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, three O. Henry Awards, the PEN Center USA West Award, and was a Guggenheim Fellow twice.

The writers I admired and still admire were not carpenters, but more like sculptors. Their art was and is a real probing of real and troubling human confusions.”

“Autobiography and fiction are variant means to the same end, and neither one should be wrapped in any straightjacket of method.”

“Literature is a function of temperament, and thank god there are many temperaments.”

https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/November_Release_OPB_10.22.14_Wallace_Stegner.mp3

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The Archive Project

A retrospective of some of the most engaging talks from the world’s best writers from over 30 years of Literary Arts in Portland. The Archive Project features the most sought-after talks from our Portland Arts & Lectures series and special events. Each week, we publish new lectures available for streaming on this website for free. With over 250 original lectures by the most creative and articulate minds of our generation, these discussions offer special moments between world-famous authors and our local literary community. Select episodes of The Archive Project air every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. on OPB radio. Click here to visit the show’s homepage on opb.org. Episodes released on our website and on OPB Radio are available for download on iTunes in the podcast section under "Literary Arts." Click here to visit The Archive Project on iTunes.

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The Moth Mainstage in Portland

The Moth Mainstage in Portland

December 10, 2019

The Moth returns to Portland this December! This extraordinary performance will sell…

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Slamlandia: December

Slamlandia: December

December 12, 2019

Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam which meets on the…

Collisions: Short Story Workshop

Collisions: Short Story Workshop

January 14, 2020

January 14–February 18, 2020 Tuesdays, 7:00–9:00 p.m. (six sessions) Instructor: Josha Nathan…

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Everybody Reads 2020: Tommy Orange

Everybody Reads 2020: Tommy Orange

March 5, 2020

Literary Arts is proud to host an evening with award-winning author Tommy…

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2020 Verselandia!

2020 Verselandia!

April 30, 2020

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December 4, 2019

by Michael Porwoll, 2019-2020 @LA Events Intern “There was a comfort in this shared reality,” Dorothea Lasky read to an at-capacity audience at Literary Arts for Lit Crawl 2019. “This shared imagination.”             Animal, Lasky’s new book of lyric lectures…

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by Michael Porwoll, 2019-2020 @ LA Events Intern              American music is inseparable from American history. And music, especially that which proves most socially impactful, is often inseparable from the painful experience of suffering (and triumphing) our nation at its…

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2019 #PDXBookFest Quick Reference Guide: Poetry

October 30, 2019

The Portland Book Festival is a glorious, jam-packed day where you’re invited to choose your own adventure. But we know all the choices can be a little overwhelming. To help you plan your Festival day, we’ve curated a few handy…

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Featured Lecture from the Archives

Amor Towles

Amor Towles

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Amor Towles discusses his celebrated second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, with this lecture that explores the historical inspiration for the story and setting.

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