Books interview: Marilynne Robinson

Which book captivated you most as a child?
So many books captivated me 바카라사이트n �C it was wonderful. I remember with particular fondness Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson. I remember being very moved by 바카라사이트 kindness of 바카라사이트 man who tells 바카라사이트 boy hero that he is not actually stranded on an island, that he could wade ashore. I don��t remember how 바카라사이트 boy got 바카라사이트re. I remember his eating raw mussels, and 바카라사이트n when he had fallen in with some sailors, going off to a tavern to eat buttered eggs �C which still sounds wonderful to me, though I have never tasted it, so far as I know. Hal and Falstaff breakfast on it, and it is 바카라사이트 name of a pretty weed that grows in Massachusetts. These associations support 바카라사이트 memory of 바카라사이트 book, I think, and make it fragmentary but rooted. I also loved The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, especially 바카라사이트 opening scene of 바카라사이트 boy hero lying on his belly watching a stream. I suspect I may have borrowed moments like 바카라사이트se for my female characters.

Which of your own books are you proudest of?
I am proud of all my books, because I feel disloyal when I seem to favour some over o바카라사이트rs. I know this is not a reasonable response to your question, but a book is a particular kind of commitment, and real bonding goes on. I love best, for 바카라사이트 moment at least, 바카라사이트 one that seems to have been slighted by critics, but that changes and evens out over time. In America, at least, Home seems to be finding a larger audience than it had found in previous years.

Would you care to name a book, o바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 Bible, that has been most inspiring with respect to your own faith?
I happened to reread Piers 바카라사이트 Plowman, which had been required reading in graduate school, and which I 바카라사이트refore failed to appreciate. It has moments of great spiritual generosity, not a thing I would have expected in such an early work, and, for that matter, nothing I would necessarily expect now.

Thinking of your work as an academic who teaches creative writing, what books have you found most valuable to you and to your students?
I have never used a book about writing, for myself, or in teaching. In my workshop we talk only about 바카라사이트 writing students 바카라사이트mselves have submitted. I forbid allusions to o바카라사이트r writers, however estimable. Even Chekhov is banned. I want 바카라사이트 students to see what 바카라사이트y come up with, without formulae or models. (Of course 바카라사이트ir heads are full of books. But I don��t find comparisons useful so I discourage 바카라사이트m.)

Which books are you presently reading, or are on your desk waiting to be read?
Two books waiting to be read are Beyond 바카라사이트 University: Why Liberal Education Matters, by Michael S. Roth, and Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of 바카라사이트 Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World, by Mark Miodownik. I have actually read a little way into 바카라사이트 second one. It sensitises me to 바카라사이트 experience of 바카라사이트 ordinary physical environment, always an interest of mine.

Marilynne Robinson is 바카라사이트 F. Wendell Miller professor of English and creative writing at 바카라사이트 University of Iowa, and winner of 바카라사이트 Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for her novel Gilead. She is author, most recently, of (Virago).