I am going to hold my hands up and say that I couldn't finish this book. I gave up around page 78 as it had the overwhelming feeling of someone who started every conversation with phrases such as "I'm not sexist but..."

Nicholas Delbanco opens the novel by discussing writing as the almost natural progression of recording language and speech. Stories such as the epic poems of Homer were originally passed on orally. Now the ability to read and write is seen as a marker of education, something that many of us take for granted. I am aware that my own grandfather was practically illiterate and have been told that this was a source of much embarrassment for him as it is for people who struggle to read and write today.

Delbanco alludes to the different interpretations that a text can have by the simple exhortation: Read it again. This is a sentiment that I can get behind as often a text is seen in a totally different light upon a second reading, occasionally turning a book you once loved into one you are ambivalent about and vice versa. This message seems to have been buried in a section about teachers who helped foster his own love of writing though.

I am not sure that the reader gains much from the autobiographical section full of name dropping. He says that he's 'aware that all this smacks of "the old boy's club" on page seven but be prepared for a further roughly 26 pages in the same vein. Hidden in this section there is also a hint about better writing, namely avoiding purple prose and overwriting by using an example of his own early work where he used the phrase "small little beds". This echoes a comment made by my tutor in my feedback from the first assignment not to overwrite when less is more. The vast majority of the rest unfortunately makes the writer appear smug as he relishes in telling us of praise received from the famous names teaching him for even first drafts. Perhaps he is a natural writing genius but he certainly doesn't have humility. If a reader is looking for a story of hard work, revision and sticking at something despite struggling, this certainly isn't the book for them. The author even sounds arrogant as he recounts a tale of giving a lecture on Virginia Woolf without doing any preparation as he spent the previous night drinking with John Gardener. I have somewhat lost the thread by this point as to what this has to do with why writing matters rather than to plump the author's ego.

I was relieved to move on to the chapter on "Imitation" and suggests that as we learn all other things, we learn to write by constantly reading. Delbanco discusses how now everyone is obsessed by the concept of being "original" however no one is formed in a vacuum and to imagine that writers are not influenced by those they read would be naïve. This makes sense of the instruction in our course notes to mention what books we have been reading in the process of completing each section as they will at the very least subconsciously influenced our own thought processes. He proceeds to discuss the opposing notions of there being "nothing new under the sun" and the drive to "[m]ake it new". He emphasises that "[e]verything is interlinked and has some prior resonance; all of us live with the past" (Delbanco 2020:45)

My heart sank when Delbanco opts to choose five texts to examine. He readily admits of those chosen "Each of the texts is Western...Five out of these six authors are male; all of them are white." I am bemused that the author can be so aware of his bias and yet does not make an attempt to step outside of his own comfort zone and analyse texts from other backgrounds.

It was around p78 that I gave up to focus on other recommended books for my studies so I cannot comment further. I only gave one star as I was unable to give none, surely justifiable by the fact I couldn't even finish it.

Why Writing Matters is full of Delbanco's personal experiences with writing, with his mentors, and with his students.

Delbanco begins with one of the most important reasons for writing: "before the invention of writing, spoken discourse could not last." Oral transmission, while wonderful for making use of memory, is "subject to forgetfulness or change." The oral tradition was marvelous, but writing has more permanence.

Writing, words on a page or clay tablet, allows cultures to be shared and provides a way to imagine the future and to keep evidence of the past. Writing enables us to communicate with those who are not physically present--and recorded history and literature allow us to communicate with those from the past.

One important note that Delbanco makes early, and returns to later: Read it again! Our first impressions of a written work can change. The beloved books of our youth can take on new meaning or become obvious in their lack of genuine content or style. When an adolescent Delbanco was spouting the marvels of The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of his teachers advised him to read it again. At fourteen, he did and discovered that while the book had been fun and exciting, it was not the great literature he had imagined. Delbanco's reminiscences of his teachers, mentors, and colleagues reveal how writers learn their trade and inspire each other.

( Delbanco was a privileged and intelligent kid with the added advantage of some marvelous teachers at his prep school. Fieldston is part of the Ivy Preparatory School League and is an elite school with impressive graduates and teachers.)

After Fieldston:
"He was educated at Harvard University, B.A. 1963; Columbia University, M.A. 1966. He taught at Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1966–84, and at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, 1984–85. He was a visiting Professor at such institutions also as Trinity College, Williams College, Columbia University and the University of Iowa. He was director of the MFA Program, and the Hopwood Awards Program at the University of Michigan, until his retirement in 2015." (Wikipedia)

The section on imitation is interesting, and Delbanco emphasizes that for many trades apprenticeship has been the preferred way to learn. He adds, "But to imitate is not to be derivative; it's simply to admit that we derive from what was accomplished by others." And "No one seeks to be original when learning scales, or how to use a grindstone, or where the comma belongs in a dependent clause. " We emulate in order to learn skills.

Delbanco also discusses imitation, forgery, plagiarism, and authenticity in an intriguing way with famous examples.

The exploitation and corruption of language is another way of examining both spoken and written words. Think politicians--saying one thing, then saying they didn't say it or that they didn't mean it. Instead of cogent and meaningful discourse, the choosing of hyperbole and boastfulness, repetition "as if asseveration might make a falsehood true" has become more and more common. Do people mean what they say or what they write? I find it difficult to believe political rhetoric, mostly because it lacks sincerity at best and is predominantly ad hominem attack without content or truth at worst. An intentional misuse of language, Delbanco believes is an assault on democracy. I'm not sure anyone would disagree these days.

This wasn't intended to such a long review, but as I skim over all the highlighted passages I marked as I read, there is no way to cover everything. There are sections I would omit. Sometimes a few examples are better than too many and Delbanco, who takes obvious joy in writing, can overdo a good thing at times. :)

The book was a pleasure to read, and I loved the references to writers I've read and to some I've only read about. I enjoyed the plays on words (though maybe some should be cut) and Debanco's pleasure in language is evident throughout, and I loved learning a couple of new-to-me interpretations of quotes from Hamlet.

I want to read the final edited version and have pre-ordered the book. Read in January; blog review scheduled for March 3.

NetGalley/Yale U.P.
Nonfiction. March 17, 2020. Print length: 296 pages (ARC)

Why Writing Matters
by Nicholas Delbanco
Yale University Press

Nonfiction (Adult)

Pub Date 17 Mar 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Why Writing Matters through Yale University Press and Netgalley:


Writing matters, but why does it matter?


Nicole’s Delbanco reminds us that “So somewhere in some distant place and time some someone made a mark on stone or wood or ice or clay or sand and somebody else understood it and the process of writing began.”


This book is the newest in Yale University Press Why X Matters series. Distinguished writer and scholar Nicholas Delbanco tackles important questions about the discipline of writing. Delbanco draws from his own experiences with mentors, John Updike, John Gardener, and James Baldwin. Delbanco in turn went on to teach such rising stars such as Jesmyn Ward. The author focuses on questions of influence and the contradiction that simultaneously moves us towards imitation, but also originality. A contradiction in itself.



Why Writing Matters is part memoir, part literary history, as well as part analysis. This unique book will resonate with students, writers, writing teachers, and bibliophiles.


I give Why Writing Matters five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

A wonderful guide to the craft of writing and also an intimate look at the authors mentors .The authors who helped guide him shared with him make this a very interesting read.#netgalley#yaleuniversityress

This is an enjoyable read on the craft of writing. I really liked hearing the stories Delbanco tells of his fellow writers. Worth the read.

Here are my pros and cons about this book. Pros: The author describes his own experiences on writing and what he has gone through. I picked it because I hope to write my own book some day. Cons: I felt like I was reading a term paper in a way because there were alot of references and things I didn't understand. That is my only con though. All in all It's not a bad book. i give it four stars. Thank you netgalley, the author ,and publishers for allowing me to read this. I do recommend this book for anyone that is interested in writing

I truly want to hate this book, not because it is not insightful but because as as Writer and Reader, I've finally read a book that the author focuses not only on the craft of writing but shares personal insights of how he was inspired and mentored by other writers.
Nine chapters and each one builds upon most the questions and clarifications that writers seek- I'm all the way in Kenya and could relate to this book, that's how much of an impact it had on me.
I started reading it as a potential reviewer then took a step back and went back to the beginning to read it as a Writer and can I say that chapter 2 on Imitation was such a gem!
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC. I see this is a must read and it could be well added to any writing program- more so because of the author's insights on the focus of workshops.