How I Learnt to Write

Maxim Gorky's book "How I Learnt to Write" was, literarily, a precious gift to me. It was not my intention to seek out the knowledge that cannot be taught, that is writing, but rather for the experience of the elders. The foundation of the book is its writer’s openness to writers in the world, especially the French (whether you agree with him or you have other priorities). This is what drives him to believe that he who seeks to be read must read, both in books and in life. I was struck by a comment he had written in his book about a fifteen-year-old girl who had told him about her talent for writing. He said: "It would have been, of course, more correct to say instead of writer's talent simply a desire to write" (page 11). This is not ignoring the importance of talent in any context. Talking about desire is talking about the personal effort that supports talent. There is no writer who never gets tired. There is no creativity in laziness. Gorky does not leave us without urging each of us to be greater for the sake of a greater world.