The Madness of Art: Interviews with Poets and Writers

Robert Phillips's conversational yet penetrating approach yields self-assessments that read like new essays by the writers themselves. Conducted over the course of twenty years, many of these pieces were first published in the Paris Review. Taken from a passage by Henry James, the title speaks to the "madness" that drives our greatest works of creativity. Phillips's interviews bring out this "madness" in its most important sense: the writers are seers and visionaries, whose works inspire us beyond the limits of reason. The conversations recorded in The Madness of Art attain that same level of inspiration and power.

Phillips questions his interviewees about their work methods, daily lives, influences, sources of inspiration, relationship to other literary figures, response to critics, choice of genre, audience, and reasons for writing.

Author: Robert Phillips
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 03/01/2003
Pages: 244
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 9.36h x 6.34w x 0.77d
ISBN: 9780815607830

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 04/15/2003 pg. 86
Library Journal 04/01/2003