Sigrid Nunez
After reading Sigrid Nunez’s book “A Feather on the Breath of God,” I thought it was an autobiography. I could not understand why it was characterized as being a novel. She gave such a personal and realistic account about her parents and experiences. She even included actual quotes from real people. How could someone have called it a novel? However, after listening to Nunez speak, I finally understood why it was called a novel. I also realized she has a very laid-back personality, which is contrary to the image I always had about writers.
Sigrid Nunez has a very distinct style to her writing. She likes to write fictional books, but what separates her fiction from others is the realistic aspect she integrates into her writing. When writing, she imagines the life of a character. She then invents a character and a storyline as she writes. She is a very imaginative and naturally gifted writer. Her imagination is what makes her books seem to be tangible and realistic. She also likes to integrate her own “autobiographical material” and experiences, which only adds to her realistic style. Nunez also prefers to write in the style of a memoir as she did in “A Feather on a Breadth of God.” She admitted that “A Feather on a Breadth of God” had actual events and a realistic account of her parents in it, but still had much fictional material in it as well. The quotes in the book all “came to her” as she wrote. She says her writing has “natural growth” meaning that similar to how one does not know what will happen in life, the same occurs in her writing process. She invents slowly as she writes, often writing twenty pages and then rewriting. Furthermore, the titles of her books just come to her as she writes, without any specific thought about the question of what the book should be called.
Her writing process seems to be very loose, which goes along well with her laid-back personality. A moment that stands out was when a student asked her if she has done acid as she wrote in her book. She answered, “Yes, I did acid, more than once. I did all those drugs.” How many writers would admit to that in a public speech?