You felt it as a depth of ease in certain boys, their innate, affable assurance that they would not have to struggle for a place in the world; that is already reserved for them.
Tobias WolffRead
It's probably why I'm a short story writer. I tend to remember things in the past in narrative form, in story form, and I grew up around people who told stories all the time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the influence of storytelling on the author's identity as a writer and their memory of experiences.
Tobias Wolff captures how the act of storytelling shapes not only a person's creative output but also their understanding of past experiences. Growing up surrounded by narratives fosters a particular way of perceiving the world, where memories are intertwined with the art of storytelling, emphasizing the importance of narrative in both personal and cultural contexts.
Themes
StorytellingMemoryNarrativeWritingArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a creative writing workshop, discussing how personal experiences shape narratives.
More from Tobias Wolff
All quotes βYou don't teach information in a writing workshop.
Tobias WolffRead
Of course it's why you want to become a writer - because you have the liberty to do that, but once you have the liberty you also have the obligation to do it.
Tobias WolffRead
Because I don't have to be careful of people's feelings when I teach literature, and I do when I'm teaching writing.
Tobias WolffRead
Like so many writers I started writing stories because I didn't have much time for anything else.
Tobias WolffRead
I believe that the short story is as different a form from the novel as poetry is, and the best stories seem to me to be perhaps closer in spirit to poetry than to novels.
Tobias WolffRead
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