Alexander Chee’s essay in The Morning News about studying writing with Annie Dillard includes a memorable description of how it felt to get back papers that she’d marked up. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “That Feeling When You Get Back Marked-Up Papers”
A few weeks ago, I talked about this wonderful essay by Alexander Chee in the morning news about studying with the writer Annie Dillard.
And there was a quotation I meant to include that I loved so much. He would turn his papers in to this master writer and she would grade them and mark them all up.
And he put it this way, getting pages back from her was like getting to the dance floor and seeing your favorite black shirt under the nightclub’s black light.
All the hair and dust that was always there, but invisible to you, now visible.
Oh, that’s perfect. Absolutely.
It’s true though, right? You feel that you’re suave and cool.
You’ve, it reminds me of going to the beach and you feel like you’ve got perfect coverage for your sunscreen.
Only when you get back and you realize there’s this whole big patch under your chin and part of one arm and you’ve got burns in the strangest of ways.
That’s right. This son is a harsh editor.
Yeah, it is indeed.
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