Introduction

In an interview for Five Dials, Lydia Davis said that certain words and sentences “defy assimilation”, meaning that on each reading they continue to strike her as “surprising, fresh and new”. Looking at my list below, I note that this is one thing many of the pieces have in common. Something else that’s clear when looking at this list, is that the content, for me, is subordinate to the form: the words and the spaces between. Anything can carry if the writing is good enough. I decided to make an anthology of writing that has marked me in some way as a writer, and has helped me on the way to becoming a writer (always becoming a writer). In no particular order I’ve tried to illustrate, in the case of each, what I learned.