What suggestions did the great French author Andé Gide give to young writers?
First of all to consider writing a profession that is learned. Against the enticements of cheap success, recommends Gide, better measure and constant rigor, better if combined with patience and cunning and ability to listen, because the writer is a good pen or computer worker we would say today, who does not chase fashions but knows how to listen first to the classics and their teaching (“great intellects never fear influences, on the contrary they look for them“) and then the world around it.
And if someone attacks you, let your work defend itself, and go further. Don't seek ephemeral consent, don't settle on any formula and Gide writes “be wary of anything that flatters you, anything that tends to make you believe that what you write is better than it really is“. to know more, see Advice to a young writer by André Gide, Archinto editions.
Lorenzo Morandotti
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