Ron Carlson
Ron Carlson is an American novelist and writer of short stories.
Carlson was born in Logan, Utah, but grew up in Salt Lake City. He earned a masters degree in English from the University of Utah. He then taught at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut where he started his first novel.
He became a professor of English at Arizona State University in 1985, teaching creative writing to undergraduates and graduates, and ultimately becoming director of its Creative Writing Program.
Carlson also taught at the University of California, Irvine.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Carlson
“I'm not trying as a writer to be smart or to understand the inner workings of my narrator, I'm trying to survive the typing of this story.”
Ron Carlson
“The literary story is a story that deals with the complicated human heart with an honest tolerance for the ambiguity in which we live.”
Ron Carlson
“Get down, get naked, get savage.”
Ron Carlson
“I tell students, when in doubt, to title their story after the smallest concrete object in their story. I warn them off plays on words, ('The Rent Also Rises'--no; 'Life in My Cat House'--no) and no grand reaches, either. 'Reverence,' 'Respect,' 'Regret,' 'Greed,' 'Adventure,' 'Retribution.' And never use the worst title of all time, 'The Gift,' a story I read six times a year.”
Ron Carlson
“It is philosophically impossible to be an atheist, since to be an atheist you must have infinite knowledge in order to know absolutely that there is no God. But to have infinite knowledge, you would have to be God yourself. It's hard to be God yourself and an atheist at the same time!”
Ron Carlson
“I always write from my own experiences, whether I've had them or not.”
Ron Carlson