Bost, Suzanne. "Messy Archives and Materials That Matter: Making Knowledge with the Gloria Evangelina Anzaldua Papers,"PMLA, Vol. 130, No. 3, 2015, pp. 615-630. | JSTOR
This is written from an archival studies perspective, but is an interesting look at how the physical form and spatial context of reading materials can impact your experience with them.
Calvino, Italo. Why Read the Classics?, Vintage, 1991. | Internet Archive
Offers multiple reasons as to why some works endure as classics and why we should continue bothering to read them.
Fish, Stanley. "How to Recognize a Poem When You See One,"Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities. Harvard University Press, 1980. pp. 322-337. | Internet Archive
Starting with a thought experiment, this article encourages readers to question how we define "poetry" and "literature," and how those definitions are influenced by context.
Gallop, Jane. "The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters,"Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Fall 2000. | PDF
An essay exploring what we gain when we practice reading what is actually there.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. "Skywoman Falling,"Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Milkweed Editions, 2013, pp. 3-10.
While the majority of this book is about ecology and knowledge practices, this chapter centers storytelling as an essential component of building worldviews.
Lamott, Anne. "Shitty First Drafts,"Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anchor, 1994, pp. 93-96. | PDF
A no-nonsense piece of writerly advice for when you're feeling afraid of the blank page.
Le Guin, Ursula K. "The Carrier-Bag Theory of Fiction," 1986. | PDF
Advocates for a different conceptualization of narrative fiction that doesn't center conquest, heroes/villains, or even linearity. Instead of a hero with a spear, fiction is - or should be - all about bringing home a basket of fruit to share.
Levertov, Denise. "Some Notes on Organic Form,"Poetry, 1965. | The Poetry Foundation
Makes the argument that every piece of writing should take the form that follows most "organically" from the content, ideas, emotions, etc. being conveyed. What you are trying to write should tell you what form is best for it, rather than be forced into a particular form.
Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, Harvard University Press, 1992. | Internet Archive
Seminal work of literary criticism and theory in which Morrison describes how ideas about Blackness/"African-ness" and the legacy of slavery can be read both explicitly and subtextually in most (if not all) of the American classics, including those which don't seem to refer to Black people at all. This text has not only greatly influenced discussions of race and racism in literary studies, but has set a framework for all kinds of critical lenses which read between the lines in search of the specters of the marginalized.
Rich, Adrienne. What is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics, W.W. Norton, 2003. | Internet Archive
Covers a lot of ground in exploring the politics of poetry and of being a poet or writer.
Ruefle, Mary. "On Secrets: Eight Beginnings, Two Ends,"Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures, Wave Books, 2012, pp. 73-102. | Internet Archive
Explores the apprehension, discomfort, and secrecy that figures into good literature.
Saunders, George. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, Random House, 2021. | Internet Archive
A phenomenal book of writing advice, specifically for short stories, taught using stories written by iconic Russian authors. (This book kinda changed my life).
Shklovsky, Viktor. "Art as Technique,"A Theory of Prose, 1917. | PDF
A highly influential essay exploring how art, such as writing, implements various methods to render the familiar into something interesting and worth slowing down for.
Smith, Zadie. "Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction,"The New York Review of Books, Oct 2019. | PDF
This article passionately celebrates the curiosity that drives writers to explore different perspectives and attempt to inhabit the minds of people completely unlike themselves. It makes the argument that the author's own life experience and identity are less important to the characters they write than their ability to convince the readers of the characters' authenticity - which is the mark of a good writer, anyway.
Sontag, Susan. "Against Interpretation,"Against Interpretation and Other Essays, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1966 | Internet Archive
Argues against the kind of literary criticism which seeks to extract and explain the "meanings" of texts and instead calls for a language and style which describes how a text does what it does and makes the reader feel what they feel.
