Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Happy Birthday, Elmore Leonard!

It's the birthday of novelist Elmore Leonard (books by this author), born in New Orleans in 1925. He learned to write by reading, especially Hemingway and Steinbeck. He still keeps a portrait of Hemingway in his office. He said: "I feel that I learned to write Westerns by reading and rereading For Whom the Bell Tolls. [...] But I was not influenced by his attitude, thank God. My attitude is much less serious. I see absurdities in serious situations, influenced in this regard by Vonnegut, Richard Bissell, and Mark Harris, and this shows in my writing. It's your attitude that determines your sound, not style."

2 comments:

Beth Groundwater said...

I love Elmore Leonard's quirky books, and I hope he has many, many more birthdays so I continue to read future books of his.

Bud said...

I like his attitude!