Tobias Wolff Essay Research Paper Tobias Wolff — страница 2

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make the father seem like he is more than a father, more like a general of the army, or captain of the ship. This brings me to think that the father would yell at Tobias a lot, and beat him too. “My father took off for Las Vegas with his girlfriend the day after I arrived in California,” this showed how his father wasn’t caring for his son. He left for Vegas with his girlfriend after only seeing his son for a day. The father was or seemed to be insecure when a sheriff gave the school Yale his opinion of Wolff’s father: “Wolff is a boy with considerable ability and very little backbone. He is amiable and good natured, but lacks determination and steadfast.” (Wolff, G; duke of 41) This shows how the father was very insecure of him, and didn’t have a strong head on his

shoulders. Wolff had a fascination with liars, so much that he wrote a story about it: The Barrack’s Thief. Tobias Wolff wrote this award-winning novel in 1984. It is about a bond uniting three soldiers. One of the soldiers turns out to be a liar and a thief who stole the narrator’s wallet, who was a part of the trio. “Wolff is fascinated with liars, and many of his stories pivot on their strange manipulations of reality. Through lying, his characters discover what they are, what they want to be, what they could have been but missed, or what they once were an have now lost.” (Desmond) Also in Powder Wolff uses the father as a liar towards his son. The father said: “Look we’re talking about four, five inches. I’ve taken this car through worse than that.” But, in

actuality he really hasn’t done this and his son knows it too. In an interview with Tobias Wolff, Joan Smith asked him various questions about his feelings and opinions towards the art of writing. One question she asked was: “Do you think that the art of writing can be taught?”(Smith 1) Wolff replied with a simple but firm “No.” I guess he feels that people are either born with the art of writing or they aren’t, there is no one in between who can be taught to become a writer. You are given the gift of writing, not taught. Tobias also said that everyone has their own type of writing in which they are born with, which cannot be taught, but may be worked on or improved, but not changed. The following question by Smith in response to Wolff’s “no” was: “So what do

you teach in your writing seminar at Syracuse?” Wolff replied: I try to help people become the best possible editors of their own work, to help them become conscious of things they do well, of things they need to look at again, of the wells of material they have not even begun to dip their buckets into. You want them to ask more of every sentence. These are really values; I suppose frames of thinking rather than discrete bits of information. You don’t teach information in a writing workshop.” This explains his point of there being no way to teach someone to become a writer; all you can do is improve their own technique or style. Wolff teaches a semester a year, usually people in their 20’s or 30’s who want to become better writers, and need someone to push them along

the path. Tobias Wolff had much success in his writing due to his lifelong experiences, especially his childhood. These experiences helped him to give the reader a more vivid, and real description. His two best works: In Pharoh’s Army, and This Boy’s Life both were about experiences in his life such as his childhood, and his experiences in the Vietnam War. The reason for these works becoming so successful is the way it is actually about real persons actual experiences, and readers love to read about other people’s experiences. Basbanes, Nicholas A. Tobias Wolff: ‘This is … my last memoir’ Article 29. http://web7.infotrac.galegroup.com…rn_29_0_a15845467?sw_aep=pace_main; Oct. 24, 1994; March 22, 2000. Skow, John. Memory, too, is an actor, Article 40.

http://web7.infotrac.galegroup.com…rn_40_0_a15845467?sw_aep=pace_main; April 19, 1993; March 22, 2000. Desmond, John F. Catholicism in Contemporary American Fiction, Article 38. http://web7.infotrac.galegroup.com…rn_38_0_a15271499?sw_aep=pace_main; May 14, 1994; March 22, 2000. Glass, Elizabeth. Mastering the Memoir: Tobias Wolff, Article 3. http://web7.infotrac.galegroup.com…rn_3_0_a19511039?sw_aep=pace_main; July, 1997; March 22, 2000. Malin, Irving. The vintage book of Contemporary American Short Stories, Article 17. http://web7.infotrac.galegroup.com…rn_17_0_a16559373?sw_aep=pace_main; Spring, 1995; March 22, 2000 Meyer, Michael. The Compact Bedford introduction to Literature, “Powder,” Tobias Wolff, p.525. 2000 by Bedford/St. Martin’s. Wolff, Tobias. In the