In visit to Harvard, Marilynne Robinson discusses teaching, writing
Marilynne Robinson’s 1980 debut novel “Housekeeping,” about a pair of orphaned sisters raised by their eccentric aunt in an isolated town, was an instant hit among critics and is still widely read and admired today. Yet despite her early success as a novelist, Robinson departed fiction writing for more than two decades, focusing on essays until the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Gilead” appeared in 2004. The book, written as letter from an ailing father to his young son, was followed by two acclaimed sequels, “Home” (2008) and “Lila” (2014). On a recent visit to Harvard, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop professor emeritus, whose latest work is “What Are We Doing Here?,” answered questions about her life as novelist, essayist, and teacher. Q&A Marilynne Robinson GAZETTE: I think you were in high school when you sensed writing was where you were headed. Can you recall an early piece of writing, something you thought was good? ROBINSON: I usually found...