Who is Robert McCrum writing about in this paragraph in The Observer?
When, at the age of 36, the poet first self-published the collection for which he would become famous, it received just two reviews, both written by himself under a pseudonym, but otherwise fell stillborn from the press.
Well done, if you said Walt Whitman. McCrum offers Whitman as an antidote to the current trend to try to find the best writers under 40 or even under 30. He points out:
"The ruthless cut-off of 40 does not address the complex trajectory of creative growth: for every novelist or poet who explodes skywards with a first or second book, there are many who only achieve mastery as they reach the shady side of the slope. The onset of middle age, or the approach of oblivion, is perhaps as sharp a spur to literary effort as the intoxicating self-belief of youth."
He cites Daniel Defoe, who finished "Robinson Crusoe" at 59, Mary Wesley ("Camomile Lawn," 70), and Karl Maianes ("Matterhorn," 33 years in the works, published recently to great acclaim, in the author's 60's).
The headline of McCrum's article is "You're never too old to start writing."
Amen.
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