“For me, the job of writing is pretty uphill most of the time,” writes novelist Mark Haddon. Like many of the 60 some contributors to Light the Dark, Haddon can’t remember deciding to become a writer—it just sort of always was his state of being. A collection of short essays by writers from many fields, Light the Dark isn’t a how-to but an engaging exploration of inspiration. Specifically: the essayists identify the single line of text that most inspired them to write. Selections range widely from the Bible to the liner notes of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. Michael Chabon cites Jorge Luis Borges’ story “The Aleph,” which, he aptly describes it, “fully integrates an encounter with the infinite into the consciousness of what feels like a living, breathing human being.” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy looks at lyric writing and aspires to say “much more than what you should be able to say in so few words.” In another word: poetry.
