Writers On Writing, For Writers

There has never been any shortage of writers willing to hold forth about what good writing is, and how one might go about it. Two new installments in the writers-on-writing genre have recently appeared, penned by Norman Mailer and Pierre Berton. The advice they give, and the style in which it is presented, has Philip Marchand wondering why it is that so many writers seem to disagree on nearly every facet of the subject. Is writing a science or an art? Is it work or play? And do we write for ourselves, or for our readers? Great minds think nothing alike.