Writing As A Disembodied Third Party

James Wood in the April 25, 2005 New Republic wrote about Saul Bellow and I think his words hold a broad truth.

"Like anyone, writers, of course, are embarrassed by excessive praise, just as readers are burdened by their excessive gratitude - one can not keep going on about it. And, eventually, it is easier to turn the beloved literary work into into a kind of disembodied third party: to admit that the work itself exceeds the writer, that it sails...away from the writer and toward the delighted reader. In the final year of Saul's life he became very frail, I would read some of his own praise to him, something he would have doubtless found as a younger man, mawkish or cloying or tiresome. It did not feel any of those things, as Bellow sat there in forgetful frailty, rather it felt as if I were gently reminding him of his own talent and that he was grateful for this, and perhaps grateful for my gratitude. But, in truth, I could not thank him enough when he was alive and I can not now."