Episode 38 —Novelist Marilynne Robinson on Writing, Memory, and Truth with host Chloe Aftel
American novelist and essayist Marilynn Robinson sits down with host Chloe Aftel to discuss the idea of writing as a practice of honesty, reflection, and attention to lived experience while allowing both real life and remembrance to help shape narratives. Robinson emphasizes the importance of truth in writing and frames her approach as taking in the world around you, and translating it into words. She views simplicity not as a limitation, but as a discipline that requires careful attention and sincerity. They also discuss the relationship between memory and storytelling, and how personal history informs perspective. Robinson reflects on writing as an ongoing practice, emphasizing that the act itself holds just as much value as the final outcome.
Highlights:
- Marilynn Robinson discusses her approach to writing, speaking about how evocation and lived experience informs a narrative
- She describes the act of writing as an act of reflection rather than performance, requiring honesty on behalf of the writer
- She discusses her perspective on simplicity in writing, viewing it as a way to make stories more accessible
Biographies:
Marilynn Robinson is an American Novelist born in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1943. She studied at Pembroke College for her undergraduate and later received her PhD in English from the University of Washington in 1977. She speaks about writing as an ongoing process of observance, remembrance, and expression, viewing it not as something to perfect, but something to practice. To her, writing is a way to process life, make sense of events and emotions, and preserve them in a form that remains both accessible and genuine. Her body of work highlights the value of authenticity and attentiveness in both writing and life, with some of her notable pieces include Housekeeping (1980), Gilead (2004),and Home (2008). She has won thePulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2009, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 2004 & 2015, PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay in 1999 and others.
https://www.chloeaftel.com/ has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19’s impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel’s first book, https://www.chloeaftel.com/outside-inbetween, is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States.
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