M U L L A duel of ideas

Lightness as moral discipline

Italo Calvino  vs  Anne Lamott

Calvino, in Six Memos, named lightness as a literary virtue — the ability to lift the weight of the world without denying it. Lamott calls the same thing 'shitty first drafts' and self-deprecating humor: the discipline of not making the work heavier than it must be. Both treat lightness as the opposite of carelessness.

Write something true today with as light a touch as you can manage. Notice what gets harder, not easier.

Whose side are you on?

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