{"product_id":"how-to-begin-edmund-de-waal-9780374623067","title":"How to Begin: Letters to a Young Writer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the celebrated ceramic artist and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hare with Amber Eyes\u003c\/i\u003e, a tender story--unfolding in letters, poems, and images--about what it means to be an artist. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is a story about how to begin. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1921, Edmund de Waal's grandmother Elisabeth Ephrussi, a young student in Vienna, wrote a letter to the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke. She too was a poet, or an aspiring one, just at the beginning of a creative life. To her surprise, Rilke wrote back. It was the beginning of a five-year correspondence--one that included exchanges of poetry and became, through lyrical, funny, exhortatory letters, a profound friendship. The two never met. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFifty years later, Elisabeth's grandson Edmund de Waal sends her his own poetry, and she responds with guidance and a copy of Rilke's \u003ci\u003eDuino Elegies\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eHow to Begin \u003c\/i\u003eis a story of artistic ambition. It is about asking for advice and then disregarding it, and about finding ways to keep going when no one believes in you. De Waal writes lyrically about his grandmother but also tells of his own multi-genre artistic practice, and of how one might want to be a poet but instead become a visual artist, a prose stylist, and a reader of poetry. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEvery artist--the great artist, the struggling artist, the so-called failed artist--was once faced with the beginning, the problem of how to start. How lucky we are that de Waal, his grandmother, and Rilke show us the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Edmund de Waal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0374623066\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780374623067\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Farrar, Straus and Giroux\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/26\/2027\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.38w x 1.00d","brand":"Edmund de Waal","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":50545977721087,"sku":"9780374623067","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/how-to-begin-edmund-de-waal-9780374623067","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}