The Man Who Taught Me to Write

Richard Selzer was a surgeon, a Yale professor, a Guggenheim fellow, and one of the finest prose stylists American literature produced in the 20th century. He was also my friend. This is the story of how a gardener with an eighth-grade education ended up behind the glass at one of the great libraries in the world — and what it cost me not to walk onto a stage when it mattered most. Before I wrote my first book, I was working at Evergreen Woods in Connecticut. Selzer handed back my manuscript covered in red marks. He took me to the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale. He asked me to speak at his funeral. I read about his death in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times — every major paper in America — and kept thinking: this is the man who left me a note about cigarettes. He never told me how big he was. Not once. That's what this video is about. Watch the Mortal Lessons pillar first if you haven't. This is the companion. 🎥 Watch the Mortal Lessons Pillar:    • The Most Important American Writer You've ...   📺 Subscribe to Odd I — new videos every Tuesday and Thursday One author's eye on the books that matter. @OddIReads CHAPTERS 0:00 — It Started Because I Was a Gardener 1:30 — Dr. Richard Selzer 2:35 — The Red Marks 3:35 — Don't Bore the Reader 4:40 — Behind the Glass at the Beinecke 7:38 — The Funeral I Couldn't Walk To 9:27 — What He Never Said About Himself 11:10 — What He Left Me ───────────────────────── ODD I — Literary analysis from an author's perspective. New videos every Tuesday and Thursday. 🔴 SUBSCRIBE:    / @oddireads   ───────────────────────── FOLLOW ODD I: INSTAGRAM-   / oddireads   TWITTER/X- https://x.com/AuthorFredd YOUTUBE-    / @oddireads   TIKTOK-   / oddireads   FACEBOOK-   / authorfredd   ───────────────────────── ABOUT FREDD CARROLL: Author, publisher, and founder of Left Eye Lazy Media LLC. One writer's close reading of the books that changed how we think about being human. ───────────────────────── As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Bookshop.org affiliate links also support the channel at no extra cost to you. #LiteraryAnalysis #BookAnalysis #OddI #FreddCarroll