Anyone looking for useful insight into the creative process will find it in Stacey D'Erasmo's stimulating The Long Run. In this brief but impressively substantive exploration of the lives and work of eight artists who have sustained enduring careers, D'Erasmo also interrogates her own path as a novelist, literary critic, and teacher as she searches for the answer to one pressing question: "How do we keep doing this--making art?"
D'Erasmo (Wonderland, The Complicities) selected a group of subjects in their late 60s or older--all of whom she interviewed at length--for her investigation: dancer Valda Setterfield, landscape designer Darrel Morrison, writer Samuel R. Delany, actress Blair Brown, composer and conductor Tania León, artist Amy Sillman, singer-songwriter Steve Earle, and visual artist Cecilia Vicuña. Though most of these artists are not household names, each has produced a substantial, critically praised body of work and, crucially for D'Erasmo, has maintained a highly visible presence over decades.
As one would expect from such a diverse collection, no single explanation is comprehensive enough to provide an answer to D'Erasmo's central question. As a result, her book is less interesting for formulating some grand theory of long-term creativity than it is for how it succinctly excavates the often hard-earned lessons learned from each artist's life. D'Erasmo also generously describes her own creative struggles. She's now in her early 60s and, like all the artists she admiringly profiles, her ability to survive doing creative work displays a combination of grit and adaptability. In all these lives, there's inspiration aplenty for anyone with the courage and determination to set out on the artist's way. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer