Peter Turchi: The Pleasures of Difficulty (July 2010)

Peter Turchi explores how writing that is challenging engages the reader, offering greater fulfillment and pleasure than easy writing would. Turchi draws on fiction by Antonya Nelson, Charles D’Ambrosio, Michael Ondaatje, and Thomas Bernhard, as well as Mahler’s 5th Symphony and theories about successful video games, to consider how writers can effectively incorporate mystery and difficulty into their work.