Friday, February 22, 2008

Art and my doomedness

I have long been aware (I have only pursued writing for seven years, may I say long ow?) that fantasy is not a serious thing, that romanticism is a silly and trivial pursuit and that no honest and hardworking individual will partake in such things. I find this a troublesome and belittling idea but sadly any attempt to break free of it materialises in a verbal attack on some other form.

My original solution to this problem was to declare that what I did was not art. I did not know what it was, but concluded that it existed (like myself) solely to make people who encountered it happy. The trouble is that existing solely to amuse others is a rather draining activity, and being the caring creator that I am I did not particularly wish it upon what I created. After a thought I did not wish it on myself either. But that is not the problem, the problem is far simplier, it is that in rebelling against the idea of the artist. I tend to characterize artists in a rather unfair light, as a reactionaries and who desires more to make some important and relevant point then to tell a story. The trouble is in claiming not to be an artist I AM reactionary.

The second trouble I have with the idea of fantasy as silly and irreverant it that the recommended opposite is in itself an idea. The honest and hardworking artist may exist, but they are partaking in that ideal. Is it so strange to write in a manner which allows us to give those ideas flesh and form in every way we can?

2 comments:

Conda Douglas said...

This reminds me of the argument between "artists" and "craftsman". For example, in my experience, jewelers who sell their designs are artists, jewelers who do not are craftsman. Fantasy is not serious, but does that make it "not art"?

And what about Mark Twain, the newspaper humorist and children's book writer, who wrote one of the great American novels (which was a sequel to a children's book).

Where and how can we really draw these distinctions?

jesse said...

Oh! I suppose it is. Thank you.

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