Saturday, 21 January 2012

Is the writer, as an artist, special and if so, how?

'As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times. The best outline I ever made, or anyway the prettiest one, was on the back of a roll of wallpaper.'
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5.


Naturally, there is a copious amount of esteemed and inspirational critics that may attempt to explain why a writer is special. Perhaps the fact that most people at some point in their life want to record their emotions and experiences, however some do not attempt this, no matter how much they desire to do so. Perhaps we all wish to write in order to leave a mark of our own on the planet that we would otherwise be unable to accomplish through any outrageous or dangerous achievement, and yet would be remembered for. A writer is special through the way that they write, and the fact that they write and express themselves through writing in the first place. Nevertheless, it is evermore difficult to begin to explain how a writer is special.
The term writer itself appears to be an impossibly vast notion. There are travel writers, novelists, biographers and the like, but there are also writers of video game scripts, catalogues, greeting cards or sermons. Are they just as special, important and artistic as a billionaire who made their fortune through a collection of best-selling romance novels? I find the most fascinating writers to be those who are wonderful but barely established, similarly the anonymous writers, and mostly the writers who want to achieve something within their work that is so significant that one can barely believe they have been able to record something of such magnificence. The reason for this is almost irrelevant in this case, but how they do it, and the way they do it, is possibly the most inspiring attribute of a writer. A writer is special if they can form the connection with the reader, whether the reader is expecting the connection or not. As an art form, literature and writing is arguably just as unlimited and expressive as paintings or sculptures, therefore a writer is special because they can reach no boundaries with a reader's anticipation.
I have most recently read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, and to my surprise I have found my new favourite novel. Perhaps not my new favourite novel of all-time, I do think I am still waiting to discover that particular item, but a book that all the adjectives in the world could not describe the profound satisfaction I felt at the turn of the last page, and the inspiring nature of the author himself, despite his adamant remarks that the book really 'is a failure', (part of his charm, I believe). But is a book ever a failure entirely? A writer is special, just like an artist is, because it is unlikely that any piece is admonished by everyone; the most offensive of writing could be appreciated by someone, even if it is the author themselves, however bonkers they truly are.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting question regarding whether a book ever fails completely. (I have three half-finished manuscripts in my desk drawer screaming 'yes!')

    However, if you get to the point where your book has been accepted for publication and printed, then (unless you run a publishing company for a day job) at least one other person saw the quality of what was written and 'got it' enough to push it through to publication.

    So it might be a failure for the other 99.99999% of the population, but somebody else saw something of value within that text.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I see what you mean; if a book has been published I suppose it automatically has a form of appreciation. However even some unpublished works (I am more than curious about those half-finished manuscripts!) can be intriguing even if it is only the writer who thinks so :)

      Delete
  2. I also think it's interesting that you consider the relative 'artistic' credentials of writers working in less 'literary' contexts. Are some types of writing more worthy/important/skilled than others? That would be an interesting discussion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am glad you can see where I was going with this point :) Yes, although there are literary forms that have more readership than others, I do believe there are artistic elements in most. This is also dependent on specific style; within a literary form such as the novel there are genres and categories that may be more significant than others. I appreciate this is a very broad topic; I found it hard not to go into more detail!

      Delete