"Rather, art involves an unlimited relationship with the future. So does love. So does politics. Language sometimes can give us the false sense that we have more control over the future than we really do. But even if we could succeed in fixing the future, would we really want to?"
I like how you're using memory & justice in surprising yet insightful ways.
This makes me think of "I want to do this [song, album, person, work] justice..." + "there's a statue buried in the marble", which get thrown around in discussion.
This idea of the vulnerability of stepping into the unknown, into a world beyond linear language, is such a core but under addressed part of creativity. Eleanor really emphasizes this to me as she guides me on my (oft angsty) creative journey: to create is to fundamentally step into what can't be known. In that place, the goal isn't to clutch for something concrete as fast as possible, but develop your own processes for flowing with the unknown as long as the work demands.
(Yes, all of my ideas come from Eleanor. I have about 2 novel ideas a year. And by novel I mean that midway through my having them I realize they actually came from a novel I read :P)
__
I'm struck also by the tension between the Mechanized, contractual world view & the unknown inherent to creativity. (Hi, Vishesh!)
Reading that, I think it sheds some light on a deep frustration I've had for several years: the whole "starving artist" stereotype & its use to deter folks from creative careers.
I think what people (often parents) are thinking is: "oh, this naive child, of course they'd love to be musician: it sounds romantic from the outside! But in reality the industry is brutal, near impossible to succeed in, & they'll end up being unable to pay the bills." In other words: this couldn't possibly work practically.
I think there's some wisdom there. Like, eating is important.
But I think it misses the point: the daunting challenge of a creative is not if/how they'll make it a career. It's how to know what "just" art is for you, & how to come to remember it, alone & with others (as you say). When we mix the idea of a "stable career" with the idea of learning to really serve the work & navigate the unknown, I think we start to make creativity about things like "grinding" or "producing".
Similar to what you say about the mainstream-ification of relationship ideas, I think the rise of the notion of a "creative economy" is both a great sign & also a troubling framework. Art becomes "content", artist "content creators". Creativity is now seen as a career (woohoo!) The problem is: creativity is now seen as a career (fiddlesticks!)
Squeezed by algorithms, I think it's easy to uncover what sells, & just execute more of that.
It's such a balance of showing up to the work but also remembering what you show up to is something mysterious & beyond your control. Thank you for helping us see it!
PS I couldn't help thinking of CS Lewis (who *definitely* read Plato) & his idea that we are "made for heaven", & that's why we're always feeling this wistfulness, this incompleteness on earth. He says that's why beauty makes us sad: we're remembering -- and then missing -- home.
I LOVE the connection to the common phrase, "to do something justice." I think you are right that the "justice" we refer to in that phrase is kind of Platonic!
Hmm... I feel positively stirred by what you are saying about "grinding" and the "creative class." I think you are right: the rhetoric around pursuing a career in the arts is kind of about "fun," right? Look at you, silly child, you think you can put food on the table by ~having fun~. But, we don't do the arts solely because they are fun -- I mean, they definitely are. But there's a different kind of itch, it's like asking if pursuing a lover is fun. On one hand, yes, we feel really alive and sure, we have some laughs sometimes... but more fundamentally we are more like obsessive hunters than children passing the time with pleasure. We want relief from something that isn't right with us. "Fun" is not quite the right word. (And of course, as you point out, neither is "content creation," which borrows its language from the business and advertising worlds.)
I love that. My friend J from college (whom I wrote about in the Brutal Beauty essay!) introduced me properly to C. S. Lewis's work. It's been very influential for me -- there's a whole thread of Christian writing that's about linking alienation back to our missing God, missing heaven. (G K Chesterton wrote too, right, about "the backs of things," how it feels like we are always seeing things from behind on earth, never from the front.) I really love this tradition, and it's SUCH an important counterpart to my reading in the leftist tradition, which ascribes the root cause of alienation to capitalism. I think capitalism DOES produce alienation, but I think we also have to consider whether that is the ONLY explanation for it (and I don't have the answer!).
my god this essay is magnificent ;u;
"Rather, art involves an unlimited relationship with the future. So does love. So does politics. Language sometimes can give us the false sense that we have more control over the future than we really do. But even if we could succeed in fixing the future, would we really want to?"
Thank you so much!!!
I like how you're using memory & justice in surprising yet insightful ways.
This makes me think of "I want to do this [song, album, person, work] justice..." + "there's a statue buried in the marble", which get thrown around in discussion.
This idea of the vulnerability of stepping into the unknown, into a world beyond linear language, is such a core but under addressed part of creativity. Eleanor really emphasizes this to me as she guides me on my (oft angsty) creative journey: to create is to fundamentally step into what can't be known. In that place, the goal isn't to clutch for something concrete as fast as possible, but develop your own processes for flowing with the unknown as long as the work demands.
(Yes, all of my ideas come from Eleanor. I have about 2 novel ideas a year. And by novel I mean that midway through my having them I realize they actually came from a novel I read :P)
__
I'm struck also by the tension between the Mechanized, contractual world view & the unknown inherent to creativity. (Hi, Vishesh!)
Reading that, I think it sheds some light on a deep frustration I've had for several years: the whole "starving artist" stereotype & its use to deter folks from creative careers.
I think what people (often parents) are thinking is: "oh, this naive child, of course they'd love to be musician: it sounds romantic from the outside! But in reality the industry is brutal, near impossible to succeed in, & they'll end up being unable to pay the bills." In other words: this couldn't possibly work practically.
I think there's some wisdom there. Like, eating is important.
But I think it misses the point: the daunting challenge of a creative is not if/how they'll make it a career. It's how to know what "just" art is for you, & how to come to remember it, alone & with others (as you say). When we mix the idea of a "stable career" with the idea of learning to really serve the work & navigate the unknown, I think we start to make creativity about things like "grinding" or "producing".
Similar to what you say about the mainstream-ification of relationship ideas, I think the rise of the notion of a "creative economy" is both a great sign & also a troubling framework. Art becomes "content", artist "content creators". Creativity is now seen as a career (woohoo!) The problem is: creativity is now seen as a career (fiddlesticks!)
Squeezed by algorithms, I think it's easy to uncover what sells, & just execute more of that.
It's such a balance of showing up to the work but also remembering what you show up to is something mysterious & beyond your control. Thank you for helping us see it!
PS I couldn't help thinking of CS Lewis (who *definitely* read Plato) & his idea that we are "made for heaven", & that's why we're always feeling this wistfulness, this incompleteness on earth. He says that's why beauty makes us sad: we're remembering -- and then missing -- home.
Thank you!
I LOVE the connection to the common phrase, "to do something justice." I think you are right that the "justice" we refer to in that phrase is kind of Platonic!
Hmm... I feel positively stirred by what you are saying about "grinding" and the "creative class." I think you are right: the rhetoric around pursuing a career in the arts is kind of about "fun," right? Look at you, silly child, you think you can put food on the table by ~having fun~. But, we don't do the arts solely because they are fun -- I mean, they definitely are. But there's a different kind of itch, it's like asking if pursuing a lover is fun. On one hand, yes, we feel really alive and sure, we have some laughs sometimes... but more fundamentally we are more like obsessive hunters than children passing the time with pleasure. We want relief from something that isn't right with us. "Fun" is not quite the right word. (And of course, as you point out, neither is "content creation," which borrows its language from the business and advertising worlds.)
I love that. My friend J from college (whom I wrote about in the Brutal Beauty essay!) introduced me properly to C. S. Lewis's work. It's been very influential for me -- there's a whole thread of Christian writing that's about linking alienation back to our missing God, missing heaven. (G K Chesterton wrote too, right, about "the backs of things," how it feels like we are always seeing things from behind on earth, never from the front.) I really love this tradition, and it's SUCH an important counterpart to my reading in the leftist tradition, which ascribes the root cause of alienation to capitalism. I think capitalism DOES produce alienation, but I think we also have to consider whether that is the ONLY explanation for it (and I don't have the answer!).