Good stuff! Another interesting take from Arthur Koestler:
“A writer’s ambition should be to trade a hundred contemporary readers for ten readers in ten years, and for one reader in a hundred years. But the general atmosphere in this country directs the writer’s ambition into different channels . . . on immediate success here and now. Religion and art are the two completely non-competitive spheres of human striving and they both derive from the same source. But the social climate in this country has made the creation of art into an essentially competitive business. On the best-seller charts—this curse of American literary life—authors are rated like shares on the Stock Exchange.”
I agree with you about the near certainty that what anyone writes today will be soon forgotten. But that doesn't mean that what we write today can't or won't influence others today. And that's a separate privilege and pleasure.
Cem anos de solidão, narra um tempo secular; O apanhador no campo de centeiro, se passa num fim de semana. O tempo "intra", e o tempo "extra", e o tempo de maturação não são proporcionais entre si. Daí, que acreditar na inspiração ainda é válido. Porém, acho que o escritor atual escreve mais para se conhecer, do que ser conhecido. A escrita está sendo utilizada como terapia profunda. O discurso falado anda em descrédito. E isso ajuda a criar redes entre nós. Gera confiança, mútuo apoio.
Good stuff! Another interesting take from Arthur Koestler:
“A writer’s ambition should be to trade a hundred contemporary readers for ten readers in ten years, and for one reader in a hundred years. But the general atmosphere in this country directs the writer’s ambition into different channels . . . on immediate success here and now. Religion and art are the two completely non-competitive spheres of human striving and they both derive from the same source. But the social climate in this country has made the creation of art into an essentially competitive business. On the best-seller charts—this curse of American literary life—authors are rated like shares on the Stock Exchange.”
Intriguing essay; a Taoist writer’s version of Ecclesiastes.
Obrigado por escrever e interagir Charles. O tema é universal. Grande parte de nós, creio, não aceitamos a inexorabilidade da impermanência. Valeu!
Charles,
I agree with you about the near certainty that what anyone writes today will be soon forgotten. But that doesn't mean that what we write today can't or won't influence others today. And that's a separate privilege and pleasure.
I did terribly on the 100 years ago Nobel list!
Cem anos de solidão, narra um tempo secular; O apanhador no campo de centeiro, se passa num fim de semana. O tempo "intra", e o tempo "extra", e o tempo de maturação não são proporcionais entre si. Daí, que acreditar na inspiração ainda é válido. Porém, acho que o escritor atual escreve mais para se conhecer, do que ser conhecido. A escrita está sendo utilizada como terapia profunda. O discurso falado anda em descrédito. E isso ajuda a criar redes entre nós. Gera confiança, mútuo apoio.