Tonight, I read in Paula's journal that she was having trouble getting the old engine going on her memoir, and I was having some trouble snapping to attention on my own writing.
So I turned again to John Gardner for inspiration. I've written about John Gardner in this journal before. He's the writer whose Art of Fiction was a mainstay in my college writing program. He died in a motorcycle accident in 1982. When you look him up on Amazon, sadly, you find that most of his fiction is out of print. (Only Grendel continues to be read widely.) But his books on writing continue to sell well and inspire new writers all the time.
Tonight, I was reading Conversations with John Gardner, an excellent book edited by Allan Chavkin and published by the University Press of Mississippi. In the introduction, I ran into a quote that reminded me of something Vicky (My Incentive) and I were discussing in an IM conversation. Vicky and I were talking about how important books are to us, and Vicky wrote that books are important companions. I know many of us feel the same way. A book isn't just a way to pass time; a book can become a vehicle that transports us into a state of holiness.
What does this mean to us who want to write, then? What is our role as artists?
In addressing the importance of writing (art), Gardner said that art was the stuff his life was made of, and that his orientation to his art was "Messianic":
"It's made my life, and it made my life when I was a kid, when I was incapable of finding any other sustenance, any other thing to lean on, any other comfort during times of great unhappiness. Art has filled my life with joy and I want everybody to know the kind of joy I know--that's what Messianic means."
I can remember when I first realized I wanted to be this kind of writer. This realization drastically changed the way I wrote. It changed what I wrote about. It changed my purpose for writing, entirely.
There are other things I read in Conversations with John Gardner that struck me hard and gave me a creative boost, but it is 4:30 a.m. and I'm sleepy. But I will share them in the next day or two.
10 comments:
I'm looking forward to the next entries.
OK - get up out of bed - I want more!! What a hook - how shameless can you be??? :)))
I have to get that book - to add to the pile on my floor. A friend pointed out last night that I need more bookshelves. It doesn't do to leave our friends lying around in heaps.
Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
An actress once told me that she always wants to know what her character fears most. It tells her so much.
I would argue that a person's true love reveals the same. Most people refuse to admit that their actions reveal most about who they are. The subject that lights you up is what you love. Clearly, writing is your first love, Theresa. Would any other subject keep you up this early in the morning?
Theresa, perhaps you are a modern-day Arthur, searching to put together your own Round Table of Knights and create a Camelot of Words. Instead of the sword, your knights will all wield pens. Hmm. Who would be Sir Lancelot?
Perhaps the Camelot metaphor seems particularly apt because I've just finished reading T.H. White's "The Once and Future King."
Steven
http://journals.aol.com/stevendenlinger/DevelopingDreams/
"The fictional eye sees in, through, and around what is really there. "- Eudora Welty
Meaty stuff- Thanks for 4:30 AM reflection-
ggw07@aol.com
I know how busy you must be this weekend, getting ready for your trip later this week, but thank you for this. We've talked Gardner before and I must get my books down off the shelf and re-read. My experience of writing has been exactly as he explains...
Lovely entry...
~Lily
having lived and worked in batavia, new york for 10 years ... i came to know gardner personally a little. Prolix, yeah ... but unjustifiably forgotten now.
I remember struggling with Gardner when I was young; well worth it!
V
lovely... yes. judi
I just finished teaching Grendel for probably the last time.
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