In Russian, the phrase "gore vidal" means "he has seen grief". This is certainly an apt description of the great writer and philosopher who has for so long drunk deeply of all that life life has to offer and now, in his 84th year, occupies a most cynical place among America's literati. It's almost as if his idealism was dashed against the rocks in its infancy and only now, in its semi-aborted yet still-living form, is given full vent as he ever so understatedly pours out his personal grief in one of the most revealing interviews I've ever read.
At last, through this interview, I grasp an inkling of why so few of us become great artists whether its expression be literary, graphic or musical. With apologies to Irving Stone, one must ask "is the ecstasy worth the agony?" That said, I can now understand why we, as a people, so readily become "bovine souls" or even "sheeple" who would rather embrace the wolf than the shepherd. Alas, that is what happens when hope dies.
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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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2 comments:
Lately I have been asking myself if the notion that one must suffer -- for art, for salvation, for insight... for anything at all is a delusion. Surely we know creative geniuses who have suffered aplenty. We tend to gloss over and forget the ones who do not or did not. Maybe I will choose, for once, an ACHIEVABLE New Year's Resolution .. to be a Creative Voluptuary.
living well not only the best revenge...
whatever *that* means... but the highest
form of art. works for me.
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