more on the Starving Artist
I should clarify: Houellebecq isn't necessarily advocating the Romantic Artist stereotype. His aim is the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, not so much the expression of the artist's wonderful ego per say. He sees the Artist as a friend of suffering, who uses suffering--the world's--as his primary material, wrestling with the impossible angles of pragmatic existence and his own apathy in order to get his truth/clarity out into the world. Having said that, Houellebecq's whole schtick seems deeply, heroically self-destructive (he is French, after all), his books often beguile more than they embolden or inspire. but damn are they good.
posted by Paul S. at
2:44 PM
2 Comments:
Initial reactions:
Great manifesto. Pretty existentialist.
Where's the 'starving' part? Maybe 'starving for poetic ravishment', but not the 'starving' that I've railed against, not by a longshot. Just saying that 'destitute' living can help the artistic process doesn't mean it actually does. This is the part of the essay that is quite romantic.
Yet:
I like the idea that poets are parasites -- the poets I know are -- and I like the idea that some of them can aspire to being 'sacred parasites'.
I like the idea that the paths of the poet and the philosopher are different.
I like the idea that "Poetry is not a reworking of language, not essentially. Words are the responsibility of society as a whole."
yes, not so starving, hence my follow-up. glad you got some use out of it!
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