The Starving Artist: a Myth Reborn

I know certain friends of mine will be staunchly opposed to this, but Michel Houellebecq's essay "To Stay Alive: a Method" is absolutely the most jaw-droppingly amazing manifesto I've ever read for starving (read: suffering) artists of every stripe, to say nothing of poets/writers like him. (Houellebecq, if you'll recall, is currently the scourge of the French liberal literary establishment, author of controversial novels Platform and The Elementary Particles). Brutal, insidious, conflicted, sad: these words may tag such an era-defining statement. One of many great quotes:

"The truth is scandalous. But without it, nothing has any worth. An honest and naive vision of the world is already a masterpiece. Compared with this prerequisite, originality matters little. Do not preoccupy yourself with it. In any event, a certain originality will necessarily emerge from the sum of your defects. Of that with which you are concerned, simply say the truth; simply say the truth, neither more nor less.

You cannot love the truth and the world. But you have already chosen. The problem now is to adhere to this choice. I urge you to keep up your courage. Not that you have the least cause for hope. On the contrary, know that you will be very alone. Most people come to terms with life, or else they die. You are living suicides."