'I Read With My Spine'
2-28-06 The Shock Of Actual Art
Vladimir Nabokov The Russian American novelist (1899-1977) said 'I read with my spine.' Mr. Nabokov also says in his lectures he considered all great novels to be Fairy Tales: Dickens, Jane Austen, Flaubert, James Joyce, Proust, Kafka---the whole works. He said when he felt that tingle in his spine he knew he had hit The Real Thing---the genuine Work of Art---the truly successful fairy tale.
Emily Dickinson the American poet (1830-1886) said much the same thing. She said she KNEW she was reading a poem when she experienced that ice cold shudder going up down her spine & felt the top of her head coming off. That's pretty strong language for the little red head from Amherst, Massachusetts who preferred to wear white. And who stuck all her poems in boxes & put them in the closet where they were discovered to be distinguished after her death. She only published 8 poems in her lifetime. Talk about a Futurist! She lived her life completely for the future of Poetry.
My third poignant quotation concerning The Ultimacy of The Creative Act comes from Kafka who wrote this: Art is the axe that smashes the frozen sea within us. Now that is pretty potent stuff.
I mention these utterly remarkable utterances by Masters of The Art they practiced because I live inside The World of The Creative Act. Every Artist worth a dime is in some sense Obsessed with CREATION. Come hell or high water The Creator is going to Create. Ecstasy, Anxiety or tedium itself: Everything is the stuff of Art to the authentic Creator. You will not find this Absolute Urge in academia with the most rare exceptions which (writing schools) essentially puts the writer in bedroom slippers & gives him or her a cup of tea & some crumpets & a reading list. (Of course you could be Lucky & fall in love in graduate school---that might save you.)
Charles Dickens went to school in London in the slums where as a kid his family was put in Debtor's prison & Charles was hired out to do slavish factory work. THAT was his elementary school. Dostoevski got shipped to Siberia where he did 4 years & at one time faced the firing squad before he was sent to the penitentiary.
Am I suggesting we regress to the 19th century so our artists can taste a little bitter Reality? No. There is plenty of Reality on Planet Earth, 2006 CE. But I am saying that you do not become an artist by sitting around looking into books & regurgitating history. Undissimulating art is not usually born in the library. Especially by design. If it did happen there it would be by Divine Intervention!
The extremity of these randomly selected quotes above reveals something about The Authentic Artistic Condition. Randall Jarrell the American poet once said a good poet is someone who gets hit by lightning. Get hit two or three times & we have a great poet.
I believe it is necessary for the genuine Artist to somehow eat & drink a certain steady amount of Solitude & Silence in order to hear The Universe & to SEE it, taste it, smell it & feel it with your fingers and skin. That great American poet e.e. cummings once wrote: 'lips are for kissing/ & to sing with.' Mr. Cummings kept the bud of youth throughout his entire career because he was a True Believer!
The business of The Creator I believe is to once more shock us out of our ongoing comas with the Miracle of Love's Irresistible shape & skin & The Beauty of The World.
I hope some of you are lucky enough to find the Sources of Inspiration that invite the Irresistible Experience into your life. Inspiration is no mere happenstance. One must be prepared to receive it.
I wish you the best, Dear Reader.
RLG
Vladimir Nabokov The Russian American novelist (1899-1977) said 'I read with my spine.' Mr. Nabokov also says in his lectures he considered all great novels to be Fairy Tales: Dickens, Jane Austen, Flaubert, James Joyce, Proust, Kafka---the whole works. He said when he felt that tingle in his spine he knew he had hit The Real Thing---the genuine Work of Art---the truly successful fairy tale.
Emily Dickinson the American poet (1830-1886) said much the same thing. She said she KNEW she was reading a poem when she experienced that ice cold shudder going up down her spine & felt the top of her head coming off. That's pretty strong language for the little red head from Amherst, Massachusetts who preferred to wear white. And who stuck all her poems in boxes & put them in the closet where they were discovered to be distinguished after her death. She only published 8 poems in her lifetime. Talk about a Futurist! She lived her life completely for the future of Poetry.
My third poignant quotation concerning The Ultimacy of The Creative Act comes from Kafka who wrote this: Art is the axe that smashes the frozen sea within us. Now that is pretty potent stuff.
I mention these utterly remarkable utterances by Masters of The Art they practiced because I live inside The World of The Creative Act. Every Artist worth a dime is in some sense Obsessed with CREATION. Come hell or high water The Creator is going to Create. Ecstasy, Anxiety or tedium itself: Everything is the stuff of Art to the authentic Creator. You will not find this Absolute Urge in academia with the most rare exceptions which (writing schools) essentially puts the writer in bedroom slippers & gives him or her a cup of tea & some crumpets & a reading list. (Of course you could be Lucky & fall in love in graduate school---that might save you.)
Charles Dickens went to school in London in the slums where as a kid his family was put in Debtor's prison & Charles was hired out to do slavish factory work. THAT was his elementary school. Dostoevski got shipped to Siberia where he did 4 years & at one time faced the firing squad before he was sent to the penitentiary.
Am I suggesting we regress to the 19th century so our artists can taste a little bitter Reality? No. There is plenty of Reality on Planet Earth, 2006 CE. But I am saying that you do not become an artist by sitting around looking into books & regurgitating history. Undissimulating art is not usually born in the library. Especially by design. If it did happen there it would be by Divine Intervention!
The extremity of these randomly selected quotes above reveals something about The Authentic Artistic Condition. Randall Jarrell the American poet once said a good poet is someone who gets hit by lightning. Get hit two or three times & we have a great poet.
I believe it is necessary for the genuine Artist to somehow eat & drink a certain steady amount of Solitude & Silence in order to hear The Universe & to SEE it, taste it, smell it & feel it with your fingers and skin. That great American poet e.e. cummings once wrote: 'lips are for kissing/ & to sing with.' Mr. Cummings kept the bud of youth throughout his entire career because he was a True Believer!
The business of The Creator I believe is to once more shock us out of our ongoing comas with the Miracle of Love's Irresistible shape & skin & The Beauty of The World.
I hope some of you are lucky enough to find the Sources of Inspiration that invite the Irresistible Experience into your life. Inspiration is no mere happenstance. One must be prepared to receive it.
I wish you the best, Dear Reader.
RLG
posted by rlg at 8:07 PM
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