The Humble Humanist
  • Home
  • the humble Humanist links
  • Where the Rubber Meets the Road
  • Contact the humble Humanist
  • Forum...Say It Here
  • RSS Feed Reader
  • Link Page

Writing, Pain and Frankenstein's Monster

9/14/2012

2 Comments

 
"I do find writing a very painful process. I never understand writers who say it's enjoyable."  
-Tom Wolfe

'A very painful process' - not quite sure what that means. Is writing really painful? Does it have to be in order to be good, be authentic? It's difficult, sometimes ideas and the right words are hard to come by, but I don't find pain in that kind of difficulty. So far I have scribbled 9 pages in a notebook, restarted this post 6 times and still don't have a handle on what I want to say, but this is not a painful process. In fact it is rather enjoyable. Thinking about what to say, how to say it, searching for inspiration, it's a nice conversation I am having with myself and all the authors I look to for help. When (if) I finally do hit on the right combination it is exhilarating, like the spark in Frankenstein's monster "It is alive!".

I am curious why so many writers feel pain, seem to require it. I can understand what John Gardner means when he says,"Art begins in a wound ...".The wound opens the door for pathos, empathy, compassion, emotional maturity, curiosity about the human condition.  But the wound is not the Art, if anything Art is a healing balm for wounds. In that sense pain does seem a requirement to be fully human, much less a writer.

Where does the pain come from? It is real, not imagined by strange folk who claim the title 'writer'. It is not always and only caused by writing about pain. I have written poems about some very personal loses and they did not cause me to feel 'pain' but something more akin to longing and even a sense of release/relief. Graham Greene challenges us to write about happiness, "Pain is an easy write. In pain we're all happily individual. But what can one write about happiness?" Is there angst in a story about happiness? Well it might at least cause some doubt about one's ability to write, and I don't have to tell you how painful that can be.

What is it about writing that can bring someone like to Styron to say, "... writing is hell.", or Orwell to compare it to "... a long bout of some painful illness.", or Katherine Anne Porter to beat herself in the head each morning just to get started.  One can find any number of quotes about writing and pain but a good explanation escapes me, there is still something fuzzy about the concept for me. I do not feel pain when I write, which might make me less than Deep. I can be okay with that, as long as I can tell the difference between shallow and Deep, I may keep from making a great flapping jackass of myself. Also, I don't feel particularly deprived by the lack of pain, considering where I am at in my little quest to pen the perfect poem pain is the least of my problems.

It seems to me that writing is a lot like fire was to Frankenstein's monster, a nice little light in the dark, but painful to touch.

That's all I have for now.

                                                      *****

John Gardner's full quote because it is so beautiful ...

“Art begins in a wound, an imperfection—a wound inherent in the nature of life itself—and is an attempt either to learn to live with the wound or to heal it. It is the pain of the wound which impels the artist to do his work, and it is the universality of woundedness in the human condition which makes the work of art significant as medicine or distraction.” 

John Gardner 



2 Comments
ann link
9/14/2012 01:41:14 pm

for me, the most painful part of writing is the authenticity...how to be honest? how to figure out what is true? it's not my voice i'm concerned about - it's how to tell the truth, particularly when i'm making stuff up. it's how not to be a phoney. it's how not to sound contrived. it's how to write something worthy of the eyes of people who live this crazy life every day...because i don't feel like an artist, really - maybe more like an artisan...i'd like to make something people can put to use...not something to be stared at in a museum. that's something that always strikes me about what you write. it's not just for reading...it's for living. it's for feeling. writing for me is wonderful, and sometimes we fly...most often, though, it's like those awkward moments running through a park on a day not quite windy enough to make our kites fly, endeavoring nevertheless to get the sons of bitches to soar. can't stop running.

Reply
ron
9/15/2012 07:04:36 am

yeah honesty is, for me, the most important quality a writer can possess. i worry with each piece i write if the 'sound' is contrived, has a false ring to it. i like your sense of writing like an artisan, i think it might help define something about writing that i could not find a word for ... and now i have one, thanks.

i am smiling as i read your kite analogy ... it makes me want to run into the wind.

ron

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Editorial Board
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    December 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    March 2011
    November 2009
    October 2009


    RSS Feed

    Share

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    poetry on the run

Proudly powered by Weebly