Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Orwell Said It Best
Putting aside the need to earn a living, I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose. They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are:
(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.
(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.
(iii) Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
(iv) Political purpose. — Using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
-George Orwell 1946
Putting aside the need to earn a living, I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose. They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are:
(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.
(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.
(iii) Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
(iv) Political purpose. — Using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
-George Orwell 1946
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Evolution
Anyone that has paid even the slightest attention to this blog has probably noticed a slow, (we’re talking Joseph Heller slow here), flowering. Having started out as a bare-bones, text only series of blurbs and tirades; this platform has evolved. The next step in this evolvement has occurred. I’m taken the plunge and started my own webpage: shameless self-promotion. Right now it’s a website without any definitive direction. I’m not really sure where I’m going with it. It could be a show-off forum for my creative endeavors. It could be a commercial site to hawk some product or service. ( I’m not overly opportunistic, but, now that I’m unemployed, it would be nice to make a little money for my efforts.) It could be a general synopsis of new and cool things on the net. After all, I do subscribe to some pretty gnarly websites. I have faith that the “powers that be” will lead me in the right direction. Stayed tuned.
Anyone that has paid even the slightest attention to this blog has probably noticed a slow, (we’re talking Joseph Heller slow here), flowering. Having started out as a bare-bones, text only series of blurbs and tirades; this platform has evolved. The next step in this evolvement has occurred. I’m taken the plunge and started my own webpage: shameless self-promotion. Right now it’s a website without any definitive direction. I’m not really sure where I’m going with it. It could be a show-off forum for my creative endeavors. It could be a commercial site to hawk some product or service. ( I’m not overly opportunistic, but, now that I’m unemployed, it would be nice to make a little money for my efforts.) It could be a general synopsis of new and cool things on the net. After all, I do subscribe to some pretty gnarly websites. I have faith that the “powers that be” will lead me in the right direction. Stayed tuned.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Monday, October 05, 2009
The Masses Are Asses
I’m often asked why I don’t go to church. Though this is America, and my right not to go to church is supposedly protected by the first amendment, I wish to explain my reasons. Perhaps this essay will quell the “Antichrist” allegations.
First of all, I’m not a big joiner of groups. I’m not a big fan of aggregate human behavior and it’s great, historical track record. By joining any organization, I am giving my blanket approval to all the activities engaged in by that association. Additionally, in any association there are people that you dislike. As a member of their faction, these people now think they’re your “buddy”. This includes every child molester, sheep abuser, and politician that wants to bond.
Secondly, I’ve read the entire Bible twice and am quite able to effectively research it on-line any time I wish. I don’t need someone that has read one chapter of it to give me their interpretation. Why would I go to an Algebra class to learn Calculus?
Thirdly, I don’t like the thinly disguised quid pro quo innuendos that people have made concerning my pack participation. In a previous blog entry I stated: “Any group of people that needs to trick, bribe, or in any way coerce people to join them is certainly not a group I wish to be part of.” My feelings have not changed.
Addendum 10-29-09:
Perhaps the biggest reason I don’t go to church is the remembrance of things past. From 1987 to 1992 I was sober. No alcohol. No drugs. Nothing! Hell, I even gave up cigarettes. I jogged, went to the gym several times a week, made a concerted effort not to swear and generally became the best I could possibly be. I did this without becoming an AA or born-again neo-cult member. That was the problem. Since I didn’t give “the victory to Jesus” or go to 52 AA meetings a week, I couldn’t possibly be clean and sober. I got the impression from some of these people that they actually wanted me to fail; that they would rather me drink and attend their do’s than stay sober on my own. I’m still somewhat jaded because of that.
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