I am in the final verses of another little volume of poems. In these nine or ten months of work, I am pleased to note that I have sat at the table only with a motivation similar to that of a Vigny, an Antero, a Leopardi. And as a result, the verses, all of them, came out heavy, totally devoid of that “grace” that Goethe spoke of. Or, at least, that is how it seems to me. I think it is unlikely, if not impossible, that I will ever submit myself to the extremely exhausting work of hunting for words to produce that “grace” that so delights. Even if a blessing falls into my bank account, even if I am in the best of moods, it operates something as if automated by habit: psychologically, sitting down to compose verses fulfills an almost religious sequence that fills my mind with a seriousness that repels the futile, the light, the “graceful”. If is to make verses, let them come out as the mirror of the state of someone’s soul that sees them as the last chance to express what pulses strongest in him. Let them come out disturbed, complex, unpleasant! And may they never look like the person who wrote them was having fun…
For the Beginning Artist, It Is Intimidating to Find Himself…
For the beginning artist, it is intimidating to find himself preceded by dozens of centuries and an incalculable number of other artists who have done what he only intends to do. If we add the critics and art theorists, we will have an infinite number of judgments, schools, definitions of what is or is not art, what is or is not good, what should or should not be done. In this, the one who is still struggling to find the expression of what he feels will find himself bombarded and will hardly risk the first step, it being more comfortable to silence his inner voice. The truth, however, is that the artist has to assume himself, and the sooner he does so, the better. All this immense past, which enchants and intimidates, must be used to the extent that it is useful to him, and should never be an obstacle to the expression of what he thinks is fair. It takes courage! And, moreover, personality to execute exactly what he wants.
The Difficult Thing in Art Is to Make Intelligent Use of It…
The difficult thing in art is to make intelligent use of the spontaneous manifestations that arise during the process, inserting them into the predefined structure without harming the whole. Often, the highest peaks of a work are the result of unexpected flashes of light that the author knew how to take advantage of. The whole, it is true, lacks order; and order is not made from a spark that suddenly springs up in the spirit. But the artist, if surprised by the adventitious idea, will do very well to transfer this surprise effect to his work. Art will win.
Ancient Philosophers…
Chamfort lines:
Ce que j’admire dans les anciens philosophes, c’est le désir de conformer leurs moeurs à leurs écrits : c’est ce que l’on remarque dans Platon, Théophraste et plusieurs autres. La morale-pratique était si bien la partie essentielle de leur philosophie, que plusieurs furent mis à la tête des écoles, sans avoir rien écrit : tels que Xénocrate, Polémon, Xentippe, etc. Socrate, sans avoir donné un seul ouvrage et sans avoir étudié aucune autre science que la morale, n’en fut pas moins le premier philosophe de son siècle.
Ah, ancient philosophers! Chamfort would be very sad to note the complete break with reality which, if it did not extinguish them in the West, made their appearance exceedingly difficult. Philosophy is doing today with “practical morality” what it does with all other themes: it is transforming it into an abstraction; it is wasting it as the foundation of a logical construction that is detached from the concrete. It is, in fact, the opposite movement. For this reason, it could not even be attributed to error; what happened was an absolute deviation of purpose. The désir of which Chamfort speaks no longer pulsates in the so-called Western philosophers who, certainly, would never see in a Socrates a similar one.