The history of literature resembles a pendulum that sometimes swings towards the new and sometimes back towards the old. The first movement is preceded by boredom with the old forms, the old models and the old rules, while the second occurs after realizing that the new creation is worse than the old practice, which now seems as beautiful and rich as ever. In both impulses, there is something sincere and something unreasonable. Literature is always renewed and, if great, it is never created from scratch.
Tag: literature
Most of the Obstacles to Creation…
Most of the obstacles to creation are overcome the moment inertia is broken; from then on, the work is more about correcting, perfecting than actually creating—or so it seems, which is the same for the working mind. The movement, once started, gives a fluidity that induces, if not automates the sequence, making it absolutely easier to continue, compared to that dreadful beginning. It is therefore about forcing the start, so that it will be never allowed to be swallowed up by inertia.
After Setting Up an Efficient Creative Process…
After setting up an efficient creative process, what the creative professional must do immediately is find a way to give vent to their spontaneous mental manifestations, or rather, he must find a way to transform them mechanically into something artistically acceptable, so that he avoids not only losing them, but getting lost in the confusion of a myriad of imprecise and disconnected ideas, the sight of which will more easily lead him to paralysis than to action.
“Cosa odiosissima è il parlar molto di se”
It is true that, as Leopardi rightly noted, “cosa odiosissima è il parlar molto di se”. However, it cannot be denied that lyric poetry in the first person, in addition to the excellent rhyming possibilities provided by the verbs, achieves a degree of closeness between the lyrical self and the reader that is difficult to achieve in any other way. Whether or not there is identification between the two, there is something in this half-confessional tone that removes, at least apparently, some of the artificiality of the expression, making it more authentic, and therefore more powerful. Like Leopardi, it is good to avoid that unpleasant first person; like Leopardi, one must assume it for the sake of expression.