The Independence at Stake

I think of these organized literary movements, these attempts to innovate conjointly, these collusions that resulted in magazines and the like, these personal relationships founded on a supposed artistic affinity… I cannot help but conclude that the greatest blessing that can befall an artist is to never meet a single person inclined toward his art. It is the independence that is at stake; full, inviolable independence. It is to create as if no one could ever discover creation, it is to open oneself without embarrassment, without the possibility of others conjecturing unpleasant correlations, it is to never have to hear a friendly compliment and then have to reciprocate it. God, how ungrateful I have always been! Thank you, thank you very much!