MANICHAEAN
07-30-2010, 10:20 AM
When Andre Gide wrote this book in 1897 he was suffering from TB.
It became an appeal to the pleasures of life that he came so near to losing: travel, touch, hearing, smell and sight. In fact he wrote in the preface regarding his work; "there is the exuberance of someone to whom life is precious because he has been on the point of losing it." He concluded with; "May my book teach you to care more for yourself than for it, and then more for all the rest than for yourself."
This mental connection regarding Gide arose from some of the recent threads I've been reading on "writers block" posted on Lit Net. Not that I'm promoting serious illness to attain inspiration.
But then so many writers have either drawn on the rough times or dark nights of the soul to sustain their writing. Others have actively and consciously gone out and exposed themselves to potentially hazardous situations /environments. Hemingway, as most of you are aware, was an ambulance driver in Italy during the war. Graham Greene used to walk the streets of London during the Blitz. For others there is an intermediate zone, as in the later writings of John Le Carre. For him its travel. A new country is like a new woman in your life. There to be explored.
So for those of you on Lit Net who write, either professionally or otherwise, I would be interested to know where you get your ideas from. Is it from existing literature, reflection in front of a computer screen? Or would you / do you go beyond your routines? I read a quote once, "Writing is a somewhat bloodless substitute for life", but personally I find that an extreme view.
It became an appeal to the pleasures of life that he came so near to losing: travel, touch, hearing, smell and sight. In fact he wrote in the preface regarding his work; "there is the exuberance of someone to whom life is precious because he has been on the point of losing it." He concluded with; "May my book teach you to care more for yourself than for it, and then more for all the rest than for yourself."
This mental connection regarding Gide arose from some of the recent threads I've been reading on "writers block" posted on Lit Net. Not that I'm promoting serious illness to attain inspiration.
But then so many writers have either drawn on the rough times or dark nights of the soul to sustain their writing. Others have actively and consciously gone out and exposed themselves to potentially hazardous situations /environments. Hemingway, as most of you are aware, was an ambulance driver in Italy during the war. Graham Greene used to walk the streets of London during the Blitz. For others there is an intermediate zone, as in the later writings of John Le Carre. For him its travel. A new country is like a new woman in your life. There to be explored.
So for those of you on Lit Net who write, either professionally or otherwise, I would be interested to know where you get your ideas from. Is it from existing literature, reflection in front of a computer screen? Or would you / do you go beyond your routines? I read a quote once, "Writing is a somewhat bloodless substitute for life", but personally I find that an extreme view.