Re: JDS in the Clouds
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@hotpop.com)
Sat, 06 Nov 1999 20:28:58 +1100
citycabn wrote:
> However, am not sure RMR adjective is correct. Would opt for something
more
> along the lines of "icy". RMR did not care for either his own child
> (wouldn't attend her wedding for fear of missing a poem) or his readers.
> Auden's line " the Santa Claus of loneliness" and the young poet letters
and
> the early mushy poems of Book of Pictures and the mushier Stories of God
and
> The Cornet have misled the reading public re the true nature of "this
> bastard Rilke".
Now, this is a position on art I have been thinking about a lot lately,
prompted by a book I am reading called `Stravinsky's Lunch' by Drusilla
Modjeska. It's an Australian book, about two female artists born around the
same time, and whose lives ran parallel until one married and moved
overseas, and the other became a recluse.
The title derives from an anecdote the author heard about Stravinsky.
Apparently, while he was eating lunch with his family, no one was allowed
to utter one sound in fear of ruining his train of thought. The anecdote
was spoken as an example of the fact that the bruised egos of a couple of
squealing kids are well worth a `Rites of Spring' but came to the author to
symbolise something completely different: the fact that the Art of the man
was something imposed upon the women and children.
Now, the idea of not attending my own child's wedding is pretty repugnant
to me. Once I wrote a play in four days so I could spend time with a loved
one and the play actually came out better as a result. If a story dies,
well, the next one will be stronger as a result. I even used to write in
twos, letting the stronger project feed off the weaker one until it was
abandoned. I figure my deal as a writer is that it should be a 50-50 split
between writing and living. Or else, you have nothing to write about!
Simple as that, and even simpler to forget sometimes. I wonder in the same
`breath' how actors in Hollywood with 90 room houses could ever aspire to
playing `real' people in movies, and how a writer who has barely ventured
out in 35 years can likewise write about `real' people.
Camille
verona_beach@hotpop.com