the kindlings

The following sums up more eloquently than I ever could why I maintain that the artist must never be motivated, MERELY, by money. The vineyard of the artist is the culture and his vocation, as John Paul said in his Letter to Artists, is beauty. I'm not saying we're here to reform but we're not here simply to entertain either - if we consider ourselves artists. I believe there's a place for simple entertainment. Eudora Welty wrote an essay considering whether the artist ought to be in the business of reforming society at all. I don't know the title or where or when it appeared but if I find it I'll share it with the Kindling. Here's the quote:

"The drama of contemporary culture is the lack of interiority, the absence of contemplation. Without interiority culture has no content; it is like a body that has not yet found its soul. What can humanity do without interiority? Unfortunately, we know the answer very well. When the contemplative spirit is missing, life is not protected and all that is human is denigrated. Without interiority, modern man puts his own integrity at risk." Pope John Paul II, Madrid, 3 May 2003.

My own view is that the artist has some degree of responsibility, and a moral one at that, to help bring man into that place of interiority. This can be achieved on a grand scale such as Lord of the Rings or on a very simple one like the film Once. Both works put us in touch with what is essentially human. And when we've come in contact with what is essentially human the heart can then be opened up to what is suprahuman, or divine. I suppose the main question for each of us is: What kind of writer am I called to be?

That is, of course, assuming we are called to such an impractical endeavor. If so, then we must first ensure that we ourselves do not suffer this lack of interiority.