A very intelligent friend of mine once asked me this question:
Have you ever noticed that the truly classic works of music, film, poetry, literature and theatre - are mostly actually quite sad? They speak of some sorrow like about broken love, death, and about problems that cannot be solved (war, hunger, inequality, etc.)
The greatest works of the most creative minds of the world are mostly about pain and suffering and at best, they evoke bittersweet feelings. Normally, the great works put me to tears.
The more joyous creative offerings we consume are considered by most critics as less deep and meaningful. Why do you think that it is the case that these artists all seem to belong to the “Cult of suffering”?
A possible response - see what you all think:
The suffering issue is one that hundreds of essays are written about , so, OK –I am bringing “Coals to Newcastle ” but I”ll take a stab at it –why not?
In every language and culture the truly gifted writers and poets tend to speak about pain, loss and suffering a great deal.
I think there may be four general reasons for this:
I. Great writing comes from being deeply moved. We dwell on pain and loss much more, and we feel it much more deeply than happiness. I don't remember almost any of my good presentations, but the one that bombed; it still hurts years later.
Human beings -perhaps foolishly- believe that they are entitled to be happy so they don't write poetry and sing songs about
"Yahoo! I had breakfast today",
"Yippee! I still have a job"
"Wunderbar! -my wife is till here!"
We expect those things. We don't expect the bad and sad things and they therefore move us far deeper and with far greater emotion than the good we accustom ourselves to, so we make great poetry, and sing sad but beautiful songs when we are hungry, poor or our wife leaves us.
The only general exception to this rule, is falling in love, which we do feel deeply, which is why so much poetry and music that are somewhat upbeat positive, tend to be talking about love. Of course - from a literary standpoint, love earlier typically leads to more pain later, so I guess it all works out in the end…
II. Joy is its own reward; it doesn’t need to be transformed.
To make something purposeful and meaningful out of suffering it needs to be made into art and that somehow helps.
Isn't that how most folk music starts? The shepherd has his sheep eaten by the wolves or his love leaves him to go live in the village with the rich, fat baker, so he sits at his campfire, takes out his flute and makes up a mournful song that somehow makes him feel better.
III. Great artists see life from very different perspectives than do most of us, hence they are lonely. Also, the same genetic gifts that confer genius almost always seem to confer a certain depression and madness, even.
You are right -the happy tra-la-la poetry, literature and songs are almost always produced by second rate artists .
This question of the “Cult of suffering” is also about the ambitions and aspirations of the artists themselves: A good artist is never satisfied with herself -she is always pushing to greater heights. If you can never get to where you want to go and are trying so hard, this is a cause of sadness, also
IV. The most obvious fact about us is our mortality. If we ever stop to think we realize how random and cruel life can be. We see that life is such a fragile thread, such a tender flower. Every moment we age and move towards mortality, we just try to block out . Life is a gift that needs so much constant care....
Anyone who thinks about life -like serious artists do is forced to wrestle with mortality and the randomness of life. I think this may be part of the reason Tolstoy became much more religious towards the end of his life. Most artists express this feeling and need though "artistic suffering".
A very intelligent friend of mine once asked me this question:
Have you ever noticed that the truly classic works of music, film, poetry, literature and theatre - are mostly actually quite sad? They speak of some sorrow like about broken love, death, and about problems that cannot be solved (war, hunger, inequality, etc.)
The greatest works of the most creative minds of the world are mostly about pain and suffering and at best, they evoke bittersweet feelings. Normally, the great works put me to tears.
The more joyous creative offerings we consume are considered by most critics as less deep and meaningful. Why do you think that it is the case that these artists all seem to belong to the “Cult of suffering”?
A possible response - see what you all think:
The suffering issue is one that hundreds of essays are written about , so, OK –I am bringing “Coals to
In every language and culture the truly gifted writers and poets tend to speak about pain, loss and suffering a great deal.
I think there may be four general reasons for this:
I. Great writing comes from being deeply moved. We dwell on pain and loss much more, and we feel it much more deeply than happiness. I don't remember almost any of my good presentations, but the one that bombed; it still hurts years later.
Human beings -perhaps foolishly- believe that they are entitled to be happy so they don't write poetry and sing songs about
"Yahoo! I had breakfast today",
"Yippee! I still have a job"
"Wunderbar! -my wife is till here!"
We expect those things. We don't expect the bad and sad things and they therefore move us far deeper and with far greater emotion than the good we accustom ourselves to, so we make great poetry, and sing sad but beautiful songs when we are hungry, poor or our wife leaves us.
The only general exception to this rule, is falling in love, which we do feel deeply, which is why so much poetry and music that are somewhat upbeat positive, tend to be talking about love. Of course - from a literary standpoint, love earlier typically leads to more pain later, so I guess it all works out in the end…
II. Joy is its own reward; it doesn’t need to be transformed.
To make something purposeful and meaningful out of suffering it needs to be made into art and that somehow helps.
Isn't that how most folk music starts? The shepherd has his sheep eaten by the wolves or his love leaves him to go live in the village with the rich, fat baker, so he sits at his campfire, takes out his flute and makes up a mournful song that somehow makes him feel better.
III. Great artists see life from very different perspectives than do most of us, hence they are lonely. Also, the same genetic gifts that confer genius almost always seem to confer a certain depression and madness, even.
You are right -the happy tra-la-la poetry, literature and songs are almost always produced by second rate artists .
This question of the “Cult of suffering” is also about the ambitions and aspirations of the artists themselves: A good artist is never satisfied with herself -she is always pushing to greater heights. If you can never get to where you want to go and are trying so hard, this is a cause of sadness, also
IV. The most obvious fact about us is our mortality. If we ever stop to think we realize how random and cruel life can be. We see that life is such a fragile thread, such a tender flower. Every moment we age and move towards mortality, we just try to block out . Life is a gift that needs so much constant care....
Anyone who thinks about life -like serious artists do is forced to wrestle with mortality and the randomness of life. I think this may be part of the reason Tolstoy became much more religious towards the end of his life. Most artists express this feeling and need though "artistic suffering".
