The task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us, to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man’s memory. That is our duty. If we don’t fulfill it, we feel unhappy. A writer or any artist has the sometimes joyful duty to transform all that into symbols. These symbols could be colors, forms or sounds. For a poet, the symbols are sounds and also words, fables, stories, poetry. The work of a poet never ends. It has nothing to do with working hours.
You are continuously receiving things from the external world. These must be transformed, and eventually will be transformed. This revelation can appear anytime. A poet never rests. He’s always working, even when he dreams.
Besides, the life of a writer, is a lonely one. You think you are alone, and as the years go by, if the stars are on your side, you may discover that you are at the center of a vast circle of invisible friends whom you will never get to know but who love you. And that is an immense reward.
Jorge Luis Borges
I don't remember commenting on your blog before, but I sometimes check it out. Glad to see that you've picked something understandable for these days, instead of cryptic.
ReplyDelete"If the stars are on your side" is the thing, isn't it? I remember I used to hang around the guys that did the Interzone SF magazine. They never wanted to publish any of my stories. But then, Interzone had to shut down because they didn't get enough readers. Who was wrong, me or the editors? I remember submitting a story and asking the guy who selected them afterwards what he thought was wrong with it. He said he expected something that showed my Spanish point of view (in science fiction?!?) and that he didn't see why one of the main characters was gay (living in Brighton?!?) I mean, it's hard to avoid the suspicion that the issue was them, not so much me.
Just seen the movie "The end we start from". Gordon White of Rune Soup is still not reviewing movies. How hard can it be for someone to do what they studied to do, for G's sake? Instead, he chose to collect every single conspiracy theory about covid, a subject he doesn't know a thing about. Like it was a harmless hobby. The bastard. Well, I've written my own review of the movie on IMDb. A boring one. I reckon realism is coming back with a vengeance. When your life is bloody uncertain, you want your fiction to leave little to the imagination, because your imagination is feverish enough as it is, thank you very much.
I admit sometimes I look back at a post and have no idea what I was attempting to communicate. But sometimes if I go back just one more time, there is clarity. When this happens it makes me believe someone else will be able to see it too (eventually). So if a post remains up it is because I believe it contains something of value.
ReplyDeleteThis blog/public journal is 12 years old now. If I ever write something resembling a novel, I think this blog will function as the footnotes ("The end we start from" indeed).
Thanks for reading and sharing my invisible friend.