So Are You A Writing Snob?

Recently I was reading a review by an author who took ten years to write it.  He is now successful in HIS sense of the word.  He writes books, travels with his wife and makes money.  He isn't famous and he hasn't written any work that will stand the tests of time most likely (or at least not yet!), however he is doing what he wants and met his own goals, and all I can say is good on him!

I have been making art since I was very young learning I could draw and draw well, at the age of 4.  Remember it like it was yesterday it was such a pivotal point in my life.  Another pivotal point was in grade 8 in high school when I read an article about the politics of art.  It broke my heart.  My rose coloured glasses concerning the art world fell off!  It was a clear, concise and accurate article about a topic I had not considered:  What makes art, art?  What makes it renown?  What makes the artist famous?

I was five credits short of an art history minor when I got my fine art degree because I wanted to see if the article was accurate. I wanted to look at the placement of art through-out the ages and see if it did indeed look like the current placement of art in the world, was more than just the fact it was good.

There are two extremes I have found in the world of art and all that which runs in between.  On the one side you have those who are educated in the world of art:  By this I mean have an art background.  They understand the principals of the drips and lines of modern art in a way that those with no education do not.

In between those, you have the buyers and lovers of art.  Those who have the means to buy art or show art.  Usually large gallery owners also have education in art, while buyers can be self taught.  Nothing wrong with either.  Just saying.  And then you have the other side where you have the every day Joe who buys art not as an investment or to support (or make) an artist, but who know what they like.  These are often the people of have no use for abstract art or any art they do not understand.  They are not snobs, they just have their own opinions. They don't feel a need to pay thousands of dollars, and can buy at Walmart if need be.  Hand made is not an element they have been educated or exposed to and they don't care, only that they like it.

There was a brilliant man; an artist, intellectual, writer, chess master, etc who really turned the art world of his era on it's ear getting those buying in the art world, and those making art, to stop and think.  His name was Michael Duchamp.  He was born in France but immigrated to the United States in the 1950s.  To sum up something that really cannot be summed up, he pointed out (among SOO many other things!) that in the right setting, anything can be considered art.  He did a famous piece of sculpture called Fountain.  This "anti-art as it was dubbed, was a statement about how if you want, you can take anything (including a men's urinal) and stick it in the right location such as an art show, and it will be called art. And it worked.  He was a fascinating man and had an amazing life;he saw that the market was dictating the art as much as the art was dictating the market. If you have ever gone to an art show and watched an artist trying to make it share the ideas about his/her piece, then you have to admit, some deserve the golden shovel award as do some who go on and on another a painting when really you know, it is all mumbo jumbo...Emperor's New Clothes indeed!

And I think the same can be said of writing.  It cannot be helped.  There are those who love to know every detail about their craft of writing and some who just want to write.  Not that there is no bettering of their work, only that they don't want to spend a lifetime learning about other writers and then unlearning their influences.  And if you  go that route, your a hack! There are those that judge because you are a POD published author, or that your prolific, or you write in an unworthy genre... It seems sometimes even if you have a PDH in literature and manage to sell books and become successful, your still labelled a hack!  That is what I call a snob.  Someone who has notions of what makes art, art, and what makes writing, real writing.  I am sure such a mentality as those who raved about a urinal in a art exhibit would also rave about a boring and useless book, if promoted by the right person...these days, such as Oprah.  Don't get me wrong, I think Oprah is an amazing woman and I think she is as smart as they come, however does she have a degree in literature?  Does she still have an influence on the best seller's list?  You bet ya!  Does this mean it is wrong?  OF course not!  Just as it isn't wrong to have someone rave about a painting someone else thinks is a waste of space.

My point being, to all literary or art snobs out there, that who think artists need to suffer or be poor, or who have to write literary or other masterpieces that survive the ages, aren't looking at the bigger picture at all!  Art of any kind has a place in the world and not just the ART world of the educated and elite.  It belongs with anyone who has eyes to see, or read and who has an opinion.

I have my own goals of why I write that are personal to me, just as any author or writer does, and art critics who are limited in vision, or are snobs, have no business labelling are attempting to put down those who do not fit their limited, albeit sometimes educated ideology of what is "good" art. I am sure through Agatha Christie's life she had her share of literary snobs who pooh-poohed or put down her work, but what name do we remember?  Some critic or Agatha Christie?

If you want to spend your life writing that literary masterpiece, then fine do so, however if you see someone else producing tons of books, selling like mad and making a decent living, don't go putting them down.  They chose a different path, and a different audience.  And there is NOTHING, as far as my way of thinking goes, that is wrong with that!