unnecessarily manifesto
Admittedly, I have repeatedly questioned the value and validity of what I set out to do. From a young age I had been fascinated by written words, but I have finally become disillusioned with them. An aspiring author, I have unwittingly found myself bound to a class where I squander my days trudging through sentences as long as paragraphs, scouring for words that offer any amount of value, looking for meaning where I do not see it. What is the purpose of this investment, whose only return is the mastery of impossible and outdated writing styles of at least a hundred years past? What am I doing here, searching for a deeper message behind the works of bygone authors, when it could all be a wild goose chase after all?
And must there be meaning and complexity in all that I do? I seek to delight with my words, is that not enough? It brings me pleasure, it arouses my interest, is that not enough? Must I always complain about society or express a profound observation or raise a courageous question? Need I only write in winding sentences, use uncommon vocabulary, aim to confuse?
Admit it, will I, that some of the greatest authors in history, whom I adore and hope to emulate, are boring, pointless, and unintelligible in our time. The work that I have done, the years that I have dedicated to read, know, and analyze them -- these are efforts that no one owes to me in return. Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens -- they have made a slave of me, and in this free world (though it may be to my advantage to do so) I can hardly claim to make slaves of anyone else. No one will understand unless I am clear, nor be interested unless I am interesting.
Admit it, will I, that art and literature are of no real service to the people. Live or die, I will make no difference as to whether somebody else lives or dies. And yet I stubbornly maintain that art and literature exist as the heart of a people. The Greeks and their epics, the Chinese and their ceramics, the French and their paintings, they were not remembered as a people for surviving. They were remembered and honored for their creative innovation. For, with every one that upholds society, there must be one that furthers civilization, because with every cherished life, there need also be a legacy.
And I, I want to surprise and captivate, to elicit tears and laughter and gasps of horror. Art for art’s sake: that is what I have set out to do. Experts and laymen, everyone and all: that is my audience. Beauty and simplicity are my commodities, and perhaps, my meaning.