WRITING – THE WRITER’S STANCE – NOVEL – ART
(2004, January)

WRITING:

Writing is a mysterious, passionate and yet most of the time an arduous adventure; that is why it is similar to love. Comprehending it is also like this inspiring main theme of literature: It cannot be taught but can be learned and it has almost innumerable definitions that change from one person to another. I prefer the one which can be summarized as ‘a strong desire to release and discharge arising from the ambitious attention the brain directs to itself,’ because the act of writing is done alone, with passion, in pain and most of the time – just like love – it does not have a happy ending. This provocative act we call writing sometimes arises from the longing we feel towards other lives and the dream of becoming someone different from us, and sometimes occurs as a form of looking for the godliness we cannot find in our lives in literature. Writing is also an effective way of having our sins forgiven and ensuring our spiritual purification. This is what we know for sure: Lives we cannot make into memories sooner or later compel themselves to be written down.

Writing should always reach a level of clarity even in the most complicated and abstruse emotions and it should bring up a desire to discover the mysteries of man’s intimate feelings. This is only possible through gaining an ability of confessing one’s self. However, the point to be careful about here is that we should determine what lies beneath this desire to release, discover or confess. Is it an persistent, genuine and stimulating drive embedded in the heart, or does only an intention of buying reputation that will soothe our ego feed the source of writing? This is the basic question to be asked.

If we have a careful look at the works of lasting writers, we will see that the source these writers feed on is usually pain. This is because suffering gives us the capability of sensing and understanding people, objects, situations – and most of all, ourselves. In fact, real literature comes into existence when the individual is in the phase of forming his/her personality by internalizing his/her painful memories after some severe trial-like experiences. The writer should at least have spent part of his/her life at Golgatha because the measure of the scales that  distinguish real writers from authors manqué – what makes us real – is pain. The writer should learn “to love the pain that arises from destruction and chaos just like Dostoyevsky. For some, writing means granting - even sacrificing - their lives to literature, whereas for some others it turns into a game or an effort of trying to get a prize. Yet, Nietzsche says, “Far from the market place and fame do all great and valuable things come into being.” Moreover,  Victor Hugo sees each and every literary act as a social act.

Writing, beyond anything, is a matter of attitude and point of view. That is why, one of the basic elements that determine the writer’s stance is how he/she sees beauty and truth. “Truth means the content of your knowledge is appropriate to its object. Beauty, however, is not a quality of knowledge but rather the predicate or the subject of the proposition that is made upon what is existent.” Still, if truth (realities) goes into the work of art, it creates an impression of beauty. However we may define it, what we need the most to write is a profound remorse that is experienced in solitude and that is not affected by the limitations of time because no matter what our standpoint is, the true God of the novelist is an idol carved out of remorse. It may be a tragic paradox that the coexistence of cruelty and mercy appears only in Homo sapiens but not in other living things, but this paradox forms a solid ground for the act of writing. And this is because the lasting – tragic – themes of literature are often the result of this paradox.

THE WRITER and THE WRITER’S STANCE:

Who are writers? What kind of people are they? We can answer these questions as follows: Real writers are born out of the nib of their pens, not of their mothers’ wombs. The first attribute of being an intellectual is to oppose. That is why a writer should subscribe to any kind of authority or political system. However, the independent writer cannot be free of his/her responsibilities: he/she has duties to be fulfilled towards mankind. This duty involves shedding light on the period of the time he/she lives in and also to be involved in it. Isn’t it the purpose of art (just like that of science, pure religion and philosophy) to be fairer and more enlightened in our search of balance and the things that don’t exist in life? The artist, who is responsible for throwing discrepancies and conflicts into high relief– or at least for not letting them be forgotten –, is the one that opens the gates of his ego to the sufferings of other beings. This is why, the most important element that makes a writer greater and deeper is to have that innate will and capability to blame himself/herself. An artist is, beyond anything else, someone who makes justice the God of his/her passions.

Some writers write in order to admire themselves rather than gaining admirers; yet some writers write to gain a future or an eternal life. The essence of some writers’ act of being a writer consists of nothing but the attractiveness of a person who annihilates him/herself in the excesses of dissipation. For some of us, art is an occupation that doesn’t seek benefits; yet some of us choose to be the artist who paints the human conditions that go unnoticed, or disregarded even when noticed.

The writer of these lines is among those who believe that art and artists should have something to say; among those who believe that the writer or the artist should have an innate  feeling of worship towards justice, should have his/her conscience next to his/her heart and that this conscience should consist of social, humane concerns. In other words, he is among those who think that a writer should love mankind, but not him/herself.

A writer can be considered mature only when he/she doesn’t pay attention either to the praises or the disparagements about him/her. How much do writers agree with what they have written? How much do they make their characters alike to themselves? We can answer these questions saying that good writers are the ones who grind themselves into small pieces on the very anvil of their own existences, and add them to the essential nature of their characters.

NOVEL:

What is a good novel? Above all, a good novel is a fixed opinion or a destructive question. These are the kinds of novels that are lasting pieces of art that have stood the test of time and their focus is, undoubtedly, man. A novel which doesn’t discover an unknown part of our existence, which doesn’t even intend to do such a thing or doesn’t try to underline the things that exist, is not a novel. In fact, Robinson Crusoe, which can be considered as one of the pioneers of the novel genre, gives us an idea of what the main theme of a novel should be: (Just like Odysseus which has been read for 3000 years) ‘Isolated human being looking for his destiny. . .’ Sartre says, “A bad novel is one that tries to be pleasing by flattering, whereas a good novel is a work of belief and one that is believed in.” A real writer is someone who banishes the easy way and never takes the reader into consideration while writing. We should never forget what Anais-nin says: “If an artist is great enough, he/she can devour everything.”

ART:

Coming to the characteristics of art: Art discovers, science proves. The path to creativity passes through rebellion and destructiveness, not conformity. Art is the greatest door that opens to revolt. The measure of real nobility can be found in neither the color of our blood nor in the virtues; the criterion is literature, art. It is only art that can carry mankind from the cruel kingdom of evil to becoming the noble master of goodness. In spite of all these, art and literature should never be exalted; and nor should they be sanctified by being wedged in moralist limitations. As Picasso states, “Art is never something virtuous,” and it is closer to evil rather than goodness, and to sins rather than merits. As a final remark, we can say that destiny is nothing but the hope of a bearable death. The curiosity of exploring the destiny and the position of our species on this planet: I guess that is what writing and literature are all about. We are told this by masterpieces that prove that our destinies – no matter how tragic they may be – are bearable.

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