Comments on: writing: how much do writers like doing it?

By: jes

jes — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:21:36 +0000

Banville (via Beckett) has a nice way of putting things with his “all one can hope to do is ‘fail better’” – and that’s a beautiful Irish bit of humor with the dentist at the end.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:41:02 +0000

Oh, dear Hari Kunzru, I am feeling more than “disappointment that this finite collection of words is all that remains of [my] infinitely rich idea.”

Disappointment is an understatement. Self-loathing and despair, perhaps more accurate…

By: jenni

jenni — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:34:31 +0000

Hari, Geoff, and Julie look pretty happy; the rest are just furious! I also liked that earlier post about Gary Shteyngart’s take on the hardships of writing a novel. I related to the killer combo of boredom and stress. Best to be funny when talking about how miserable it makes you.

By: astameshkin

astameshkin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:48:54 +0000

Preeta – no “sorry” required, and never hesitate to forward any links to me. I’m usually dreadfully behind on Google Reader.

I’m trying to decide if I’m more annoyed by Will Self’s response (I mistrust such perpetual glee) or by Toibin’s (Hooey to say taking pleasure from doing something well is narcissistic — yet I see his point that we’re not required to enjoy our neuroses.) What’s most obnoxious is the judgment implicit in both such responses — that if your pen isn’t moved by utter joy or obsessed misery, you’re an inferior sort of scribe.

By: Preeta Samarasan

Preeta Samarasan — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:06:30 +0000

Oh, I didn’t realise you already had this up — sorry for forwarding it to you!

I generally find both extremes of the does-writing-make-you-happy debate pretty annoying. I’m willing to concede that the extremes MUST be true for some people, but I still find it annoying to hear those people expound upon either the unremitting misery that writing entails or the spontaneous, playing-in-mud joy that it brings to their lives. Like you, I most identify with Hari Kunzru’s relationship to his work, though Joyce Carol Oates’s was also fresh and interesting to read. I’m slightly shocked by Amit Chaudhuri’s fantasy of being a corporate worker — I mean, really?!? I am thankful EVERY SINGLE DAY that I’m not one. But more horrifying still is Colm Toibin’s take. Pleasure is not the same as narcissism. And what’s up with an Irishman disapproving of pleasure?!? It sounds positively puritan.