5 comments about Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art.

1. The advice in this book is stellar. If you are a real artist, you will recognize your own voice, doubts and desires.



2. another distillation of the salient points of julia cameron's The Artist's Way, this is a good book for anyone who's not going to read any of the others. a primer of sorts, this rilke rip off is inspirational in it's "teachy" way...julia is still julia, and the poetry and accidental wisdom of the rilke "letters to a young poet" is far superior. still, they are two different things, books, texts and neither benefits from any confusing comparison.
   
   cameron continues, predictably, to hold up the morning pages, artist's date and weekly walk as tenants of her faith. she continues to offer insight from her personal and professional experience. there is not much that is new here--but there is plenty of support in this book for her original teaching, which continues to be supportive of artists of all kinds in a kinds in her companionable way.
   
   she supposes an actual correspondence with a penitent male artist--handling in her letters to him the issues of relationships vs. art, sex vs. art, talking about art vs. art, high art vs. making art, addiction vs. art, sobriety vs. art, slow and steady vs. indulgent moods and art making, etc. in her answers, which are all we, as readers, are privy too, she encapsulates the artist's way with a practiced expertise.
   
   as i read all things cameron, i felt a bit of a let down for the lack of new revelations. i was annoyed with the whiny artist correspondent, and found him predictably arrogant, angry, indulgent and useless. i wished she had supposed a woman art maker--or a colleague or peer. but that is where the new possibilities lie, i suppose.
   
   while tempted by the brilliance of rilke's original text, cameron strives to re-iterate her how-to knowledge in a form that disappoints. it seems a rote response to the questions one knows she's been asked a million times. it seems a surface diagnosis. it seems a skimming of the cliches of artmaking.
   
   still, i love her. i read her every word. i collect each new encapsulation of the franchise and recommend her heartily.



3. I can hardly see the author (or her letter-writing character), perched on so high a post, talking down to the lowly young artist. "Letters to a Young Artist" may serve well to discourage if not batter the fledgling artist before he or she has even had a chance to find their own voice and style. Those less fledgling may simply toss it with some degree of disgust at the arrogance and cliche treatment of the artistic process. It's not so much that there isn't the occasional grain of truth in the advice given, as that the occasional grain is lost in its tone and cavalier treatment.
   
   This collection of letters is too obviously constructed for a book and is not an authentic exchange with an authentic questioner. Indeed, author Julia Cameron makes it clear these letters are a hodge podge of those she says she receives from fans, a conglomerate of questions and wonderings, seeking guidance and inspiration.
   
   "Dear X" is the salutation heading up this collection of fabricated letters. That alone rather puts one off as lacking in authenticity (or semblence of), abundant only in added chill. How much better to give a letter writer a name, a voice, a persona that would come alive for the book reader. More often than not, the letters begin with a weakly disguised "you write that..." as segue for the missing letter in the exchange. It would have been far more fascinating to have been able to read both sides to this conversation.
   
   Cameron's style (she takes on the voice of an elderly male writer, which in itself lacks authenticity and leaves me wondering - why?) is brash and bullying. Her advice, what there is of it, is so obvious that it offers little value. Mostly, it reads like one long brag perhaps constructed only of hot air (only the dissatisfied are bullies?). Here and there, inexplicably interspersed with literary advice, is advice for the lovelorn. Again, why?
   
   This effort pales in comparison to similar efforts to offer beginning writers a hand up, done brilliantly, and I suggest those searching for such will find much more satisfaction, advice, and encouragement in Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life," Rainer Marie Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet," Joyce Carol Oates' "The Faith of a Writer," Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," Stephen King's "On Writing," or a long list of others.



4. This little book is wonderful. It's tone isn't especially coddling (though if you are familiar with the Author's work, that should be no surprise), though it is plenty gentle, and actually quite replete with encouragement. It is the perfect summarization of what Cameron has presented us with over the years, and an excellent reminder that our climb up one hill inevitably brings us to the foot of another, that the reward for living our truth is indeed in the journey itself. A fantastic treat.



5. This writer (I'd never even heard of her) belittles and demoralizes her imaginary correspondant to the point that any useful or inspiring energy is lost (if it's there at all, it's hard to tell). I pray no actual student of writing or art ever has this woman as a teacher. Cameron is interested in Cameron, asserting her aggressive will, shoving her hideous personality down the reader's throat. She sounds like one of these barking dogs from a cable news debate.

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2 comments about Midsummer Snowballs.

1. An excellent overveiw of an Andy Goldsworthy project. Great Huge Images to get your teeth into.



2. Midsummer Snowballs. The very idea puts a smile on your face. If that doesn't, then a few photographs of this Summer 2000 exhibition by Andy Goldsworthy will.

   This book is a photo essay and journal entries on the creation of this facinating exhibition. I was enticed by the photos, and then had to go back and read the journal to learn more about the creation of this display. A highly enjoyable, but light read by the artist. A great book to give to other people, since it's very unlikely they'd ever buy it for themselves.

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1 comments about On the Grotesque: Strategies of Contradiction in Art and Literature (Critical Studies in the Humanities).

1. In this book, Harpham develops his own theory of the grotesque by exploring its history and previous critical works. Since the grotesque is present in many different forms of art it is impossible to present a wholly functional definition. Harpham traces the origins of the grotesque back to our mythic past, as autochthonous mans deal with a reality steeped with myth, in which Nature and Chaos, Will and Logic, Eros and Thanathos, coexist. Harpham applies anthropology, psyhology, religion and literature in his analysis of the essence of the grotesque. The primary references of his own definition are to Leach, Auerbach and Freud. Harpham avoids both the negativity of Kayser and the positivity of Bakhtin that others have related themselves to. Harphams presentation is thorough and interesting and is a logical extention of the traditional views on the grotesque as a dual element of horror/humor. He presents a fresh angle on a difficult subject that has had few serious contributions since Kayser and Bakhtin. This book is an excellent starting point for any study of the theory of the grotesque and should be considered a valuable work in its own right. Harphams own analysis is thoroghly presented and he explores different applications of his theory through the analysis of four literary works: Wuthering Heights, The Masque of the Red Death, Death in Venice and, finally an analysis of Joseph Conrad's works. This also makes it an good tool in further use of the grotesque in other studies.

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