A.L. Kennedy on The Myth of the Suffering Artist

(Via katherine st asaph)

It's a few months old, but writer A.L. Kennedy wrote a fantastic piece for the Guardian on the "myth of the suffering artist:"

I have been trying to write for at least a quarter of a century, and I can say very firmly that in my experience, suffering is largely of no bloody use to anyone, and definitely not a prerequisite for creation. If an artist has managed to take something appalling and make it into art, that's because the artist is an artist, not because something appalling is naturally art. (emphasis mine)

This can't be stressed enough, especially in an era where a lot of women feel it's necessary to show themselves at their most vulnerable, to open up a wound and bleed for the audience. I'm not suggesting is vulnerability is a bad thing -- this isn't really about vulnerability, per se, but the idea that suffering is beautiful, and one can only make great art through suffering.