A few emails below your email notification today about this question of the purpose of storytelling, was my weekly email from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. He quoted James Baldwin on this very subject:
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was Dostoevsky a…
A few emails below your email notification today about this question of the purpose of storytelling, was my weekly email from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. He quoted James Baldwin on this very subject:
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who ever had been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in other people. An artist is a sort of emotional or spiritual historian. His role is to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are."
Thanks Lauri- I love Baldwin quotes and here is another from his Paris Review interview:
Similar to the one you quoted, I think this is a good answer to the question what is the purpose of stories- the purpose for the writer, anyway---
"When you are standing in the pulpit, you must sound as though you know what you’re talking about. When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway."
Opening the vein of paradox: Realizing the doom and glory of knowing who and what you are. The doom of mortality, the glory of the pure potential of being. Everyone we have known and loved will die, yet all are eternally held in this one heart. In the midst of change, what is the unchanging light we offer to the world by being exactly who and what we are?
This James Baldwin quote expresses my exact feelings about why I read, and fortifies me to persist in the struggle to put my own ideas, feelings, stories, into words.
I think this is a great point and just wrote about something similar. Story and literature allows us to realize the trials we are going through are nothing new under the sun. Even fictional characters can inspire us to triumph over obstacles. Or help us realize those obstacles aren't so big after all.
Wow, yes, I like this--reflects to me the Buddhist idea of interdependence, connection, that in pain or pleasure, we are all connected, for there is no one who can experience anything that someone else, probably many someones, haven't also experienced. Thus, we are connected to each other as a human family in all our emotions and experiences. I love stories for reflecting this reality in a creative and artistic way. I also love the intellectual challenge of following along in another's world/universe. It takes an artist to take us there!
A few emails below your email notification today about this question of the purpose of storytelling, was my weekly email from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. He quoted James Baldwin on this very subject:
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who ever had been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in other people. An artist is a sort of emotional or spiritual historian. His role is to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are."
Thanks Lauri- I love Baldwin quotes and here is another from his Paris Review interview:
Similar to the one you quoted, I think this is a good answer to the question what is the purpose of stories- the purpose for the writer, anyway---
"When you are standing in the pulpit, you must sound as though you know what you’re talking about. When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway."
Opening the vein of paradox: Realizing the doom and glory of knowing who and what you are. The doom of mortality, the glory of the pure potential of being. Everyone we have known and loved will die, yet all are eternally held in this one heart. In the midst of change, what is the unchanging light we offer to the world by being exactly who and what we are?
This James Baldwin quote expresses my exact feelings about why I read, and fortifies me to persist in the struggle to put my own ideas, feelings, stories, into words.
Do persist Judith, whatever the struggle, you know it makes sense.
Thank you for that kind message!
Thank you posting this Lauri. I love James Baldwin and what he shared with the world. So articulate and so heart felt.
I think this is a great point and just wrote about something similar. Story and literature allows us to realize the trials we are going through are nothing new under the sun. Even fictional characters can inspire us to triumph over obstacles. Or help us realize those obstacles aren't so big after all.
Wow, yes, I like this--reflects to me the Buddhist idea of interdependence, connection, that in pain or pleasure, we are all connected, for there is no one who can experience anything that someone else, probably many someones, haven't also experienced. Thus, we are connected to each other as a human family in all our emotions and experiences. I love stories for reflecting this reality in a creative and artistic way. I also love the intellectual challenge of following along in another's world/universe. It takes an artist to take us there!
Yes, Baldwin says it beautifully (again). Thank you for sharing!
Perfect.
Oh, I'd forgotten about that Baldwin quote. I'm so glad you shared it :)