Friday, December 26, 2008

Note on a Bad Day

No posting today, because I'm reading JM Coetzee's "Diary of a Bad Year," which my sister gave me for Christmas.

I've never read Coetzee before, but he's a profound writer, and profoundly disturbing. Both his content and his technique are geared to upset and challenge readers. His work inflicts pain, but anyone seeking truth and integrity won't be able to put it down.

Anyone serious about writing today needs to disturb, if he or she is to be taken seriously. The purpose of art is not to decorate the world with extravagant, elegantly-wrought, virtuoso curlicues, but to address real life. And the reality is, most of what's going on in the world today is profoundly disturbing.

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