In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.
— Orson Welles
I found this quote both interesting and kind of amusing. You always hear of the angst of writers/artists.
Do you think it's necessary, or at least helpful, for creativity to have a drama or angst-filled setting in which to cultivate?
4 comments:
No question. Adversity breeds passion.
In general, maybe it's true. But for me, absolutely not. If there's too much bad stuff going on in my life or in the immediate surrounds of my family/social life I can't write. It's like it pulls the plug on my creative will.
I think the key is to have an interested audience. The people in _Pride and Prejudice_ or _Gone with the Wind_ were all well to do, but the readers that came after those eras were what really made them famous:)
Well, I do agree that if there is too much peace and prosperity, there's nothing exciting to write about. Ironically, it is during our most troubled times that some of the greatest stories come.
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