Arts and Crafts

“…to see literary writing mainly as a “craft” also means to value (American) ideas like making, production, hard labor, and to believe in the virtue of repetition (i.e., mechanics) and rules. No one will argue against the fact that writing involves hard work, but so do most other things produced by humans. For in the end, this is what the word “craft” expresses in its essence: production.”

“Creating is negating the existing world, and reshaping it according to your own rules.”

“When the idea becomes methodical, it ceases to exist for its own sake, and it acquires the pragmatic goal of creating similar structures, that is, copies, imitations.”

“Our understanding of literature is always shaped by the frame given to it by our culture”

–Daniela Hurezanu

“Against Craft and Method—Some Thoughts on the Idea of Literature in Contemporary American Culture—”

As an American, then, is my art inevitably cast as a craft? Part of me does cling to the production factor as a measurement of success, but only if that "production" is quality, worthwhile, something worth valuing. Only if that "production" is a creation that has been shaped, reshaped, and reshapes others with a purpose.

I love Hurezanu's essay, actually. Yes: read more books in translation. Yes: trust in the magical reality. Yes: examine culture and understanding. Yes: understand the linguistic and actual perception of what I do.

At the same time, I don't look at my writing as a kitschy Popsicle stick formulation; finger-painting, perhaps, but not clutter. Perhaps art is only possible as individuals determine personal rules, follow them, trust them, and value them. Perhaps general values are only based on specific standards.