Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Necessity

"A work of art is good
if it has grown out of necessity."

---Rainer Maria Rilke

I've been thinking about that statement since I read it yesterday morning. Does my writing grow out of necessity? Or I could also ask: is my writing necessary?

From Merriam-Webster's online dictionary:

Main Entry:
1nec·es·sary
Etymology:
Middle English necessarie, from Latin necessarius, from necesse necessary, probably from ne- not + cedere to withdraw

Date: 14th century
1 a: of an inevitable nature : inescapable b (1): logically unavoidable (2): that cannot be denied without contradiction c: determined or produced by the previous condition of things d: compulsory2: absolutely needed : required


I think the part of the definition I identify with the most is: "that cannot be denied without contradiction." My writing isn't required or inevitable; but if I avoid or deny it, I find that my life starts to become one big contradiction of everything I value.

"Not + withdraw" is pretty powerful, too. Writing is engagement with the world, even as it is done in solitude.

And you?


6 comments:

  1. I'd call my writing "of an inevitable nature." As in, every time I've tried to stop, it keeps calling me back.

    But I struggle mightily and constantly with how necessary it is to others.

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  2. I struggle, too, Jacqui. Both with what's necessary for me, and what's necessary to others.

    I used to hate it when writers said they MUST write, because I knew how depressingly easy it is to NOT write. But Rilke also says that's what's required is "to await with deep humility and patience the hour of birth of a new clarity." Which is a much more eloquent way of saying: Butt in Chair and What's Necessary Will Come.

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  3. I don't have anything profound to add, as it's 7:30 a.m. and I haven't had coffee, but I want to thank you for the Moment of Rilke.

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  4. I love how you've put it - avoiding writing would be a contradiction of everything you value.

    There's something about the feeling of inevitability, too. Even when I'm not working on the writing project I feel I ought to be working on, I often end up writing something else--a blog entry, a long e-mail, whatever. The words just come out. For many years I had no intention of being a writer, but it turns out that regardless of intentions, I do write.

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  5. I began writing just over a year ago. Now, I can't imagine a day without a sentence or phrase in it.

    I am, because I write.

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  6. a.fortis: "it turns out that regardless of intentions, I do write." Exactly. Sometimes I almost think that I write in direct opposition to the intensity of my intentions!

    Amy, I love your clarity: I am, because I write.

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