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GILDED_FLY

                                             May 10, 2009

  "Why, chiefly, do you write?"

  Robert smiled.  "For money-- and for the sake of
  showing off; I think that's why most men, even
  the very greatest, have written.  The Creation of
  Art" -- he succeeded in making the capitals
  articulate-- "is an object which seldom enters
  into their calculations. Necessarily.  Most
  original artists don't know what art is, or
  beauty.  They're almost invariably hopeless
  critics; writers never know the first thing about
  music, or musicians about writing, or painters
  about either, so it can't be beauty they're all
  intent on.  That presumably is a sort of
  incidental occurence, like the pearl in an
  oyster."

                   Edumnd Crispin
                   "The Case of the Gilded Fly"
                   (1954) p. 145                   Crispin was the alias
                                                   for the critic
                                                   Bruce Montgomery.
  Are artists really hopeless critics?

  I might agree, but that's because I
  think we're all pretty hopeless
  critics, the professionals like Fen
  (and Montgomery?)  definitely included.


      The idea that if you don't understand what you're
      creating, esthetic drive can't be the motive for
      creation seems weak --

      One can create out of mystery, fascinated by the
      results, anxious to try again to see what comes
      out next time.

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