Disaster, Art, Life
Although few like to admit it, Walker Percy’s observation about disaster is largely true: in our era of contented tranquility, superabundance, and fading value systems, we tend to crave catastrophe as a source of meaning. We may noisily declaim that this economic collapse is terrible, that this or that hurricane or fire or administration is so horrific that we’ve lost our faith in humanity, but in moments of emotional agitation we are more alive than ever, and this vitality of opposition and ire and fear is more valuable to many than peace.
Artists are in particular infatuated with tragedy, and for good reason: without it, their art has nothing to discuss and descends into the mire of self-referentiality that makes so much contemporary creative work duller than pop-culture (and less enduring!). Creative people are thus always inclined to overreact, to declare that some bit of news is the end of society as we know it, the beginning of a new epoch, “a fundamental shift,” etc.
There are more subtle ways to connect with reality than though catastrophe. Although it’s harder to make art from that people will appreciate.
This resonates with me. It reminds me of being a kid and thinking a tornado warning was thrilling rather than terrifying, or of the way that people with anxiety disorder (myself included) are often calm in actual emergencies.
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