A Bone to Pick...

Sometimes, a piece of writing just rubs you the wrong way. The Atlantic's Joe Fassler wrote the following words in what was an otherwise interesting and useful article dispensing advice to writers from writers:

2016 was not an easy year to be a writer. Not just because of the constant, concentration-wrecking pull of our devices, their glowing screens beckoning with the promise of fresh horrors. I’ve spoken with many writers, in recent months, who seem to be facing a deeper, starker crisis of purpose since the election of Donald Trump. They’re asking themselves: Is making literature an acceptable pursuit in a world with such urgent, tangible needs? And if so, how should I use my words? [emphasis added] 

Let us presume for a minute that Trump is indeed the second coming of Herr Hitler. During World War II, Camus, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, and George Orwell wrote, respectively, The Stranger, The Glass Menagerie, Cannery Row, and Animal Farm. Somehow, these authors managed to write great works of literature despite the presence of a totalitarian evil the likes of which the modern world had never seen. Surely then, literature will survive Donald Trump, despite breathless protestations otherwise.

The self-importance and vanity displayed by the statement is eye-rollingly obnoxious. "The great power of the novelist shall be turned against our sworn, orange enemy!" the assembled novelists of America might exclaim. While they're at it, perhaps they should ponder whether being a practicing barista, Uber driver, or iPhone factory worker is "an acceptable pursuit in a world with such urgent tangible needs?" Or are only novelists important enough to determine the fate of the Republic?

Should writers abandon literature in favor of street protests? Should they forsake their novels in favor of political screeds posted on message boards? Perhaps not. Perhaps, they might look to the example of Steinbeck and company...and just keep making literature. In fact, regardless of the times we live in, doesn't literature have a deep effect on the ideas and principles of a nation? Even non-political art can change the way people think. Literature will have a positive effect regardless of the topics covered. Some novelists will write explicitly or implicitly about contemporary politics. Others will write with other purposes in mind...even comedic ones. Is this new dystopian world too serious for comedy as well? Shall we abandon laughter in these dark times?

If George Orwell had taken the above passage to heart in the 1940s, would he have written Animal Farm? Surely the threat of Hitler ("in a world with such urgent and tangible needs") would have outweighed Orwell's implicit assault of the communist tyranny of Uncle Joe Stalin? Surely he would have abandoned that novel in favor of a direct assault on fascism? Maybe propaganda pamphlets for the war effort instead? If only Steinbeck had dumped Cannery Row in favor of well-written posters exhorting Americans to scan the west coast for Japanese submarines...

I predict that we will have no shortage of screeds against Donald Trump in the next few years. He'll probably deserve most of them. But I humbly implore the writers of America to continue writing non-Trump-related novels, plays, and poems. We will need an occasional break from the Trumpification of everything.