Monday, November 09, 2009
Born To Appreciate
Sometimes I think I was put on this Earth to simply appreciate the fine work of others. As much as I have enjoyed the work I've accomplished throughout my career (and this morning it feels like a very very very very looooooooong one), it's when I sit at the feet of true art masters that I feel most fully alive...most free from my own harsh ego concerns and most joyously thrown into the release -the warm ocean - that only great art seems able to provide me.
Case in point: Barbara Kingsolver's newest novel: THE LACUNA...when Peter and I went to have our Sunday coffee and NY Times time at Zazzy'Z yesterday morning, I saw THE LACUNA on sale at 20% off on the shelf (after all she is our local celeb, and Zazzy'Z our only small bookstore)...then I happened to read the glowing and analytical reveiw it received in the very same NY Times I had just purchased, and that immediately made me want to own and begin reading the book, so Peter bought said book for me...i plunged directly into it, and have yet to come up for air...it is MAGNIFICENT!
It's the story of young American boy growing up in Mexico with his morally loose Mom (she goes where the monied men are), and how he comes of age into manhood through adventures in the Diego Rivera/Frida Kahlo household, among other historically enthralling situations that present themselves....it is subtly artful, detailed and compelling...for the life of me, I cannot even begin to understand how someone can write such a book...how anyone can write anything so intricate and human...and the title THE LACUNA is a metaphor for so many things in life...a resonant, meaningful title...getting the right title alone is such a miracle to me...and this book is large...it's like diving into the deepest part of oceans to read a book this skillful...because it's an entire world of its own, with totally believable yet fantastical creatures...until you realize that that is how LIFE itself is: filled with the fantastic....WE are that complex...our stories are all that odd and wonderful....but then someone has need (and the gift, let's not forget) to write some of it down and it's like a magic wand is waved and we see it all through clean clear underwater goggles!
A story is a story is a story, after all....but a truly gifted writer ( and humankind is blessed with many) tells it in ways that defy explanation...because their experience shared is mysterious...true experience needs no explanation...it just requires that you enter its world and give over to it...and for me, entering the world of a gifted artist's making, is the most wonderful thing possible....every so often I do stop and say out loud: how did she do that? How did she know that? Where did that come from in her? How did he or she KNOW to write that ? And of course, that's the art part...the Muse, if you will..the true creative thing: it simply comes...because it is supposed to come at that moment to that person who has laid out the WELCOME mat for it....who has created the world for it to enter into.
Barbara Kingsolver has always entertained me and made me think....but with THE LACUNA, she has me in thrall and I am following her anywhere she wishes to take me.....I am enslaved and want to build pyramids to honor her. Get and read THE LACUNA.
I need to go my office, but first: one more chapter!
Case in point: Barbara Kingsolver's newest novel: THE LACUNA...when Peter and I went to have our Sunday coffee and NY Times time at Zazzy'Z yesterday morning, I saw THE LACUNA on sale at 20% off on the shelf (after all she is our local celeb, and Zazzy'Z our only small bookstore)...then I happened to read the glowing and analytical reveiw it received in the very same NY Times I had just purchased, and that immediately made me want to own and begin reading the book, so Peter bought said book for me...i plunged directly into it, and have yet to come up for air...it is MAGNIFICENT!
It's the story of young American boy growing up in Mexico with his morally loose Mom (she goes where the monied men are), and how he comes of age into manhood through adventures in the Diego Rivera/Frida Kahlo household, among other historically enthralling situations that present themselves....it is subtly artful, detailed and compelling...for the life of me, I cannot even begin to understand how someone can write such a book...how anyone can write anything so intricate and human...and the title THE LACUNA is a metaphor for so many things in life...a resonant, meaningful title...getting the right title alone is such a miracle to me...and this book is large...it's like diving into the deepest part of oceans to read a book this skillful...because it's an entire world of its own, with totally believable yet fantastical creatures...until you realize that that is how LIFE itself is: filled with the fantastic....WE are that complex...our stories are all that odd and wonderful....but then someone has need (and the gift, let's not forget) to write some of it down and it's like a magic wand is waved and we see it all through clean clear underwater goggles!
A story is a story is a story, after all....but a truly gifted writer ( and humankind is blessed with many) tells it in ways that defy explanation...because their experience shared is mysterious...true experience needs no explanation...it just requires that you enter its world and give over to it...and for me, entering the world of a gifted artist's making, is the most wonderful thing possible....every so often I do stop and say out loud: how did she do that? How did she know that? Where did that come from in her? How did he or she KNOW to write that ? And of course, that's the art part...the Muse, if you will..the true creative thing: it simply comes...because it is supposed to come at that moment to that person who has laid out the WELCOME mat for it....who has created the world for it to enter into.
Barbara Kingsolver has always entertained me and made me think....but with THE LACUNA, she has me in thrall and I am following her anywhere she wishes to take me.....I am enslaved and want to build pyramids to honor her. Get and read THE LACUNA.
I need to go my office, but first: one more chapter!
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