Wherein I don't even like modernism but read these books, anyway
Yesterday, I finished reading a biography on Virginia Woolf (which I'd rather not name, as I didn't much enjoy it, and this is not a book review) and it discussed at some length that she'd desperately wanted children, but because of her perceived mental fragility, her husband (and doctors) decided it was best she just not have sex at all, lest she risk becoming pregnant. The author then made a comment to the effect of "--- but if she had been a mother, could she have written To A Lighthouse?" Because clearly, mothers have never written books before.
Of course, that's just a tiny facet in a much larger repro rights conversation --- which countless people have written about more effectively than I could --- but what it's had me thinking about more specifically is the way mental illness is romanticized in creative circles. I mean, ask nearly anyone who's in a place to discuss it, and they'll say they do their best work when they are feeling their best. Like, yes, our experiences inform what we do, but it's infinitely more difficult to actually create when you're depressed, and maybe if we spent less time trying to police what others can and can't experience, they'd actually experience ... some peace of mind? Could she have written To A Lighthouse? I'm sure she could've. Imagine how many other books she might have written if she hadn't, I don't know, killed herself.
Then that had me thinking about how entitled we are, and how we're only seen as worthwhile when we're Contributing To Society™ (again, much larger conversation), and how we're expected to "earn" our place in the world but usually can't even decide how we'd like to do it, and how many people would throw just about anyone under the bus without even thinking, if it meant they got what they wanted out of them, which is just, you know, a big 2020 kind of mood. It's almost like if we put any thought into trying to keep each other healthy and prioritizing that, we could all afford to make our own decisions about how we live. Fun stuff! Good morning/whatever time of day it is! This entry was originally posted at https://earthsea.dreamwidth.org/1022.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Of course, that's just a tiny facet in a much larger repro rights conversation --- which countless people have written about more effectively than I could --- but what it's had me thinking about more specifically is the way mental illness is romanticized in creative circles. I mean, ask nearly anyone who's in a place to discuss it, and they'll say they do their best work when they are feeling their best. Like, yes, our experiences inform what we do, but it's infinitely more difficult to actually create when you're depressed, and maybe if we spent less time trying to police what others can and can't experience, they'd actually experience ... some peace of mind? Could she have written To A Lighthouse? I'm sure she could've. Imagine how many other books she might have written if she hadn't, I don't know, killed herself.
Then that had me thinking about how entitled we are, and how we're only seen as worthwhile when we're Contributing To Society™ (again, much larger conversation), and how we're expected to "earn" our place in the world but usually can't even decide how we'd like to do it, and how many people would throw just about anyone under the bus without even thinking, if it meant they got what they wanted out of them, which is just, you know, a big 2020 kind of mood. It's almost like if we put any thought into trying to keep each other healthy and prioritizing that, we could all afford to make our own decisions about how we live. Fun stuff! Good morning/whatever time of day it is! This entry was originally posted at https://earthsea.dreamwidth.org/1022.html. Please comment there using OpenID.