User:Sam/Essay

Uncreative Writing and Calvino

In his book ‘Uncreative Writing’, Goldsmith questions the originality of a text produced by rewriting or editing pre-existing publications, or stitching together a ‘new’ piece comprised of various copied segments of other published works. Goldsmith begins by citing online accessibility to myriad literary works as one of the major causes for this new form of writing. G points out that, living in such an excess of text, it becomes impossible to maintain a strict hold on what is and isn’t ones own thought, and not that of another’s writing. Goldsmith believes that every possibility in language has in one way or another been utilised and it is how a writer chooses to arrange text that distinguishes their writing as particular. He goes on to introduce the notion of the ‘unoriginal genius’ and places this figure as the new face of writing in the 21st Century, one who rephrases, reorganises, and generally “moves around” the thicket of information offered up by the internet (and various other sources). Goldsmith also touches on how we are all inspired and influenced by our connection with the wealth of ideas gathered in literature through history. Bringing foreword the dilemma of whether or not any text consisting of variously sourced thoughts, samples and statements initially formed by other authors, can exist independently from their origins and stand as new works. He argues that these new texts can be considered new, by replacing context, words are relieved of their prior meanings and intentions and are given space for reconsideration. Goldsmith seems to celebrate this new form of the writer, and critiques the more formal approaches to creative writing, considering them to be outdated and narrow, “tending to hit the same note again and again”.

In ‘Cybernetics and Ghosts’, Calvino begins with the premise that “writing-machines” could effectively replace the writer. He begins by unpacking concepts of narratology, which are based on the traditions of human narratives and defined by revised and systematic construct of language. If a work of writing can be seen as a collection of organised words, which are finite forms, a machine that could place words into an infinite variety of patterns would most definitely strike upon the occasional masterpiece. This would not suffice for Calvino, he is “thinking of a writing machine that would bring to the page all those things that we are accustomed to consider as the most jealously guarded attributes of our psychological life, of our daily experience, our unpredictable changes of mood and inner elations, despairs and moments of illumination.” Considering literature to be the striving towards what cannot be defined through any existing terms, an attempt to give voice to the undefinable expressions of human experience. He argues that in order for a machine to become truly equatable to a human writer, it is necessary for it to fight against those same constraints, and possess the need and capacity to express beyond what a word represents. Calvino defines the element of ‘myth’ to be the undefinable, inexpressible core of every narrative, that this is the true strength and soul of every written work.

In his short story ‘The Night Rider’ Calvino explicitly illustrates this by introducing a simple narrative, a man, a woman, an obstacle, and allowing the reader to experience the formulaic unravelling of characters and motives into representational integers. It is evident through both Cybernetics and Ghosts and The Night Rider, that Calvino is fully aware of the symbiotic relationship between writer and reader. Attributing importance both to written word and lack thereof. As his protagonist journeys from destination A to destination B, in hope of reaching Y before the antagonist Z does, he questions the motive of his actions. It becomes clear that if he were to succeed and reach Y the emotional balance between them would be tipped, Y would not have attempted to mutually reach him. He discovers that the only way for this action to be worth its endeavour would be if Y had simultaneously travelled in the opposite direction attempting to reach him. The meaning of this journey cannot be expressed in any direct form without tarnishing its intention, and so this meaning only and fully exists as this unspoken ‘myth’. As the writer selects each word and edits, organising language into patterns that allow meaning to pass through clearly defined as linguistic integers and reach the soul of what the narrative conveys.

Language is a technology that allows the writer to express, the writer crafts, edits, collects and formats language, in this way Goldsmith and Calvino both argue that the writer is essentially a writing-machine. Goldsmith gives credit to the ‘uncreative’ writer and considers every form of written or re-written text to possess new values through context and appropriation.Calvino brings into light the idea of the ghost, spirit or soul of the inexpressible trapped within and between the written form, which can only exist through the symbiosis of writer and reader.

There are times when I’ve come across seemingly accidentally organised language, lines of graffiti, tags of diverse crews clustered together on a wall, that carry meaning in their collection. The literature and meaning that I withdraw from the writing on the wall exists only in my mind, no writer had written with intention. As would be the case with a book, although I would never like the author to be replaced by a machine, I feel if the book were well-written I wouldn’t really know the difference. The myth or soul of literature seems to ultimately lie with me, the reader.