I’m reading a wonderful novel by Simon Van Booy, (“Love In Winter”). He is a brilliant writer, and the character relates this: “My old geography professor once told his class how the music, paintings, sculptures and books of the world are mirrors in which people see versions of themselves.”
I have always believed this is so. What is good art? Good writing? Great music? It is something that touches us, in which we see something of ourselves. It is interesting about social media, but it you scroll through the comments, which I try to do once a day, you see that most of them are not about me, and what I write, but about things in which people see versions of themselves. If I write about my Rose, they write back about their Rose.
If I write about dog’s vomiting, they tell me about theirs. If I lose a dog, they share their own grief. Or fears. Or hopes for their lives. It is the writers who only write about themselves who are self-centered and narcissistic, not the readers. I used to think this was narcissistic, self-centered. Here, I am writing about me, and why are people telling me about themselves in response?
I have learned that this is not selfish, not narcissistic. It is the literal embodiment of what I wish to be as a writer, of good writing. Isn’t that what we want to do? This is how I define culture, good writing. Like the professor.
I seek to touch the inner spirits of people, touch their hearts and souls. Connecting with people where they are, not just where I am. I am not different from you, I am you, and that is the connection, that is good writing, good art.
Creating mirrors in which people see themselves reflected.