.another experiment: why do you write?.

I just finished writing a paper in my Lit. Theory class that questioned and explored the authorial intent of a collection of Holocaust poems called, I Never Saw Another Butterfly.  The collection was written by young children imprisoned in the concentration camp of Terezin.  A particular quote by Walter Benjamin, in his article, "Task of the Translator," sparked my interest in discussing this topic.  His quote reads, "...in the appreciation of a work of art or an art form, consideration of the receiver never proves fruitful […] no poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no symphony for the listener."  I found this quote extremely problematic, especially as a writer.  

In my paper, I discussed how, when reading the poems themselves and considering the circumstances in which they were created, a modern-day audience would think that the young children lived on the very idea that their poems would one day be read by others.  However, because we were not present during the act of their writing, nor did we get the chance to question their authorial intent, we as a present-day post-Holocaust audience, will never have the authority to answer this question. Frustrating, huh?


Indeed, after writing this paper, I still cannot wrap my head around what Benjamin's quote means for writers.  I can assume that, as a writer himself, he considered that his words would one day be read by a future audience (several of his articles and essays were published during his lifetime), and I understand that he is discussing the constraints that can come along with writing with a type of audience in mind; when we do not consider a particular audience, we can write free, unbridled meditations.  Perhaps Emily Dickinson is a prime example of this notion.  Although she gave her poems to others as gifts and her poems were read by others during her lifetime, she writes countless poems about the diminishing factor that publishing can cause for great art.  Once such poem is called "Fame:"

Fame is a fickle food

Upon a shifting plate

Whose table once a

Guest but not

The second time is set

Whose crumbs the crows inspect

And with ironic caw

Flap past it to the

Farmer’s corn

Men eat of it and die.
Returning to Benjamin's quote, he too greatly emphasizes the "unfruitful" art that can arise when one does consider an audience.  


It made me question why I, myself, write. I can say that having had this blog for a few months now, I write a little more deliberately, knowing that others will possibly stumble onto these words and read them.  However, I have found that in having a place where I can freely publish my thoughts and words, my poetry-writing has decreased tremendously in the last few months (this could also be due to the fact that I've not had too many bouts with insomnia lately, which is when I usually write poems).  This pattern could be unrelated to the presence of this blog, but it is certainly disheartening to myself as a poet.  Perhaps, in order to write (and create "fruitful art," as Benjamin writes) we must first step away from the need to publish and write merely to write.


Now I know in the case of the children writing during the Holocaust, their reasons for writing were very different from mine and many present-day writers.  All theories questioning the motivations behind writing during the Holocaust point to three basic reasons: writing as resistance, writing for survival, and writing to remember. These are all very probable reasons for why these young children were writing, along with the fact that their teacher, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, gave them small assignments and art lessons in a small school-like setting of the camp.  It's hard for me to believe that these children were only writing in response to assignments, however, because they depict the events occurring around them with such urgency and detail.  But like I mentioned above, we can never know for sure to whom, or for whom, or with what intention they were writing.  


So, this is a question for my fellow writers, poets, and bloggers (another experiment if you will)...why do you write?  Do you consider any type of audience or do you have to step away from your knowledge that others will/can perhaps read your words?