Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Writers in Academia

Writers have little or no place in the academic scene in India today. Even in the Humanities and literature departments, creative writing is considered something `freakish', and insignificant compared to the more weighty `critical practice'.
The society, on the other hand, does not take any serious intellectual activity seriously, or rather anything seriously!
So serious creative writing is not taken seriously any where in society.
Thats a major risk of being a creative writer in India.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Thinking out loud about Art

I have recently renovated my msn blog. Da Vinci theme and all that. Every blog that I make seems to be about me as a writer. Is being a writer any different from being someone else? A doctor or a lawer or a mechanic or a farmer? Dont they all produce something? Arent they all creative in some sense? The writer makes art out of the activity of writing. Art, I think is not a separate category of activity but a dimention of any human activity. Art, in earlier days implied skill. Yoga is defined as the excellence in the skill in our day to day deeds. Poetry, then, becomes a certain skill in using words in a particular way. What kind of skill? What kind of way?