I often wondered what I thought I was doing, teaching creative writing, since the demand for creative writers is very small in this vale of tears. I was perplexed as to what the usefulness of any of the arts might be, with the possible exception of interior decoration. The most positive notion I could come up with was what I call the canary-in-the-coal-mine theory of the arts. This theory argues that artists are useful to society because they are so sensitive. They are supersensitive. They keel over like canaries in coal mines filled with poison gas, long before more robust types realize that any danger is there. The most useful thing I could do before this meeting today is to keel over. On the other hand, artists are keeling over by the thousands everyday and nobody seems to pay the least attention. (Vonnegut, Address to the American Physical Society)
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:01:03 +0000
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