Thoughts on writers' friendships from: “Histories
are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.”
_____ “It
is not enough that you succeed. It’s equally important that your
friends fail.”
_____ Thoughts on writers' friendships from:
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On
the Nature of Literary Friendship
From
an upcoming Web Del Sol series
Introduction
A respected poet and critic, D. was the first person I asked to submit work for this Web Del Sol/Perihelion feature. Shaking her head, she laughed. You can be friends with someone, but you can also be competitive with them. That can work as a spur. And our local writers’ group--friends critiquing one another’s work--has been a real boon. On the other hand, we both know people for whom the phrase writers’ friendship would seem an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, like resident alien or small crowd. It’s true writers hang out, make love, compete with and steal from other writers, but is that friendship? We’ve been around long enough to know the upshot of such friendships is not always pretty. All I’m saying is that there are friendships and there are friendships.” “Ted
Solotaroff claims aggression is a writer’s main source of energy,” I say,
“the fuel for all those stories and poems about betrayal and bad luck relationships,
for example, plus anything else a person wants to write about. John
Berryman said something similar: “The artist is extremely lucky who is
presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him.
At that point, he’s in business.” Keeping up a friendship with aggressive
people
“By the way, I’m not a cynic,” I go on, “but if you’re looking for the source of a writer’s aggression, just probe a little, ask about that person’s experience with friendship, literary friendship.” “I wouldn’t necessarily chose Aggression as a muse for writing,” says D., but I confess I’ve sometimes been inspired to write, and publish, poems that had an impure origin, poems that came about, in part, because I happened to envy or felt competitive with a fellow writer. And I’m speaking here about writers I feel close to, people I admire, writers I regarded then, and still regard, as friends,” she says. “That’s it,” I say, “that’s what we’re looking for.” “But hell, one has to start somewhere,” she continues. “One may begin with impure motives, but that doesn’t mean the finished work is going to be a disaster. It’s possible to begin a poem wanting to tear someone’s head off and end an hour or two later phoning to thank them--particularly if the poem or story plays out the way you hope it will.” “Whatever works,” I say. “Friendship is all well and good, but I’m especially interested in friendship’s yeasty underside,” she says. “I long for writing buddies as much as anyone else, but I have difficulty trusting and supporting and remaining loyal to people who, after all, are no less obsessed, neurotic and self-involved than I am. So, Robert, I’ll contribute to and read your feature because I want to see how other people are faring. All I know is I write one flawed poem and imperfect story after another, and I write them in some strange half-light, knowing that, even as I set words on the page, the odds are against me and time is running out." ____________________
BIO NOTE: Guggenheim award-winner Robert Sward teaches for University of California Extension in Santa Cruz. Chosen by Lucille Clifton to receive a Villa Montalvo Literary Arts Award, he is the author of 16 books including Four Incarnations, New & Selected Poems (Coffee House Press) and Web Del Sol Chapbook Sex & TV with Aunt Em. Contributing Editor to eZine, Blue Moon Review, his newest book is titled Portrait of an L.A. Daughter & Other Poems. http://www.cruzio.com/~scva/rsward.html
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