/lit/ - Literature

>>15986858

>>15986858

>Soul

Consider 'What is art?' by Tolstoy. tl;dr he gets pissed off about 'artifical' art created purely by profit-driven motives, or people trying to show off their skill, and 'true' art, which he defines as the communication of an emotional experience from one human being to another.

For myself, having my best friend die was a soul crushing experience, and in the story I'm writing the protagonist undergoes a similar emotional journey to my own. I want the reader to understand and know what it felt like. So that would be the 'soul' of my writing. I'm not just making up a series of events for the sake of entertainment.

Tolstoy describes 'counterfiet' art as when, after someone makes true art, other read it and then attempt to replicate the emotional journey it contained, despite these new authors never having actually experienced the experience they are writing about. Like trying to write a war story when you've never been to war; you're just attempting to copy the emotional experience of another human being, instead of adding your own unique experiences. To truly create, your writing has to contain some of your own emotional experience, your 'soul'. It's what makes the writing feel truly human.

I wouldn't say that all writing needs to have 'soul', and Tolstoy is just one opinion of many, but I believe this is what your professor was speaking about.