/lit/ - Literature

I figured this out a while ago.
As an artist you are in a constant competition between Self-Awareness and Narcissism. If you do anything of note, narcissism won. Being an artist is trying to not let narcissism win before you've put in enough work to make something decent.

>>8907567

Perhaps.

If true, what does that say of those who read?

>>8907387
Most great and honest writers/artists are dense motes of mental instability/afflictions

>>8907387
>Is every great writer a narcissist?
Absolutely not, considering the modern age has a narcissism pandemic and hasn't produced a single great artist all the while. Arguably it speaks of a reverse correlation.

>>8909622
Please. There is only a finite amount of human revelation. To say today has produced no great artists, or writers even, shows your utter incompetence.

>>8907387
Inherently yes. You need to be narcissistic to think people will want to read your work.

>>8907387
yeah, we are.

>>8907387
No. Narcissists expect others to enjoy their work. Great writers agonise over it.

>>8907567
That's just you projecting.

I doubt Tolstoy was, at least at the end.

best writers are mentally unstable

Yeah most of them

>>8909639
Sorry but the very essence of modernity is to extol trash for the sake of consumerism, in such a climate art is a foregone conclusion.

>narcissist
>mentally unstable
how am I not a great writer

i don't think so. lots of great writers don't care about themselves and publish things to try and help other people. by creating stories about beauty, the pursuit of meaning, religion or love they are trying to help others avoid problems they had so that others don't have to face the problems you did. plus it is to attempt to advance the human understanding by providing a new perspective.

>>8907387
I'm a genuine narcissist and I physically cannot write anything in which I'm not the main character; these days all I can do is write autobiography or I'll get unspeakably bored.

>>8910391
you forgot
>talent

>>8907387
I don't believe I'm a narcissist but with the constant positive feedback I get its hard not to think I'm a good writer. My problem is realizing that I am not unique as a good writer. There are plenty of good writers in the world, leagues of which who have produced countless works of Young Adult fiction. Those good writers who work at the local newspaper rag, or even journalists who write mediocre op-eds in the New Yorker. I do not want to be like them. I look towards the greats I hold in esteem and compare myself. When I read a novel by great writer I think to myself "Am I a better writer than him, could I ever create something to surpass this man?". There is a point of ineptitude that every man must face. A time when they realize that no matter how hard they practice, no matter how hard they persevere they'll never come close to equating their idols. I have not yet reached that point.

>>8909622
>the modern age hasn't produced a single great artist

How the fuck would you know? We will only know 50+ years later when the dust has settled and we can examine what remains.

>>8907387
>narcissist

this is a word that can mean almost anything you want it to mean, so you have to be clearer

>>8911682
The greatness of most artists was immediately apparent. Take your dust has settled meme shit back to /v/