The Need for Dialogue Amongst Writers
by QuiAyejia Cooper
“There is at this moment for you an utterance brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel of Phidias, or trowel of the Egyptians, or the pen of Moses, or Dante, but different from all these. Not possibly will the soul all rich, all eloquent, with thousand-cloven tongue, deign to repeat itself; but if you can hear what these patriarchs say, surely you can reply to them in the same pitch of voice; for the ear and the tongue are two organs of one nature”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Conversation.
It is a lost art, both in our society and in our literature.
Centuries ago, literary giants were eager to converse and interact with their peers, oftentimes imitating their voice or duplicating their stories.
English poetry and drama (and those genres as a whole, for that matter) were largely built on a foundation formed by William Shakespeare himself. John Milton’s brand of epic would have been impossible without Homer and Virgil’s influence. Nearly all of medieval and romantic literature—works by Chausser, Dante, Keats and Shelley—can trace their roots back to classic mythological tales.
Today’s literary scene, on the other hand, paints an entirely different picture. With Romanticism came the concept of plagiarism. With Transcendentalism came the birth of self-reliance and individuality. With Modernism came a more vigorous resurgence of those same ideals.
Suddenly, writers became less interested in what their patriarchs had to say and more concerned with producing their own unique philosophies.
It wasn’t all bad, either. Individualism and non-conformity harvested numerous giants of their own, creating systems of doctrine and ideology that transformed the way we see art as a whole.
Yet, while so much was improved with the adoption of these notions, so much more was forsaken.
We gained confidence, independence and originality. We lost synergy, unity and respect.
We lost the art of conversation, the ramifications of which extend far beyond the pages of the written world, saturating our culture with attitudes of pretention and entitlement.
While I understand the importance of individualism to an extent, I can’t help but feel that we have aggressively over-idolized its influence.
We all have a distinct voice to offer the world—a song no one else can sing. But there is something to be said about the voices of the past and all they have to offer us.
They bring hope in times of trouble. They bring reason in the midst of uncertainty. They bring culture, travel, experience and history we wouldn’t otherwise experience.
They gift us with an overlooked, indispensable and invaluable commodity: perspective.
We should never aim to mimic or imitate these artists in such a way that our own voice is stifled, but to refuse to speak at all is a crime of the exact same caliber.
Their works—their stories—should never be an end to our travels, but a means to begin our own journey. And we are never fully equipped for such a journey if we have refused to experience those of our patriarchs… If we have refused to converse.
We need a revival of conversation amongst artist, amongst writers. Anything less is a disservice to our trade and a sacrifice that I, for one, am unwilling to make.
Writers of the world, we have lost the art of conversation.
We have an obligation to re-discover it.
