Practicing the arts of peace
"I was asked by somebody back at the time of the invasion of Iraq how we could all just go on writing our funny little stories, especially we fantasists, and I said that in my opinion what we were doing is practicing the arts of peace. What we want is a world in which funny fantastical stories are possible and are valued. In which there is nothing so dreadful or urgent that it causes the writing of such things to stop or to be stopped. worlds where the arts of peace can't be practiced are wounded worlds, and that's why we have to go on practicing those arts, so that our worlds don't die."
-John Crowley, "Practicing the Arts of Peace", Branigin Lecture, Institute for Advanced Study, Indiana University, December 1, 2005.
posted by JohnM @ 22:39
3 Comments:
What a great quote. The whole speech is fantastic. Thanks for posting this!
When we were chatting about how the anticipation of reading certain books is a big part of the reading experience, I had Crowley's story collection Novelties and Souvenirs in mind - I bought it in Cleveland last August and have been looking at it on the shelf ever since! Have you read Little, Big? Definitely needs to be part of your folklore research (which, if you keep taking my advice, will never end ;) ).
I have not read Little, Big. I bought it a few years ago for my husband as a birthday gift and he has it on his TBR shelf, keeps saying it's next up and it never is. I asked him today after reading Crowley's speech if he was planning on reading it soon because I'd really like to read it and he promises me he will be reading it in the next week or two. If he doesn't, that book is moving over to my side of the bed!
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