Originally published Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Book review
Exploring the "psychology of creativity"
While culling essays for her new collection, "Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints," Joan Acocella discovered a loose theme: the hardships that come with creation...
"Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays"
by Joan Acocella
Pantheon, 524 pp., $30
While culling essays for her new collection, "Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints," Joan Acocella discovered a loose theme: the hardships that come with creation and how various artists dealt with these obstacles — or did not. The humbler virtues of perseverance, she came to see, are as important, and as laudable, as talent.
As she writes in her introduction, "We should love these people not just for artistic reasons, but for moral reasons."
Over the next 500 pages, the New Yorker critic chronicles those whose struggles consumed them, and those who triumphed; though, of course, as with the works these artists made, the biographical picture is rarely so black and white. Facing such diverse foes as alcoholism, war, writer's block and domestic disarray, some managed only to hold their ground for a time. Some, like writer M.F.K. Fisher, weathered ups and downs. Others, like fabled ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, plummeted into the abyss with sickening speed.
Acocella is correct in identifying her theme, and she spins out its variations with verve, wit and lucidity; her eye for detail, and pacing, is superb. Along the way, as the quote above hints, she taps into a deeper, more personal current running through her criticism: her ardent and affectionate defense of artists' rights to their mundane human foibles.
In doing so, Acocella aims not just to applaud these artists but to protect them from the misinterpretations (and misappropriations) of others. Part of this involves honoring the clumsiness of their failures as much as the grace of their achievements. Writing about author Joseph Roth's awkward use of fate in his great novel, she muses, "I am almost glad the book has a fault. Roth extracted 'The Radetzky March' from his very innards. This rather desperate, corny fate business reminds us of that fact, and counterbalances the crushing beauty of the rest of the book."
No failure. No context for grace.
Often, these essays were written on the occasion of a new biography, in which, to Acocella's mind, the portrait seems oddly skewed to suit the biographer's pet theory or psychological bent; again and again, when faced with such intrusive, often insulting handling of history, Acocella insists on returning to the subjects their dignity, however tattered. What really matters, perhaps all that matters, is that their artistic lives be allowed to guide the story.
As she puts it, "What we need to know about Nijinsky is not what was on his mind but how he transformed this material into art. ... In other words, we need a psychology of creativity. And that is exactly what most psychobiographers do not concern themselves with." Everyone should be so lucky to have such an eloquent explainer in their corner. Instead of that, we're fortunate to have this collection.
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
Lit Life: National recognition for Seattle's readergirlz online book community
The Ultimate Holiday Cookbook Social at Palace Ballroom
Journalist and author Amy Goodman in Seattle
Book review: "Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life:" Fearless, funny and opinionated
Book review: 'Changing My Mind': Zadie Smith ponders the mad, mad world

PNW Magazine | Easy As Pie
A little friendly competition between professional pie-baker Kate McDermott and The Seatttle Times' Kathleen Triesch Saul is handled with great taste.
nwautos
Local riders say they've seen a surge in scooter interest in recent years, mostly from people wanting another commuting option. Seattle now ranks as o...
Post a comment
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Do you suffer from "sitting disease"?
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
374 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
210 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
171 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
157 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
99 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
96 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
84 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
82 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
74 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
67
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit





