The Jealous Muse

Introduction. The Muse Calls

Dear Friends,

The “Introduction” to The Jealous Muse can now be read, free, on Across the Margin. This link takes you directly to the article. In the “Introduction,” I describe the economic and psychological pressures that all artists confront in their careers, and their determination to surmount these pressures.

Because art is not an essential commodity—like food, clothing, and shelter—its consumption is discretionary. Consumers are free to choose which art forms they will spend money on. They are also free to choose not to spend money on any of them. This fact explains why, in economic terms, the supply of art in all its forms exceeds demand, driving down prices and leaving many artists with no customers for their products or services. Thus, many dedicated artists are poor, and must use other occupations for income. The starving artist syndrome.

And yet, millions of people are determined to become artists, in spite of the high risk of commercial failure, and, in the case of non-performing arts like painting, photography, and literature, a largely solitary practice. They do this because creating art satisfies an inner need that cannot be met by other means.

Their dedication creates a priceless gift to the world: beauty. But often, its creation entails suffering. John Keats’s poem “Ode to a Nightingale” expresses this pairing in the image of a wounded song bird. This ironic linkage plays out in most of the life stories of the artists profiled in The Jealous Muse.

Please read on.

Best wishes,

Arthur

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