When entering the theatre for the opening of his play, "The Importance Of Being Earnest", Oscar Wilde was stopped by a journalist. "Are you nervous?", he asked. Mr. Wilde replied: "Why should I be nervous? I know that my play is good, because I wrote it. As far as I'm concerned it is a success. The question is if the audience will be a success. They should be nervous. They have to prove that they deserve my play."
Again we stand in front of the jungle of relativism and subjectivity. Let's get lost and then turn back.
ReplyDelete"The caracteristic quality of a great person is that he directs much less demanding expectations to others than to himself." Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
"Vain, week persons see in everyone a judge, a proud strong person has no judge beside himself or herself." Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
I think from time to time a talented person has to have Oscar Wildes stubborn, severe and ironic attitude. And if belonging to a minority which has enough reason to fear the majority, probably this attitude secretly is necessary even quite often. He is sincere.
Well, I should know "The Importance of Being Earnest", but I absolutely don't know anything about it. It has been reported, that authors often consider their best work one which the audience neglects (not to speak of the critics).
Only the audience knows, what is good for the audience.
But only the author knows the keystone of the vaulting above his life!!
Stendhal was the first author who - evaluating the shifting between author and audience - spoke of his work as a work which "only in 20 years will be understood".
Just name 10 works which the author himself, the audience and the critics agree on that they are great art. These 10 works can teach a lot to any artist.
Surprisingly during the auditions talented persons often try with a song which doesn't corrispond to their real talent: they want to impress with something they are impressed by.
ReplyDeleteHeine said "We do not pay attention to our talents, but we consider our handicaps very much: until they seem talents to us."
http://storyarchitekt.blogspot.com/2009/10/imponierende-unzulanglichkeit.html
This is my rather successful method to fight against the coming up of stage-fright: Tell the others that you never get nervous, never.
ReplyDelete@cs
ReplyDeleteThank you for this insight behind what - according to context and circumstances - we call the wall, the facade, the coulisse, the curtain, the mask, the lie...