“As any competent student of literary composition knows, the more natural and casual a voice sounds in print, the more likely it is to have been edited time and again.”
Albert Murray On Heroism makes clear that our survival is dependent on our ability to confront reality. On the path to becoming a hero one must release the self-limiting illusions preventing progress. And move into a grand appreciation of our individual journey. There comes a moment when the hero can look back on our experiences as a necessary requirement for his life. Hemingway said, “Writers are forged in injustice”, and so are great men. I do not intend on romanticizing poverty or fetishizing suffering. But the outcomes of our lives is dependent on how we face these elemental facts of human life.
Albert Murray goes on to make a statement about the strength required for anyone to cipher through their hearts heart. Visible vulnerability is the quality where a writer reveals himself to the world. In an attempt to aid the silent sufferers through articulating emotions that seem cryptic. When we are vulnerable we give other people the chance of hurting us. However, if we live in this state we close the distance between each others humanity. Writers are no different than anyone other than the willingness to fall on the sword. Albert Murray speaks on the sense of alienation that makes writers tick:
The first implication of Hemingway’s remark about justice thus becomes obvious as soon as one realizes that all serious writers have had a deep-seated sense of exclusion, disaffection, alienation, disillusionment, detachment, dissatisfaction, disorientation, and so on, and that this as much as anything is what makes them tick as writers.
A lover of blues and, probably, the best at detailing the purpose of the great American Art form. Albert Murray creates sentences that are lyrical, rhythmic, and purposeful. Through this beautiful prose Albert challenges us to confront ourselves. Acknowledge the dangers of every journey, and proceed in the face of all terribleness. Antagonistic Cooperation, the creation of beauty through using our suffering as a means for creating community. Rings throughout Albert’s work. Everything happens for us, not to us–pointing out the meaning of heroism he says:
Heroism, which like the sword is nothing if not steadfast, is measured in terms of the stress and strain it can endure and the magnitude and complexity of the obstacles it overcomes. Thus the difficulties and vicissitudes which beset the potential hero on all sides not only threaten his existence and jeopardize his prospects; they also, by bringing out the best in him, serve his purpose. They make it possible for him to make something of himself. Such is the nature of every confrontation in the context of heroic action.
We suffer at every stage of our lives, but as our eyes begin to expand we begin to see the reason behind every moment in our lives. One gains life from this revelation. We learn to view our lives without rushing to the next phase, but slowly, patiently, achieve a durable synthesis between our conflicting complexity. Between on image of the world and reality and between our dream and the reality. Only through this walk toward heroism can we begin facing ourselves, which includes our fears, hopes, anxieties, dreams, and every part of ourselves that form us.
We must do as Andre Malraux says, “Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides. In the realm of human destiny, the depth of man’s questionings is more important than his answers. The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our own nothingness.”
We need no special dexterity or savant like talent to survive, but must have the spiritual, physical, and emotional tenacity to continue against all odds in the face of death. Using every inner resource to take advantage of the most unlikely opportunities and succeed in the face on circumstances that seem to conspire against our development. We are placed on earth with a special purpose, and we have a terrible tendency to limit ourselves, but art provides the illustration necessary for us to move past ourselves as Andre Malraux says, “Art is a revolt against fate. All art is a revolt against man’s fate.”
The Hero And The Blues is a book devoted to articulating the necessity of overcoming hardship, the purpose of art, and the beauty of heroism. Man requires hope, and we keep ourselves alive by maintaining hope. Continue reading Albert Murray on the responsibility of a story-teller.
