Alison Louise Kennedy the Scottish writer known for a characteristically dark tone, a blending of realism and fantasy, and for her serious approach to her work. Kennedy has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Suffering. Now there’s an artistic word. Or so you’d think.’ Kennedy states “I have been trying to write for at least a quarter of a century, and I can say very firmly that in my experience, suffering is largely of no bloody use to anyone, and definitely not a prerequisite for creation. If an artist has managed to take something appalling and make it into art, that’s because the artist is an artist, not because something appalling is naturally art. …I was recently in the company of a film producer. …the producer told me all about how necessary it was that creative people of every type should have as awful a time as possible. …To his way of thinking, comfort and success are poison, the Stones never did anything good after they’d got money, Van Gogh prospered because of mental distress, obscurity and ear mutilation and, actually …The producer hadn’t got any other examples, but he was convinced: if you weren’t hurting, you couldn’t be working.

 

Inspired by The Guardian http://ow.ly/aEbXT image source Tim Duncan http://ow.ly/aEbWi