What then is the place and role of the writer in this cruel, dynamic, split world on the brink of its ten destructions? After all we have nothing to do with letting off rockets, we do not even push the lowliest of hand-carts, we are quite scorned by those who respect only material power. Is it not natural for us too to step back, to lose faith in the steadfastness of goodness, in the indivisibility of truth, and to just impart to the world our bitter, detached observations: how mankind has become hopelessly corrupt, how men have degenerated, and how difficult it is for the few beautiful and refined souls to live amongst them? But we have not even recourse to this flight. Anyone who has once taken up the WORD can never again evade it; a writer is not the detached judge of his compatriots and contemporaries, he is an accomplice to all the evil committed in his native land or by his countrymen.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Writers cannot retreat from the world's cruelty or claim detachment; taking up the word makes them accomplices to the evil in their own land.
- In plain terms
- Writers cannot pretend they don't matter; writing makes them part of the world's problems.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept that writing implicates you in your society.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you avoid being a detached observer?
- Is silence ever better than speech?
Another view
Some writers may choose silence to avoid harm.
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