I’d agree that writing anything is political. Thanks so much for the encouragement too! It means a lot. I see too from your blog that you’re into lit too. Awesome stuff.

It might be easiest to express what I was thinking through an example.

I invited an Asian American writer to Thymos, our activist group. I told him that it would help his writing since we always talk about politics, the interplay of race in society, and questions of the writer’s role in society. He joined, but after a couple of months, he quit. He said he wasn’t interested in politics or the questions we raised. He didn’t have a problem with it, but he just wasn’t interested in political or intellectual discussions.

There are writers who don’t ask these kinds of questions. They tend to focus more on words than on society, and therefore their writing seems to me to be a bit apolitical. Some of them are decent writers, but the focus is different. With this former Thymos dude, he would always focus on words. He’d send me examples of writing that he felt evoked amazing feelings through the usage of alliteration or word choice.

I agreed with him in just about all the examples he sent me, but the best moments in literature for me are scenes or occurrences, rather than words. I’m more interested in what they say about individuals or societies, rather than how they say it. (although how they say it is also sometimes cool!)

TMM:

I’m going to check out Henry Miller–once I can get out of this snow!

TMM and papa2hapa:

Also, I wouldn’t mind being underground. Getting paid is cool, but I’d rather be a Frank Chin than a mainstreamer who’s not telling it like it is!

As for AA’s, I really couldn’t think of an undeground author with a loyal folowing. Maybe it’s the way to go?? I dunno.

Also, isn’t the act of writing anything political? After all, the greatest political ability we all have is voicing our opinion. Keep writing, you’re living it, even if you’re not getting paid.