Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth?
Lillian HellmanRead
Failure in the theater is more dramatic and uglier than any other form of writing. It costs so much, you feel so guilty.
Interpretation
The stakes of failure in theater are high, leaving a lasting impact on those involved.
In this quote, Lillian Hellman highlights the unique pressures and emotional toll that come with failures in theater as opposed to other forms of writing. The significant financial investment and the intense emotional connection to the performance amplify feelings of guilt and disappointment, making theatrical failure particularly dramatic and painful.
In practice
During a theater workshop, an instructor might use this quote to illustrate the importance of accepting failure as part of the creative process.
Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth?
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it.
If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The end is inevitable from the beginning. But if you believe that man can solve his own problems and is at nobody's mercy, then you will probably write melodrama.
Nobody knows what you want except you. And nobody will be as sorry as you if you don't get it. Wanting some other way to live is proof enough of deserving it. Having it is hard work, but not having it is sheer hell.
It is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minute.
My greatest joy comes from creativity: from feeling that I have been able to identify a certain aspect of human nature and crystallise a phenomenon in words.
The book, like the bicycle, is a perfect form.
I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.
The idea that one might use art for 'instrumental' reasons tends to set off alarm bells at the heart of the cultural elite, who contend that it's not a pill, that it shouldn't be asked to perform some specific function, especially something as egocentric as to 'cheer you up' or to 'make you a more empathetic person.'
I want to say at once that I frankly believe that Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter that has ever lived.... His songs are exquisite cameos of perfection, and each one of them is as beautiful as its neighbor. Irving Berlin remains, I think, America's Schubert.
I write stories that are already in the air, and I think it's important to have the correct listening device to tune in to that frequency.
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