"He wanted to write. He was waiting for the moment when he would reach such a pitch of despair and loathing that he would have to lash out, and then everything important and essential would pour out of him, not just the superfluous and incidental. That moment, however, hadn't yet arrived. He didn't yet feel badly enough about things to be able to write."
Kornel Esti
by
Deszö Kosztolányi
Deszö Kosztolányi
It's not completely true, of course; what is? But there's a lot of truth here with respect to anger (again with the anger) being the source of writing. If you're not angry about something, why would you write? Writing is an act of protest, either against something specific or against the unjust universe in general.
I think that may be why most (nearly all) great literature is about misery and death and unhappiness. (Cue Steve Martin and his banjo: "Oh, murder and death and grief and sorrow!") Because it's hard to get angry about being happy.
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