Art and the Transformation of the World

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I heard a great David Foster Wallace quote the other day about how art (specifically fiction) can be an agent of transformation in the world even when it doesn't seem like it could or should.

Look man, we'd probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is? In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what's human and magical that still live and glow despite the times' darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.

 

About the Poster
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC