100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl

Author:Sarah Ruhl
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780374711979
Publisher: Faber & Faber

57. What of aesthetic hatred, and is it useful?

What is the nature of aesthetic hatred, and is it at all useful? Is it possible that the people who hate my work the most, experience the most bile rising in their throats—are these people in fact my greatest treasures because their experience of the work is the most visceral and profound?

And what of petty, eviscerating theatrical gossip, and is it at all useful? I recently went to see the Dalai Lama speak, and he inveighed against senseless gossip, and I thought, I am doomed. Because my profession requires large doses of senseless gossip. It is how we cast, how we choose our collaborators, and how we relax at parties. But what is the difference between senseless gossip and true dialogue about an object, an object that meant to please but in fact gave no pleasure?

Are we to believe with William Hazlitt that there is a pleasure in hating? Otherwise, why would we go to the theater, knowing that we will hate with as much frequency as we will love? Does so-called senseless gossip advance the art form? Why do we experience anger when a piece of art gives no pleasure, though it was intended to give pleasure? How is it that we feel harmed? People think that in order to save the theater we need more good plays. Perhaps we need more bad plays.

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