(Originally posted on February 12, 2013.)
There seems to be a sense that a true artist is drunk, drugged, or nucking futs. It’s almost as if there is a grand tradition of self-destructive and mentally abusive behavior within artists. Edgar Allan Poe is a great example. He was an amazing author, but he is depicted as mentally unstable and drunk. Whether this is true or an exaggeration is beside the point here. The point is that it feels like this has become the ‘norm’ in many people’s minds.
I’ve been like this in that I make jokes that I’d be a successful author if I drank more or if I was institutionalized, but this usually said in jest or to get startled expressions. I have no intention of entering the bottle or signing up to get put into a straitjacket. I’d still be writing, but I wouldn’t be the same. Sure, I have bouts with depression that can be crippling at times, but that doesn’t mean an artist has to be tortured. I know many artists who are the epitome of sane and they’re still successful. Sadly, I also know a lot of people who see me as an artist and take it upon themselves to ‘protect’ me from the trade. They see my writing as a hobby that shouldn’t be taken seriously or a path that will only lead to pain and self-destruction. I don’t believe I’ve ever done anything to earn this mentality, but they still watch me for signs of a alcoholism or mental instability. True, I’m in therapy alongside my wife right now and I was in therapy for feeling like I was about to snap and kill someone in high school. Yet, the fact that I’ve always been aware of my mindset and limits should be a signal that I’m fully capable of controlling my inner demons, vampires, orcs, and whatever other critters are lurking in my head.
I’ve wondered if the mentality steams from the way an artist thinks. Personally, I don’t think the way non-artists think and that causes an odd barrier. I can’t get excited about math and computers, but I will go on like a man possessed about writing. I look at situations and try to stare down the road for possible problems instead of handling the here and now. My side of a debate tends to be more than the simple ‘I’m for it/I’m against it’ mentality that many people have. I talk about things that are beyond the physical world, artistic vision, and other things that someone who isn’t artistic considers odd. Yet, I don’t really think this is enough to brand me as a candidate for any number of mental illnesses and an inevitable self-destruction.
So, where does the idea that an artist is tortured and unhinged come from?
Legends of Windemere 
I think sometimes people judge artists based on the experiences of some—that “all” are this way. I think all artists have a degree of sensitivity that makes them good in their field. The weight of genius is heavy. But opposition can be harmful. When you often hear, “This is a waste of time” or “You should be doing something else,” that can be damaging. Believe me, I know. Since I first began to write, I heard those words. Prayer, therapy, and medication helped.
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I’ve heard those phrases a lot. Even when I was selling books, people would say it because I wasn’t making enough money. People really don’t see writing as a good use of time unless you’re paying every bill with it.
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Yeah, writing seems an easy target for people who can only see Stephen King and J. K. Rowling as “successful writers” because money is the metric they use to judge worth. Yet people have turned against both from time to time for various reasons.
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True. They still think of big name authors as successful though. Doesn’t matter if they turn on them. The money side still makes them successful to your average person.
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I don’t know where the idea came from, but there are plenty of stories about mad artists that would leave the average person with the idea that to be artistic you have to be nuts. Van Gogh, Hemingway, Plath, Woolf, Tolstoy, and Fitzgerald struggles are well known and tend to support that idea.
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That might be it. People were just as fascinated by the author as they were the stories. So, the stereotype continued.
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Yup.
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It’s human nature that the juicy stories get the attention. You can see the trumped up versions in reality television today. Normal happy people don’t get the press, and that applied even back then.
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Reality TV is definitely a sign that things went in the wrong direction. I feel like it messed up a lot of expectations for stories and drama. Being cheap to make didn’t help.
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People do have a dual fascination with artists and celebrities. They acclaim the work and fixate on the creator, but also are hungry for gossip and seem very willing to tear their idol down.
Why do this? I don’t know, it’s just my observation.
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People love to see their idols fall. It’s an ancient fascination with hubris, I guess.
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