Lorene M.

Wisdom Of Writers: The Purpose Of A Writer

I gotta say this: when I firstly read this quote by Albert Camus I thought it is a total BS. But then I started to wonder why would such a smart dude say something like this.

We cannot even imagine how many emotions have been consumed thanks to writing. How much anger went into tons of pieces of paper and how much pain has been comforted by deep diving into a book. We know writing has this effect, but we cannot imagine the scale of it, which makes me thing this quote is very true:

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“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.”

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27 comments

  2. Absolutely, I believe that writing is very cathartic for the writer in many ways and in terms of the reader can be a source of education, fun and practical.
    Every word that has ever been written is an insight into the life and mind of the writer even if the subject matter is amusing.

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  10. This is very true. Over time written words from time past have been guides to teaching us history. Although civilization has come with its perks, writing has been pushed down. How do we then keep a semblance of our time and age for the next generation? Through writing my friends. The writers of the bible knew this long ago.

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  12. Lorene, there can be no reason nor purpose. Camus can say what he wants. I don’t think he’s correct.
    Reason or purpose make for directed writing.
    But the basic fact is it’s your Destiny to write.
    No goals either unless you are phoney or self-delusive.
    Most of the above comments talk about what writing DOES to the others or to society or to themselves. All of them put the cart before the horse.
    The daily need to get the world right, some famous poet has said. He should have said ‘my world’.
    Let’s move the discussion from the supply side to the demand side. Who ever asked me to write? Would the world have collapsed if i hadn’t written?
    (More credibly i personally might have. Not true but am just saying).
    It’s truthful to say good writing, not a heightened form of journalism, is automatic.
    In other words, a writer writes because he has no option but to write, it’s his Destiny.
    Destiny is insuperable by any weapon-except one.
    To ace Destiny, one must deliberately abjure writing.
    It takes the power of renunciation, to answer a different call, a different Destiny.
    Otherwise, writing is just done because one can’t help it. It’s no more nor less admirable than an innervating habit.
    I have said these things from my point of view as a “writer” not as an evaluator of its purpose or effect, about which I am only secondarily concerned.
    No true writer primarily writes for a readership or a market though he may start writing with that notion or be required to edit his writing subsequently for one.
    That’s a lot of words I know but I can’t help it. 😊

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  13. Music set the sickness free for me in the beginning, and then I found literature. Then, that wasn’t enough. I was so … everything, until I found writing, and the self-reflection and analysis through writing. Writing saved my soul and made me who I am today. If I do nothing else in life, I will always have writing.

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