Like reams of unsent letters that simmer with tales of unrequited emotions, rejected manuscripts singe with their own pathos. Every manuscript that lies decaying in a pile has a story to tell. Each of them was once diligently written and sent to the publishers with a hope of a favourable response. Many of them were meted out with a harrowing editorial silence. No response. No guarantee of a response. A gruelling wait would have corroded into the hope with which they were sent and the faith with which they were written.
Faith is fragile. In creative endeavours, it is even more fragile. At the end of the day, a creative work is an expression of the artist’s faith in his imagination which, at times, becomes difficult to defend. It is easier to have faith in your rationality than to have faith in your imagination. Unlike reason, imagination is not founded on tangible inferences but on airy figments artistically cobbled together into a stream of thought. Imagination is thus, a leap of faith–a faith in figments. Editorial rejections, among other things, are felt as an assault on that fragile faith.
A writer or an artist engaged in any creative process is attempting to weave together a complete universe out of his/her imagination. Inundated in his imagination, it becomes difficult for the artist to judge whether what he/she is creating has any meaning outside the sphere of his/her imagination. One tends to wonder if creative people are merely solipsistic prisoners of their imagination. In such moments, a rejection is felt as a slight, making them feel as if they are drifting, rudderless, in the streams of their imagination.
-30-
Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.Please send in your feed back and comments to editor@madrascourier.com
