Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

Chapter 13, Mitchell


VII. MAINTAIN PERSONAL ANONYMITY

Creativists do not put their names on what they make. They don't sign their work. All products are offered anonymously.

This principle is extremely important. Much of what kills creative spirit in this society is tied to personal names and reputations. When what you do receives attention, both favorable and unfavorable, everyone, including yourself, forms expectations of you and your work. Creativists realize that the work itself is the sole source of merit, not the mind that creates it. They also recognize that individuals are never responsible for a creation. Creativists are merely standard-bearers of the collective mindset. We're all influenced by what we read, what we see, and what we hear. Stamping our name on what we bring to being is egotism in its grandest sense. This egotism affects our art, both in its conception and reception.

Imagine the great novel brewing in your brain. You've gathered a sense for the way people act in love, and out of this understanding comes characters and situations. You begin writing. The characters become real, and as the book unfolds before you, your thoughts drift to how others will receive it. You imagine great acclaim. You think of what the New York Times Book Review will say. You imagine your name in course catalogs, and perhaps journalists naming generations after you.

At this point, you've lost your intuition. The characters are no longer real, as now they've become symbols for your time. Let's say your book gets rave reviews. You're invited to talk on television. You give lectures at colleges around the campus. You become a household name.

And what then? What happens when you write your next book? What if it isn't as good as the first, or more importantly, what if it's altogether different in style and theme.

You'll lose your audience. People will say, "Yeah. But his early stuff was great." They will forever compare what is new to what came before it.

And sadly they'll compare other writers to your work as well. Hemingway is a good example. His style of narrative and dialogue had lasting influence on later writers, all of which were compared to him. Such a comparison is by nature a denigration. We're not quite Hemingway.

The truth is that he was simply responding to his times. The art of writing had progressed to a point where athletic prose would be successful. It became a useful vehicle for expression.

Imagine a world where no one would know whether the same author wrote The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell To Arms. Of course these two works would be compared, as their style is clearly recognizable. A great artist will be recognized despite the lack of his name.

But here's the hinge: other writers would be free to use the style and share in its success. I'm not talking mere copycats here, but creativists picking up on a trend and allowing it to freely develop, to evolve in as natural a way as can occur. This is the real benefit of anonymity. It promotes the free and unrestrained evolution of art, both for the individual and for society.