On Late Mastery

Posted 19 November, 2007 in Writing Life |

Derwent May, writing in the Telegraph, argues that despite our culture’s fetishistic focus on youth, many great writers do their best work in their later years:

Youthful excitement may produce remarkable books. But in many writers, the slow, steady practice of their art, combining with a great burst of vitality towards the end of their life, can lead to extraordinary achievements.

May points to Philip Roth, whom he suggests (correctly, in my opinion) is the greatest living novelist. The young Roth produced the masturbatory fantasia Portnoy’s Complaint (still one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read*), but it was not until he was in his sixties that he produced his masterpiece, American Pastoral.

Similarly, Henry James came to mastery late in life, surpassing his earlier achievements with the sublime late-style novels The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl.

While there are certain authors who achieve great success right out of the gate — Bret Easton Ellis, Jonathan Safran Foer, Vincent Lam — the tendency for writers is to work towards mastery of their craft. (Ellis has matured with each successive book; Foer seems stuck in a rut; it’s too early to tell with Lam.) Youthful exuberance can be useful for an author, but exuberance alone will not produce enduring literature. Not for nothing did the poet refer to “The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.”**

*And not, as one friend used to think, about a rock band called “Port Noise Complaint.”

**Postgrad, my ass!

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