Most of the fiction writers I know struggle to make a living from their writing and have to take second jobs. And for those people it's important to remember that it's not a failure on their part: It's a structural problem that comes with the practice of art.
You talk about a resurgent "market triumphalism." Have our attitudes toward the marketplace changed since the book came out?
That I do think has changed. Beginning in the early 1990s, we got an era of market triumphalism in this country. Those who sincerely believed that the market is the best way to deliver all things are still enjoying their moment.
It means that these other realms that are not as well delivered in that way are suffering. This includes questions of how we fund higher education, secondary education, healthcare, how we fund the humanities, the arts and pure science. And since the early '90s, the move has been to try to do all of this through private enterprise.
On that note, one of the critics of your book accused you of having "a hippy disdain for 'the market economy.' " Is that fair?
I think it was fair when I began, but I don't think it's fair now. I began with a real attachment to the gift-exchange side of this equation, and in a sense the book overemphasizes that, intentionally so because I felt that it was not well described or thought about. But as I said in my afterword, I ended up realizing the real problem was to have a consciousness about the two realms and to think about ways they could communicate usefully with each other.
So I have nothing against the marketplace, when it's applied to the things it works well doing. And my books are for sale.
Your book has a real following among artists and writers. But most people turn to a book on creativity for solutions, practical advice on how you can channel "the artist within." Your book is more philosophical.
I suppose there are two kinds of practical guides: One is a guide that explains how you can change something, and do it differently. Another kind shows what you cannot change and describes the situation clearly -- which I think is also a help, to understand that the nature of artistic practice means the artist is often disconnected from the marketplace. It relieves people of the false assumption that if they were doing something different, they would be able to make more money from their art.
