The Purpose of a Writer is to be Read
Is this your first time visiting The Gentleman’s Journal? Visitors are referred to the Preface and Masthead–the former being a collection of explanatory articles and the latter being mere whimsy; the Portfolio houses the œuvre of the Editor, mr Adam Mitchell Bernard Bond of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Library is replete with referrals to others of value and a host of resources; and the Private Collections are furnished with the verse and prose to which the Editor has some affinity.
Doctor Samuel Johnson, LL.D. – the literary patron of this journal – reminds the more idealistic among us that naught but a blockhead writes but for money. I cannot be justly excluded from this dicta, though I receive very little if anything but personal satisfaction from my writing.
Granted, I find appreciation for my labours amongst my friends and a handful of critics, but no return upon my investment in the art has hitherto been forthcoming. This hard truth neither dampens my spirit, nor lessens my ambition. Nevertheless, I am hard-pressed to afford the luxury and privilege of authorship, for – as any creative person intimately knows – art demands much energy but offers few palliative or restorative reliefs.
Art does not condescend,
To treat with fragile men,
Demands it makes,
The Spirit breaks,
Our energies expend.
The purpose of a writer is to be read, he cannot hope to satisfy human want if his manuscripts lay strewn about his desk or shoved into dusty cases for the worm of time to chew apart. He must – if he has any hope of improving his art – offer them up to the judgement of men and then withdrawing observe the reaction – albeit indifference – of his critics.
This public portfolio serves that purpose, it presents my verse; my dissertive and expository, argumentative, narrative and anecdotal, satirical and whimsical prose; my annotative and commentative analyses and criticism; my more introspective and less stylistically-proficient observations; and associated works of visual art (e.g. sketches, paintings, sculpture) that are often derivative of my writing.
This journal has thus ceased to serve the public as a forum for thought and has succumbed to the dictates of vain ambition, providing a means and end for my own portfolio of writing. It no longer embodies a lofty ideal, nor pretends to be useful or meritorious. It is, at first and last, a sample of that which defines the person of mr Adam Mitchell Bernard Bond in all of his pedantry and pretension, in all of his pride, impetuosity, and pertinacity.
I pray that my readers, should they suffer me the time of day, will derive considerable pleasure from that which is herein publisht, and ask them to extend whatever good will they can muster and objectively1 criticise or condemn according to their conscience.
Yr. Most Humble & Obt. Svt.,
Adam Mitchell Bernard Bond
- Subjective review derivative of ad hominem fallacy, false calumnies, and seditious libel will be ignored as destructive to the purposes of this endeavour. ↩
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