PETER ESTERHAzv
The Problem Facing the Writer Today
The non-existent problem
A writer who is engaged in writing about the problems of a writer is
either l.)not a writer; 2.)not writing about problems; or 3.)does not have
any problems to write about right now. A writer who is distressed by the
problems of a writer right now is, I might add, not a writer, at least not
now. A writer who is not writing is not a writer.
Stalin's teaching
"You got a man, you got yourself a problem; you haven't got a man,
you haven't got yourself a problem," the illustrious teacher of the Masses
is supposed to have said. Now, then, the writer is a man.
The problem of the problem
According to the Hungarian Etymological Dictionary, a problem is
1.)a practical or theoretical question proposed for a solution; 2.)a question
that is difficult to solve, a question that is perplexing. In short, a problem
is something in need of a solution. We would like to know where the
shoe pinches, where the crux of the problem lies hidden. That is to say,
we begin by assuming that there is a shoe, and that there is a crux.
We see the world as a set of problems. The European mind is set on
problem-solving. It wants to eliminate the cause of the problem, its root,
whereas "problems" are part and parcel of things. War, Auschwitz, or
Sarajevo, these are not problems insofar as they cannot be solved; there is
nothing to eliminate, unless the human being, of course. However, that is
problematic.
The problem of the writer
The writer's problem is writing. Words, sentences. There is nothing
to solve here. The writer is the man for whom language is a problem.
This is the necessary (if not sufficient) condition for being a writer. This is
the writer's real problem. He has no other. Which is as much as I wish to
say on the subject.
