Truth and Grievance

Oscar Wilde once said, “I put all my genius into my life, I put only my talent into my works.”  He, like Virginia Woolf has a singular vision of unbiased writing.  They believe that the quintessential piece of literature is derived from truth and is written without resentment.  A work of literature without an opinion is their golden apple.  Virginia Woolf adamantly expressed this within her essay “A Room of One’s Own.”  Her collective idea of writing with integrity exhibited complete ignorance of the grievances in one’s life.  She made various references to the imaginary Ms. Carmichael’s style of writing.  Not once did Carmichael incorporate the spurns within her own life, but rather present the possibility of a tale without opinionated interjection.  So Woolf derives that importance lies in not how we write, but in truth and separation from personal criticism. 

Within our lives, we are expected to contend numerous aspects without biases but what Woolf fails to recognize is her own digression from human character.  Scientifically, an individual formulates an opinion about someone or something within the first fourteen seconds of being in its presence.  With this fact muddled in the back of our minds, how can we separate literature from opinion?  We must stand for something when writing, otherwise what is the purpose for writing at all?  Woolf deviates from her own theory in various cases.  Take “A Room of One’s Own” for example.  Every word is wrapped around a profound opinion.  The stream of consciousness that she so strongly asserts is by nature accustom to opinion and bias.  John Jakes asserted, “Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”  Sometimes our grievances define who we are and how we came to be.  Could Woolf not have developed her literature if she had not been exposed and subjected to the very controversies she assesses?  I agree with Woolf that our writing should express a greater purpose than our opinion, and should not be crippled by the occurrences in our own lives, but I also feel it is important to recognize the aspects that affect our writing, and in some cases it is important that they shine through.  I ascertain this only for the literature that has so greatly affected me through the suffering that has so immensely affected those who literature is derived from.  Without grievances, incredible stories, such as A Thousand Splendid Suns, could never have been developed.