The Artistic Importance of Longing

I read an article on Huffington Post recently discussing how longing prevents us from fulfilling our dreams. The author made the obvious point that if we're stuck in the past and long for people, places, and things that are realistically unattainable, then we will never truly enjoy our lives. The essay hit home for me because I realized that I'm a person that does indeed live in the past and not "in the now". I long for my childhood, places I've lived, places I've never been to, my family, my friends, people that I've loved. I'm constantly suspended in a perpetual state of romanticism.

I also realized that all of these factors play an intricate part in my writing. They are daily inspiration and reoccurring themes and fodder.

This observation led me to wonder that without longing, would half of the world's greatest works of art, music, literature, cinema, etc. even exist?

F. Scott Fitzgerald had Ginevra King, a beautiful teenage socialite who dumped him due to his lower class status. Leaving a large psychological impression on the young man, King appeared in various forms (along with his future wife, Zelda) in Fitzgerald's writing (Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby and Isabelle Borge in This Side of Paradise). It is even speculated that the famous Gatsby line, "Poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls," was muttered by King's father. From the Princeton Weekly Bulletin, "King remained for Fitzgerald an archetype for the alluring, independent and upper class woman, ultimately unattainable by someone of a modest social background like himself."

Charlie Chaplin had Hetty Kelly, his first love that shot down his marriage proposal and died shortly thereafter much to Chaplin's heartbreak. The child-like innocence of Hetty and their relationship would remain a fixation on Chaplin for years. She arguably was the inspiration for many of Chaplin's heroines and also represented the "ideal woman" that he continually looked for throughout his life. Chaplin noted in his biography that he, ".... could not assimilate the full tragedy of it (Kelly's death)… I felt I had been robbed of an experience. Hetty was the one audience from the past I should have like to meet again.”

Daniel Johnston had his Laurie Allen, the object of affection and muse who helped inspire a great deal of his work. Daniel wrote letters and drew pictures for Laurie over the years, but the two had never met. During the SXSW screening of the acclaimed documentary about Johnston's life, titled, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston", the producers brought Laurie Allen onstage. Johnston freaked out and fled the theater, paced the sidewalk, and then disappeared before Laurie and he could ever speak.

James Ellroy had his mother, a rough-around-the-edges Angeleno who was brutally murdered. Ellroy admitted that her presence haunted him psychologically and sexually for years, becoming inspiration for his writings about 1950's Los Angeles crime (and cuasing drug habits, voyeuristic tendencies, and unhealthy relationships). Ellroy spent years on a quest to discover his mother's killer, even speculating that the Black Dahlia Killer murdered his mother (which I believe was proven false).

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had each other. Though the duo broke up almost thirty-five years ago, they both remain subject matters in their song-writing. Stevie and Lindsey have respectively written at least twenty songs about each other in both Fleetwood Mac and solo careers, such as "Dreams", "Go Your Own Way", "Silver Springs", and "Second Hand News". The lyrics off their most recent album, Say You Will, that are speculated to be about each other include, "Maybe now he could prove to her, that he could be good for her. That they should be together" (Stevie) and, "Saw your face yesterday, thinking on the days of old and the price that we paid for a love we couldn't hold" (Lindsey).

For many, wading in the muck of unrequited love is much more artistically fulfilling and inspiring than the potential reality. By not acting and continually longing, one's imagination can run wild and the fantasy much more rewarding. Is this behavior advantageous to living a healthy, normal lifestyle? Absolutely not....but who ever said that artists are normal?

What do you long for? Does your longing for certain people, places, and things inspire you and appear frequently in your work?