One reason the human race has such a low opinion of itself is that it gets so much of its wisdom from writers.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We all have our opinions. But I suspect that writers are actually less worth heeding, because they regard themselves as so uniquely important, so culturally sensitive.
Writers have opinions - that, in part, is why they write. Therefore they have strong likes and dislikes.
The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.
People don't understand how much influence they can actually have on a writer, how much a writer's feelings can be hurt, how much they can deflect his course when they raise their voices like they did over highly personal books like 'Panama' or 'Bullet Park.'
There's one thing I know for sure: When I'm most opinionated, my writing sucks.
As humans with egos and feelings, none of us wants to be pilloried. But as thinkers and writers, it's our job to express opinions forthrightly and without qualifying them out of existence.
But I do think it's important to remember that writers do not have a monopoly of wisdom on their books. They can be wrong about their own books, they can often learn about their own books.
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
It's with bad sentiments that one makes good novels.
What's the point in being an unpopular writer? It just doesn't make a lot of sense. For me it doesn't, anyway.