Short Fiction · Theme
Art and Creativity
How Short Fiction develops Art and Creativity.
The struggle to create and express art is a central theme, seen in the musician who cannot master her instrument, the Chain Gang's spontaneous song, and the yearning to capture fleeting beauty before it is lost.
Where it surfaces
- The Chain Gang
The spontaneous, collective singing of the chain gang is portrayed as a transcendent, untaught art form—'Music itself, a master-presence'—that emerges from the depths of human suffering.
- The Reward of an Apostate
The narrator's former life was one of secret, ecstatic worship of beauty and art, stored in the 'wonder-house' of their brain, but this creative capacity is lost after their apostasy.
- To Strive and Fail
The protagonist's desperate attempt to play the zither and capture the inner song represents the struggle to express artistic vision.