Generally speaking, a true artist is someone who can make innovative works. This is not only what many artists strive for but also what the art world demands. As to artistic innovation, it is a new representation of art both in terms of content and form. In other words, artistic innovation can be regarded “as a complete departure from the existing conventions” (Castañer and Campos 32), particularly those conventions which have received widespread public recognition. In The Puttermesser Papers, Rupert, a painter, who has the desire to innovate in painting, gives an innovative interpretation to his artistic works. While in Foreign Bodies, Leo has an innovative penchant for classical symphonies. However, both of their aspirations are besieged by popular artistic fad, which leads them to the pitfall of artistic imitation.
3.1.1 Rupert’s Painting Representation for Innovation
In The Puttermesser Papers, Rupert’s aspiration is to innovate classical oil painting. However, in reality, Rupert is a copyist of French neoclassical paintings. He used to travel throughout Europe and worked as a prolific designer of billboards and merchandise packaging. When he finds it difficult to enjoy doing this commercial work, he begins making a living by copying French Neoclassical paintings in the form of postcards. In this case, Rupert’s aspiration to innovate turns to a self-interpretation of innovation.
Conclusion
Ozick puts her literary characters into a dilemma between creativity and imitation. In their personal lives, both James in Heir to the Glimmering World and Puttermesser in The Puttermesser Paper want to live against the fixed life normalcy to achieve their self-making, but fall into the trap of imitation. For artistic creation, both Rupert in The Puttermesser Paper and Leo in Foreign Bodies have the artistic aspirations to create their own innovative artworks, but finally run their artistic careers in compliance with commercialization. All of them have the aspiration to make/create something of their own, however, none of them can escape the captivity of imitation. These dilemmas reflect two kinds of tension: the tension between self-making and fixed life normalcy, and the tension between artistic creation and commercialization.
For James and Puttermesser, the failure in the tension between self-making and fixed life normalcy comes mostly because they are too weak in their forming years. Overwhelmed by the request of solidified life normalcy, James and Puttermesser find it hard to take their own ways to revolt against it. So, they take the opposite approach to depart from the fixed life routes, expecting that the other way would help to create a way of self-making. Unfortunately, the counteraction leads them to another form of imitation, such as the models from the Bear Boy Books and the folklore golem, both are imitations out of imitation.
For Rupert and Leo, their struggle in the tension between artistic creation and commercialization suggests the great influence of the social trend. Although Rupert and Leo have strong aspirations to create innovative artworks of their own, the commercialization trend in the artistic field lures them to conform to commercialized imitation. Succumbing to the tremendous commercial profits, they give up their artistic pursuit of originality and innovation and devote themselves to the mass production of postcards of neoclassical paintings and homogenized Hollywood movie music.
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