Dear Colleagues,
Although our minds have been clearly preoccupied with many geo-political-religious issues during the past few months, I found the return to the subject of beauty quite refreshing. The discussion of artists, their creations, and whether art itself is Quality, reminds me of the fact that Lila is, essentially, a cohesive study of creation and the moral responsibility of the creator(s). It is certainly telling that the book's narrative begins with the sexual coupling of the narrator and Lila, and ends with the doll (who was imbued with the qualities of both Lila and the narrator). In the book we see the lone creator, the artist, who is reluctant to have his creation, ZMM, turned into a commercial flick by Hollywood. This represents the simplest creative responsibility. We then have a pair of creators, Lila and the narrator who are often at odds with each other, but who, also, desperately need each other. Their creation is far more complex, and as a result, they have a more difficult moral dilemma. Finally, we have the synchronistic societal mass of creators who are responsible for the "Giants" that they create but who often shirk these responsibilities, preferring to ignore the fact that the creations were really theirs, leaving these "Giants" to run automatically, and eventually amok. It is easy to get bogged down in the details of Lila, but if Lila isn't essentially about creation=quality, responsibility for creation=morality then I must have read another book. Lest we not forget, Lila, translated, means "creation".
With fondest regards!
The Bard
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