"I feel that the final purpose of art is to intensify -- even, if necessary, to exacerbate -- the moral consciousness of people. In particular, I think the novel at its best is the most moral of the art forms. You are exploring the interstices of human behavior -- which is the first approach to religious experience for many of us, especially since the organized religions don't begin to offer sufficient account of the terrible complexities of moral experience and its dark sibling, moral ambiguity. The wisest rule of thumb for the would-be moralist is: There are no answers. There are only questions." - Norman Mailer, from "The Spooky Art: Thoughts on Writing"
Is it necessary in the novel to answer questions of morality? I think of the novels I've loved most, and they all seem to have in common a lack of moral certainty. Two that come to mind are Toni Morrison's Beloved and Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Both of these novels seem to me to run deep with moral ambiguity.
Novels that resonate in me are about choice and uncertainty. Doing the wrong thing for the right reason (or vice versa) - or not knowing what action is the most right or the worse wrong - is what keeps me up at night, gnaws at my soul, provides the most compelling conflict. For me, the final purpose of art is about presenting choices and helping us experience the aftermath of those choices, so that we may choose wisely for ourselves.
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