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HEROIC_ART

                                              July 7, 2006

  Let me tell you a story,
  it's a story often told,
  but many people seem to
  like hearing it over and
  over again.

     It is a romanticized,
     idealized tale of a
     great hero...

     The hero is a genius, who
     creates a new work of art
     with no reference to
     anything that has gone
     before --

     It is a totally new work, it
     is even a new *kind* of work,
     a pure act of creation.

     It is executed perfectly,
     because our hero worked
     very hard toward that
     perfection and refused to
     show it to the world at
     any earlier stage.

     All temptations to
     compromise were resisted.

     Many sacrifices were made.

     The work was completed
     through the compulsion of
     genius, without external
     encouragement or hope of
     worldly reward.

     And there it stands, an
     inspiration to all who choose
     to make an art with integrity
     without worry of popularity.

        It avoids all the trite motifs,
        such as the hero that comes through alone.





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