Comic #5599: dear-muse

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Description

Here’s the transcription of the comic:

Panel 1:
Person 1: Dear Muse, will I write anything great and lasting?
Muse: Hard to say. What year is it?

Panel 2:
Muse: Here’s how literature works: people build up a set of agreed-upon moral and aesthetic values until they become a sort of monocultured gestalt.

Panel 3:
Muse: Then, when it’s harvest time, a bunch of young people come and cut it down. This is when classics get written.

Panel 4:
Muse: If you harvest too early, you’re reactionary—the seeds you collected are bitter and hard. If you harvest too late, you’ll get squishy musty stuff, enjoyed by people with palates only for the familiar.

Panel 5:
Person 1: How do I know what time it is?
Muse: Well, have you had any grand wars that produce a sort of ethical vacuum? A vertigo of the soul? A whole generation convinced they are the first to know truth and suffering and wandering in lost places? That sort of deal?

Panel 6:
Person 1: Not really, no.

Panel 7:
Muse: Sounds like it’s time to sow. Go find some young people without fear and crush them under the burden of your value structure. Two generations hence, the arts will flourish.

Panel 8:
Person 1: I… Ah. I see.

Panel 9:
Muse: The other thing is I’ve seen your writing and it’s trash.

Panel 10:
Person 1: I KNEW IT!

Source: smbc-comics.com