Ann Althouse pointed to this quote by Jean Cocteau:
"Note just what it is about your work the critics don't like, then cultivate it. That's the part of your work that's individual and worth keeping."
There's some discussion in the comments to her post about whether this is always, sometimes, or never true, and under what conditions. I think it's probably sometimes true.
How do you know? Perhaps it has to do with how much you respect the critics in question (and if the only reason you don't respect them is because of what they say about you, you should probably re-evaluate that.)
I put this post under "New paradigms in homemaking" because that's my main work right now. In general, after all, a mother's choice to stay home attracts a great deal of criticism (to be fair, so does the choice to work outside the home).
Of course, I don't have too many critics of my homemaking in specific, and the ones I do have (at least the ones who would say so to my face) are uniformly critics I respect. I am picturing the following conversation:
MARK: I think you should wash the quilt on the kids' bed. It smells like pee.
ME: I suppose I shouldn't expect someone like you to understand my art.
Nevertheless I think I'll keep the quote in mind...
Comments