“I simply got bored.
We later learn that boredom is not Ula’s full motivation, but Ula’s nonchalance about ruining people’s lives stems from an obsession on my part with art monsters. In Jenny Offil’s (beautiful, perfect) novel Dept. of Speculation, she talks about the fact that most art monsters are men, because women are still burdened with the work of running the household and raising the kids while making art of their own.
I loved the idea of writing an art monster who was a woman, and who was monstrous not simply because she was more interested in making art than in childrearing, but because she did something actually monstrous.
As a society, we have a complicated relationship with art monsters—there’s no shortage of artists whose work is exceptional but whose actions confound our enjoyment of that work. It’s difficult to reconcile our connection to a great artist who is also a terrible human, just as it’s difficult to reconcile our love for a family member whose actions harm us or others.
Mags Cohen and 4 other people liked this
