Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art [Hardcover]

Julia Cameron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2005

In the tradition of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, an original and inspiring work from the bestselling author of The Artist's Way.

Each month, Julia Cameron receives hundreds of letters and e-mails from people around the world who have read her classic work on developing creativity, The Artist's Way, and who long to engage in further dialogue with her.

This book provides Julia's thousands of admirers with just that intimacy and illumination. Written in the form of correspondence from a wise, more experienced artist to a young artist who is full of turbulent self-doubt, Letters to a Young Artist echoes the many conversations Cameron has with all of the artists whose lives she has touched with The Artist's Way.

In these haunting and eloquent letters, the writer answers questions that are central to the artist's journey: How do I know that I am truly an artist? How can I find encouragement? How can I keep moving despite my fear? A rare window into the heart of the creative process, Letters to a Young Artist is an inspiredvolume from this leading authority on creativity and art.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's a good thing the young poet to whom Rilke famously wrote didn't have novelist, playwright and poet Cameron (The Artist's Way, etc.) for a mentor, or he would have given up on the idea of being a poet. Smug, arrogant and unimaginative, Cameron's combative letters ("You might enjoy Plexiglas cubes for tables for all I know") reveal little in the way of helpful instruction for a budding writer. Addressing herself to an imaginary young writer who seems like a caricature ("wearing black makes [X] feel more like an artist"), Cameron counsels that "creativity is like electricity": the artist merely plugs into the current and acts as a conduit. In this way, she observes, "a lot of masterpieces were made in passing" when the artist was less worried about the quality of the art than getting it down on canvas or paper. Yet she simultaneously insists on the importance of craft. Midway through their correspondence, she declares simplistically, "it is fun to make art." These letters can never substitute for the deeper insights of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, Mario Vargas Llosa's Letters to a Young Novelist or even Bret Lott's new and insightful Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer's Life. Agent, Elizabeth Winnick at McIntosh & Otis. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Cameron approximates the one-on-one mentoring she provides via written correspondence in this epistolary guide, but it is a one-on-one minus one since she presents her responses to letters from "X," but not X's letters. She does, of course, frame her replies so that the general idea of the inquiries and the aspiring artist's concerns are clear. And her fans will no doubt flock to this treatise as much as they have to her past titles, happy to hear more of her "Just do it!" dictum, and her advice to lay "a certain amount of track" every day. It must be said that Cameron's signature bluntness and no-nonsense approach do veer toward scornfulness and mockery here, which can be a turnoff, but mostly she is courteous and generous to X, whose blossoming success includes securing a grant, the sort of recognition Cameron's readers seek. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (April 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585424099
• ISBN-13: 978-1585424092
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #639,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years. She is the author of twenty-eight books, fiction and nonfiction, including her bestselling works on the creative process: The Artist's Way, Walking in This World, Finding Water, and The Writing Diet. A novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film, and television.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The 'X' Files readdressed, April 25, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art (Hardcover)

Julia Cameron is a fine writer and has been a valuable inspiration to many writers of all ages and degrees of development. Her famous book 'THE ARTIST'S WAY' has been absorbed in classrooms of literature and in lonely dens of minds bumping on writer's block. She has always afforded straightforward, tutorial advice that defined the path the young artist should follow to realize success.

It is therefore with some concern that LETTERS TO A YOUNG ARTIST: BUILDING A LIFE IN ART seems less supportive and more self-indulgently punitive than one would expect from this author. Perhaps it is the manner in which the book is formatTed. Cameron states in the beginning of this slim book that she has condensed (?homogenized) emails from her readers and students and has placed them in the form of responses to queries, each addressing "X" as the writer. There is some humor here and some instruction, but the lines of response to questions about state of mind, about philosophy, and need for nuRturing tend to veer more toward the caustic end of the spectrum.

In other words this book seems out of sync with Cameron's previous writings and for those who are looking for more solid pointers or tactics to approach - whether literarily or spiritually - then returning to the author's other books is recommended. Grady Harp, April 05

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb In It's Simplicity, January 26, 2006

By 

Jamie B. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art (Hardcover)

This little book is wonderful. It's tone isn't especially coddling (though if you are familiar with the Author's work, that should be no surprise), though it is plenty gentle, and actually quite replete with encouragement. It is the perfect summarization of what Cameron has presented us with over the years, and an excellent reminder that our climb up one hill inevitably brings us to the foot of another, that the reward for living our truth is indeed in the journey itself. A fantastic treat.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the Real Deal, July 5, 2005

By 

OpeningDialogue (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art (Hardcover)

Having had the pleasure of meeting and taking creativity classes with Ms. Cameron, I have been thrilled with how vividly and honestly this book conveys her loving, disciplined, no-nonsense demeanor. Her advice is focused and while it does go over ground she has covered previously, this book comes at the landscape from a new and refreshing angle. Again, Julia points the way for an artist to be both productive and sane, living a full and meaningful life. I am glad I bought my own copy since I found myself flagging page after page of her kind wisdom.