Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I received your letter and I am willing to honor your request for a "connection..." (more)
Key Phrases: art buddy, morning writing, making art, Great Creator, Virginia Woolf

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.)
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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

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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.com Sales Rank: #687,482 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 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 (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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 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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Julia Cameron fans can skip this one, July 2, 2005

By	Reader - See all my reviews

First, let me say that I'm a huge Julia Cameron fan. I ordered this book as soon as I saw it here. However, I was very disappointed. Julia takes on the persona of an aging old man who's writing letters to a very stereotypical, hip, cynical young artist. Unfortunately, Julia does not channel gruff old men well. It's very disconcerting to have her "voice" switch back and forth between a very forced "gruff old man" tone, and then have the real Julia accidentally seep out with gushing over flowers, colors, baking, and following one's heart. I wish she'd have just written with her own warm, encouraging "Julia" voice...the one all her fans love and enjoy. In trying to sound like a hardened old writer, she comes across as very unsympathetic, sarcastic, and demeaning. Not what we usually expect when seeking advice from Julia. (And the advice offered was a watered down version of what you can get in much better form from "Artist's Way" or "Right to Write"). Borrow this from the library if you want to read it...it's not one you'll mark up or want to read again and again like some of her others.