Customer Reviews

Letters to a Young Artist: Building a Life in Art

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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

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.

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.

The last time I cried when I turned the final page of a book was Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones." Julia Cameron's "Letters to a Young Artist" is quite different than Goldberg's work.... But the emotion was the same. "I was having so much fun `being with you', Julia - please don't stop now!"

I am a long-term fan of Julia Cameron. The first time I read "The Artist's Way" it was because so many of my coaching clients were fans. The one thing about that book that bothered me was what I perceived as Cameron's whiny voice. I have really enjoyed watching her evolve through her follow-up books - and her tone shifting along the way.

In "Letters" her ton shifts from the beginning of the letters to "X" as she goes along. I liken her tone to Simon Cowell of American Idol... because she tells the truth without any sugar coating... so it might make some readers angry.

My recommendation is to look underneath those first appearances of temperament - and read the incredible truths which pour out of these pages - nearly every page of my copy is underlined and dog eared.

Listen: "Making art takes guts. Choosing to be vulnerable and exposed rather that safely blocked is a risky venture. The ultimate reward, however, is truly great art." (p. 9)

"Cultivate an attitude of expectancy, for it's expectancy that keeps us alert and optimisti. Attention and optimism are necessary to the long haul." (pg. 61).

"Art is a spiritual calling, and like any vocation it is subject to the dark night of the soul." P. 94

"There is one trick to setting goals, I think. And that is to always leave enough breathing room for the divine to enter." (p. 138)

Now you can see why I cried. This book is absolutely incredible and has been my almost constant companion, always open, since I read it the first time. It is literally packed with thoughts to prompt both my writing and my creative process.

This is a book which would make Rainer Rilke proud - I get the feeling he would suggest we live the questions this book evokes - not judge the book on its tone, instead allow the truths within to take us on a journey through our days.

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.

Cameron opens up her private letters to aspiring artists using her experience, wit, humor, and extensive wisdom gained from the many dues paid in her life. This is a nuts and bolts reply coming from a Hollywood insider whose been in the trenches and experienced the best and worst of the professional artist lifestyle. Cameron gives the harsh reality and breaks apart the myth of a lyrical existence. Art and commerce are a strange and deadly brew in L.A. - and Cameron gives her raw honest look at the life art can and can't offer.

This writer (I'd never even heard of her) belittles and demoralizes her imaginary correspondant to the point that any useful or inspiring energy is lost (if it's there at all, it's hard to tell). I pray no actual student of writing or art ever has this woman as a teacher. Cameron is interested in Cameron, asserting her aggressive will, shoving her hideous personality down the reader's throat. She sounds like one of these barking dogs from a cable news debate.

The advice in this book is stellar. If you are a real artist, you will recognize your own voice, doubts and desires.

another distillation of the salient points of julia cameron's The Artist's Way, this is a good book for anyone who's not going to read any of the others. a primer of sorts, this rilke rip off is inspirational in it's "teachy" way...julia is still julia, and the poetry and accidental wisdom of the rilke "letters to a young poet" is far superior. still, they are two different things, books, texts and neither benefits from any confusing comparison.

cameron continues, predictably, to hold up the morning pages, artist's date and weekly walk as tenants of her faith. she continues to offer insight from her personal and professional experience. there is not much that is new here--but there is plenty of support in this book for her original teaching, which continues to be supportive of artists of all kinds in a kinds in her companionable way.

she supposes an actual correspondence with a penitent male artist--handling in her letters to him the issues of relationships vs. art, sex vs. art, talking about art vs. art, high art vs. making art, addiction vs. art, sobriety vs. art, slow and steady vs. indulgent moods and art making, etc. in her answers, which are all we, as readers, are privy too, she encapsulates the artist's way with a practiced expertise.

as i read all things cameron, i felt a bit of a let down for the lack of new revelations. i was annoyed with the whiny artist correspondent, and found him predictably arrogant, angry, indulgent and useless. i wished she had supposed a woman art maker--or a colleague or peer. but that is where the new possibilities lie, i suppose.

while tempted by the brilliance of rilke's original text, cameron strives to re-iterate her how-to knowledge in a form that disappoints. it seems a rote response to the questions one knows she's been asked a million times. it seems a surface diagnosis. it seems a skimming of the cliches of artmaking.

still, i love her. i read her every word. i collect each new encapsulation of the franchise and recommend her heartily.

I can hardly see the author (or her letter-writing character), perched on so high a post, talking down to the lowly young artist. "Letters to a Young Artist" may serve well to discourage if not batter the fledgling artist before he or she has even had a chance to find their own voice and style. Those less fledgling may simply toss it with some degree of disgust at the arrogance and cliche treatment of the artistic process. It's not so much that there isn't the occasional grain of truth in the advice given, as that the occasional grain is lost in its tone and cavalier treatment.

This collection of letters is too obviously constructed for a book and is not an authentic exchange with an authentic questioner. Indeed, author Julia Cameron makes it clear these letters are a hodge podge of those she says she receives from fans, a conglomerate of questions and wonderings, seeking guidance and inspiration.

"Dear X" is the salutation heading up this collection of fabricated letters. That alone rather puts one off as lacking in authenticity (or semblence of), abundant only in added chill. How much better to give a letter writer a name, a voice, a persona that would come alive for the book reader. More often than not, the letters begin with a weakly disguised "you write that..." as segue for the missing letter in the exchange. It would have been far more fascinating to have been able to read both sides to this conversation.

Cameron's style (she takes on the voice of an elderly male writer, which in itself lacks authenticity and leaves me wondering - why?) is brash and bullying. Her advice, what there is of it, is so obvious that it offers little value. Mostly, it reads like one long brag perhaps constructed only of hot air (only the dissatisfied are bullies?). Here and there, inexplicably interspersed with literary advice, is advice for the lovelorn. Again, why?

This effort pales in comparison to similar efforts to offer beginning writers a hand up, done brilliantly, and I suggest those searching for such will find much more satisfaction, advice, and encouragement in Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life," Rainer Marie Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet," Joyce Carol Oates' "The Faith of a Writer," Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," Stephen King's "On Writing," or a long list of others.