James Salter

James Salter’s new novel starts with the statement

“There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real.”

During a radio interview with the BBC last week the American author explained his statement by implying that our relationships, memories and perceptions are essentially vaporous until they are expressed in writing, and that the written word is superior to any other art. “None of [them] has the penetration or beauty or evocation of prose,” he added.

Clearly Salter was defending his craft as a writer. But his comment made me wonder whether he was right to implicitly discount the visual arts in this way. Is prose really the most definite, truthful and durable of the arts? When we set our impressions down in writing, is this our only claim against the arbitrariness and ethereality of the world? And is art truly condemned to second place in this regard?

There are certainly moments when words are the only appropriate medium. Our Neanderthal ancestors must have invented language as a tool that would aid the process of logical and critical thinking. Catching bison for dinner is made easier by having a name for the animal, where they are to be found and how to kill them. Name the seasons and you understand why bison don’t turn up from time to time. Experiment with wildebeest and you understand that there are alternatives when the bison aren’t around. You can paint these things on a cave wall, but the complexity of the issues will one day outpace the limitations of the visual image. Several eons later and words are considered the most appropriate method of conveying history, establishing law and reporting news. It's the medium of reason.

Is our conclusion that art is therefore inherently less useful than words? Studying art can tell us about its creator, and its possible audience. But it is less able to critically assess the world ‘out there’. A painting of an historical event can never be a substitute for written evidence and analysis.

In his book “What good are the Arts”, John Carey opined that prose is the only medium that can effectively self-criticize. When Martin Amis, for example, writes a book review, he is analyzing the text with text, and when he writes his own novels he does so in the same medium. Contrast this with painters who could surely never comment upon the art of painting with a painting itself. Could they?

“There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream and only those things preserved in the visual arts have any possibility of being real.”

“There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream and only those things preserved in architecture have any possibility of being real.”

“There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream and only those things preserved in film have any possibility of being real.”

“There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream and only those things preserved in dance have any possibility of being real.”