3
P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
Laureates. Excerpts
This need to make, to create, to invent is no doubt a fundamental human impulse. But to what
end? What purpose does art, in particular the art of fiction, serve in what we call the real world?
None that I can think of, at least not in any practical sense. A book has never put food in the
stomach of a hungry child. A book has never stopped a bullet from entering a murder victim’s
body. A book has never prevented a bomb from falling on innocent civilians in the midst of war.
Some like to think that a keen appreciation of art can actually make us better people; more just,
more moral, more sensitive, more understanding. Perhaps that is true; in certain rare, isolated
cases. But let us nor forget that Hitler started out in life as an artist. Tyrants and dictators read
novels. Killers in prison read novels. And who is to say they don’t derive the same enjoyment from
books as everyone else?
In other words, art is useless; at least when compared, say, to the work of a plumber, or a
doctor, or a railroad engineer. But is uselessness a bad thing? Does a lack of practical purpose
mean that books and paintings and string quartets are simply a waste of our time? Many people
think so. But I would argue that it is the very uselessness of art that gives it its value; and that the
making of art is what distinguishes us from all other creatures who inhabit this planet, that it is,
essentially, what defines us as human beings. To do something for the pure pleasure and beauty of
doing it. Think of the effort involved, the long hours of practice and discipline required to become
an accomplished pianist or dancer. All the suffering and hard work, all the sacrifices in order to
achieve something that is utterly and magnificently… useless.
Fiction, however, exists in a somewhat different realm from the other arts. Its medium is
language, and language is something we share with others, that is common to us all. From the
moment we learn to talk, we begin to develop a hunger for stories. Those of us who can remember
our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the Bedtime Story, when our
mother or father would sit down beside us in the semi-dark and read from a book of fairy tales.
Those of us who are parents will have no trouble conjuring up the rapt attention in the eyes of our
children when we read to them. Why this intense desire to listen? Fairy tales are often cruel and
violent, featuring beheadings, cannibalism, grotesque transformations, and evil enchantments.
One would think this material would be too frightening for a young child; but what these stories
allow the child to experience is precisely an encounter with his own fears and inner torments, in a
perfectly safe and protected environment. Such is the magic of stories: they might drag us down to
the depths of hell, but in the end they are harmless.
Paul Auster
—
Prince of Asturias Award
for Literature
2006
Excerpt from the speech given on
the occasion of receiving the Prince
of Asturias Award for Literature
on 20/10/2006.
