Literally Reruns – L’Erin Ogle – Ugly

This week’s entry into the archives is by the inimitable L’Erin Ogle. L’Erin always lands in an unexpected fashion, and I hope she doesn’t take the stunned silence that often follows her work personally, or incorrectly. It’s that in the case of something such as Ugly, the depth of the work and its refusal to be easily digested by the mind do not allow for the quick formation of intelligent comments. Nearly all the remarks that accompanied the story on its original release (including my own) are complimentary, yet not of great depth. For L’Erin’s work has to be examined and given time to sink in.

Four years have passed and metaphorical Ugly has yet to lose its power to challenge. Fortunately we can ask L‘Erin questions.

Q: The idea of protecting the Mute Muse beauty by essentially mangling them in other ways speaks to me of how our ideas are (at least in my mind) always superior to our resulting creations. Always never quite all the way home. The ones who get closest to the “dream” are the greatest artists. Was any of that in the intent of the story?

Q: It strikes me appropriate that the first Mute Muse is remembered, but not the work that was inspired. And yet with a writer it is usually the other way around. Damn, I’m struggling to place that in the form of a question–Hmmm, maybe what I want to ask is if it is actually the dream, not the tale nor the teller that really matters?

Leila

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Ugly

L’Erin’s responses:

Q: The idea of protecting the Mute Muse beauty by essentially mangling them in other ways speaks to me of how our ideas are (at least in my mind) always superior to our resulting creations. Always never quite all the way home. The ones who get closest to the “dream” are the greatest artists. Was any of that in the intent of the story?

A1: Great question! I think definitely that was a subconscious thought my mind decided to express! The glorious creation in my kind always comes out as a mangled mass that I then hack away at until it’s somewhat similar. But it never quite matches up!

Q: It strikes me appropriate that the first Mute Muse is remembered, but not the work that was inspired. And yet with a writer it is usually the other way around. Damn, I’m struggling to place that in the form of a question–Hmmm, maybe what I want to ask is if it is actually the dream, not the tale nor the teller that really matters?

A2: I’m not even sure, to tell you the truth! I think it’s sort of saying that sometimes people are discarded for things, and that sometimes the desire to create art and success can blind one to others needs/wants.