The narrator contemplates how we judge new writers with different standards. On pages 106-107:
"But none of them would go so far as to say 'He's a great writer, he has great talent.' They did not even credit him with talent at all. They did not do so, because they did not know."
The passage goes on, but we'll discuss it in our own way here.
As the narrator points out astutely, we often guard ourselves when forming an opinion on things that are new to us, whether it's a writer, artist, or even just opinions we haven't heard before.
How many times have you seen or heard something unfamiliar and said, "Well...it's interesting." Or maybe you used other words like "bold" or "creative" or "different."
In that moment, you shied away from a true opinion or judgment of the value of the work. This is fine, but it's worth thinking about why this happens to us.
First off, we don't want to look like fools if it turns out to be silly or fraudulent. Sometimes new works of art are so radical, our first reaction might be to think it's a joke or scam.
In this case, we guard ourselves, even if we like it very much, just to prevent other people from judging our taste. This is perfectly fine. It seems to me to be a part of human nature, and then as time goes on, we can be more sure in our statements of opinion.
But other times, we just don't know. There are so many pieces of music I didn't like on my first listen that are now some of my favorite pieces. They went from odd-sounding on the first listen to truly moving, emotional experiences (I'm thinking of the third movement of Prokofiev's 6th Piano Sonata, if you're wondering).
Sometimes the greatest, most revolutionary art takes a long time for us to understand and grasp. Moby-Dick was notoriously panned in early reviews, and yet it is widely recognized as one of the greatest novels ever written these days.
We get it wrong so often because these things take time.
What I'm saying is that it's good to change our minds about our initial impressions once we've spent a lot more time with something. It's also fine to be guarded in our first opinion.
We don't have to like everything, but we should give unfamiliar and revolutionary art more time than just our first impression. Who knows, it might just turn into a very important artistic experience for you.
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