I came across an impassioned argument against seeking a secure \u201cday job\u201d by French novelist Gustave Flaubert and was reminded of an influential book I read some years ago by Lewis Hyde entitled \u201cThe Gift\u201d which explores, in great depth, the struggle to both be creative and also pay the bills in a market-based economy.<\/p>\n
A story about Hyde in the NY TIMES described the dilemma like this:<\/p>\n
In the course of writing \u201cThe Gift,\u201d Hyde underwent an intellectual transformation on this subject. He began the work believing there was \u201can irreconcilable conflict\u201d between gift exchange and the market; the enduring (if not necessarily the happy) artist was the one who most successfully fended off commercial demands. By the time he was finished, Hyde had come to a less-dogmatic conclusion. It was still true, he believed, that the marketplace could destroy an artist\u2019s gift, but it was equally true that the marketplace wasn\u2019t going anywhere; it had always existed, and it always would. The key was to find a good way to reconcile the two economies.<\/em><\/p>\n I found the book to be interesting and inspiring, even though it\u2019s not an especially easy read \u2014 Hyde\u2019s keen intellect and the broad scope of his arguments can be intimidating in places.<\/p>\n