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Gentle reader,
An interesting article by
has been doing the rounds recently on Substack. It classifies the creator economy into different quadrants and, in particular, it describes two main modes of writing: instrumental and metamorphic.Instrumental words try to change the world in predictable ways, while acquiring some sort of legible extrinsic reward. Conventionally, esteem and money, but it can be any sort of extrinsic reward. Metamorphic words on the other hand, attempt to change the author in unpredictable ways, which you can think of as an intrinsic reward of sorts. They may also have a metamorphic (think “pilling”) effect on readers, but this is not their defining quality.
Or, otherwise stated, instrumental writing may carry out a simple goal or task, such as conveying instructions or information, or explaining an idea. Metamorphic writing, on the other hand, is less easily described. Its words may change the writer, in the process of writing them, and may change the reader. The writing brings new possibilities or ways of thinking into effect, creates a feeling, a vibe, a change in tone.
Delving more into my own view of writing, the most interesting work is always what would be described as metamorphic. When I think of literary fiction, my favourite writers are those ones who sit down at the table and metamorphose, lose themselves, and channel something which comes from deep within, a wellspring of arcane origin, a mystic medium, something that is special, and unknowable.
Think Flann O’Brien, James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Dante. Metamorphic models include At Swim-Two-Birds, Finnegans Wake and…anything ever written by Beckett.
Kafka’s Metamorphosis, of course, deserves at least a hat tip here.
Truth be told, as an eternal seeker of the metamorphic flame, I consequently find Victorian novels, simple A-to-B narratives to be too dull. Jane Eyre, Midlemarch, anything ever written by Dickens and, dare I say it, Tolstoy, all fall a little flat for me.
I need a sparkle, a touch of roguishness, unorthodoxy or just plain old lunacy, to keep me going.
Metamorphosis in everyday life
Taking Venketesh’s taxonomy beyond the borders of literature (a sigh of relief is heard), I can see how the distinction between instrumentality and metamorphism can prove interesting in day-to-day life.
Let’s look at instrumental vs metamorphic activities. If, on a given day, we decide to go the gym, this is very clearly an instrumental activity. We expect to derive a more-or-less defined benefit, and to undergo a familiar routine. I have yet to see anyone having a transformative experience on the leg press machine.
In contrast, going to a salsa class could be a metamorphic activity. As we move our body an move in unison with another, there is ample opportunity to feel the music, to learn about ourselves, to be transformed by a beat or by an embrace, even to become a new person.
How about work? It could be argued that the modern career ladder is highly instrumental. Carry out tasks in a timely manner, hang in there, get good reports, and get promoted. Here, we can see that by working instrumentally, we ironically become an instrument ourselves, become confined to pre-classified behaviours and expectations, and we become an instrument of a greater machine.
This stands in opposition to the Pathless Path, a modus operandi which relies on feel, on expression and on authenticity. The way of the dragon and the meandering garden path, dear reader, are neither legible nor structured. Setting out at the start of such a journey, we by default do not know the destination, just as the metamorphic writer does not know where his pen will taken him.
The traveller can also put his foot on the road in both an instrumental and metamorphic way. The man who goes to Paris, ticks off the Eiffel tour, the escargots and the Louvre, while another might book a one-way ticket to a country without any particular agenda, or might go to Spain to do the Camino Santiago, a walk which in many ways is as close to commodification as metamorphosis can get (meant positively).
Taking a step back, instrumentality vs metamorphism seems like a useful lens through which to observe activities the world. The present writer seems to find himself becoming more and more of a metamorphosist with each passing second…What are some other ways in which we can transform or discover more about ourselves? Let me know in the comments.
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Potential way of looking at it...
1. We need Metamorphic words in order to find the path.
2. We need Instrumental words to help walk the path.
Both are necessary, but Instrumental's benefits are so clear and seductive, especially when they aligned to default paths (e.g. make money, grow audience, start side hustle, blah blah blah).