“Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.”
Beatrix Potter
I think this quote explains the creativity best. Creativity is, in other words, originality – when you create something, it’s original. Creativity and education are poles apart. Helen Beatrix Potter is known as an English children’s writer, who was taught at home. Her quote, however, does not mean she is uneducated; only that she did not get a proper school education.
Then why education is a barrier for creativity? This is something hard to go into details. It’s easier when we start from the language and literature. Think of two categories: first category thinks creatively but doesn’t have a good command of written language (so to say, written language is what you inherit by education), and the second category is excelled in the written language but not creative enough. Who attracts more audience? In my opinion, it’s the first category.
William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe belong to these two categories respectively. The history of literature maintains that Marlowe is much more learned than Shakespeare. Shakespeare was just an actor who later turned out to be a writer almost by chance. Still, who got the plum audience? Marlowe isn’t even in the A/Ls English Literature syllabus, though every Tom, Dick and Harry knows who Shakespeare is - at least heard of him.
Way back in 1960s, Jacque Derrida, a French philosopher, popularised a particular term - Deconstruction. It’s so hard to locate a simple definition for this term. However deconstruction is simply rewriting a source – that can be history or some contemporary incident – creatively. Shakespeare used to take a source, which is raw in material, and rewrote it creatively. He was largely criticised for anachronism, but it was also a part of his creativity. He cut and chopped wherever necessary, and made it audience-friendly. If you say creativity is inborn, Shakespeare needs no further introduction.
Some opine Shakespeare plays were actually written – or rather rewritten - by Marlowe. It’s something you should see when you study their works; interesting . Anyway just leave both Marlowe and Shakespeare alone. Let’s talk about the latest Sinhala epic work – Jackson Anthony’s Aba. Anthony must have studied many sources too, but our official chronicle is Mahawamsa. If you read King Pandukabhaya’s chapter in Mahawamsa, you will realise the power of creativity. The two Yakshas are killed by the prince’s father to protect them. This is quite absurd in modern sense. So Anthony makes the royal command take the responsibility of their death. You need creativity to deconstruct the actual event. I don’t think this change has damaged the actual history. After all ‘Aba’ is a movie, which needs creativity in first place.
Now don’t get me wrong that education is not needed at all. It’s needed at all. But it’s needed only to sharpen your originality. If you have no creativity, however much you get education, you can’t get it.
They say poetry is best written in simple creative language. Say, you are so excelled in the language, and you use a heavy language as much as possible. What happens? You loose the audience.
I have mentioned that education and creativity are poles apart. But you come across exceptions too. Sarachchandra is the best example, who did the same thing Shakespeare did: rewriting a raw source creatively. On the other hand, G B Senanayaka did not have a proper education, and yet pioneered free verse in Sinhalese poetry. His poetry was full of creativity.
Martin Wickramainghe is a also a good example for the creativity sans proper education. I have heard one saying Mahesh Rathsara Maddumaarachchi, scripts love more passionately than Wickramasinghe. And now puritans will certainly chase me for breaking this news.
Need I write more on creativity, if only space permits!
