Taste requires originality. It invokes an aspirational authenticity. Writer George Saunders calls this “achieving the iconic space,” and it’s what he’s after when he meets his creative writing students. “They arrive already wonderful. What we try to do over the next three years is help them achieve what I call their “iconic space” — the place from... See more

In a way, I think that’s the only honest kind of art left. The kind no one asked for. The kind that resists explanation. The kind you make and tuck away, because you needed to make it. Because it meant something to you, even if it’s unclear what.