In episode 114 of Framing the Hammer, we chat with Richard Deming, Yale Director of Creative Writing and author of the recently published, This Exquisite Loneliness: What Loners, Outcasts and the Understood Can Teach Us About Creativity. In the book, Deming profiles six historic figures who publicly wrestled with loneliness and used creativity to cope (Melanie Klein, Zora Neale Hurston, Walker Evans, Walter Benjamin, Egon Shiele, Ron Serling). Their legacies leave us tools for better understanding loneliness, knowing that it is a condition that affects most people, and demonstrates how they harnessed their loneliness in their creative pursuits.

In coping with loneliness, Deming emphasizes that vulnerability, and intimacy in relationships are critical for countering loneliness. Furthermore, the creative process is best fed with vulnerability and intimacy, leading to self-awareness and better understanding of other people.

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