One of the strangest pretenses our culture seems to want to sustain is the one that would disregard the reality of what I have just said, at least as it relates to the arts, so as to perpetuate the idea that everyone is equally disposed to achievement, by way of natural talents, or by way of the fact that, to its mind, talent is not so important (not, anyway, the measure by which art should be judged). And that achievement in the arts (when tied to recognition and exposure) requires only persistence, character, and having something ‘necessary’ to say.