This is not only a romantic attitude, it is also a faith that good work will be responded to and rewarded somehow.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
He has twice been included in the annual Best American Short Stories anthology.
Reading good writers always makes my writing better! I think this shows a really realistic portrayal of grief and the arts.
Each of the crises listed above stems in some way from that willingness to think of our own particular interest as somehow divorced from that of everyone around us.
I've very often seen authors use repetition when writing stories, however, not in a consistent way such as this story proved.