Does Money Make People Write Better?

Tim Parks, in the high-paying NYRB, writes that the relationship between money and art is a fraught one:

Clearly we are far away from the minor Renaissance painter who coolly calibrates his efforts in relation to price, unflustered by concerns about his self-image or reputation in centuries to come. In his masterpiece Jakob von Gunten, Robert Walser has his young alter ego commiserate with his artist brother and question how a person can ever be at ease if his or her mental well-being depends on the critical judgment of others. Paradoxically, then, almost the worst thing that can happen to writers, at least if it’s the quality of their work we’re thinking about, is to receive, immediately, all the money and recognition they want.

What about big book deals? Claire Kelley surveys the state of million-dollar book contracts.