I've been mulling over an essay on Chinese characters by 魯迅 Lu Xun and I thought he raised more than a few good points concerning art and language:
1. Making art or language overly obscure removes it from any sort of dialogue with the public. This is like artistic castration; without any creative power the subject becomes sterile and cannot propagate, thus: it dies alone.
2. Good art appeals to the public, but is not immediately understandable to the public. Then, there must be some middle position between Mallarme and Dickens, between no-one knowing what the hell you're saying and being overly trivial or obvious. What we need is art that is both public and private, commonplace and unique, profane and sacred.
3. Lu Xun also recapitulates (or anticipates?) the lyrical, epical, and dramatic theory of art like the one Joyce gives in A Portrait of the Artist. Language/Art begins with personal utterances that others eventually adopt for their own use along with the author until the author isn't necessary for the art to further propagate.
4. Everyone is an author. Though only a few choose to write.
The link to the essay for those that want to read further: An Outsider's Chats about Written Language
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