Wurmser begins by focusing on the sense of "being gripped" as a concomitant of creative experience for both artist and audience alike. He reviews the work of Greenacre, Pollock, and others on the artist's dynamic dilemmas. He then cites paradigms of the artistic character. He describes a particular species of idealization which tends to make art transcendent and which spurns all contaminants from the world and the artist himself. The author also addresses the artist's need to break out of the constraints of convention, and equates this pressure with a unique issue of aggression. This effort is more than a rebellion; it is an urge toward self-loyalty and integrity. The effort of a successful struggle is not only a greater holding together of self but also a higher integration of the artists work.