In a free country it is the duty of writers to pay no attention to duty. Only under a dictatorship is literature expected to exhibit an harmonious design or an inspirational tone.

E. B. White (1899–1985) American author, critic, humorist [Elwyn Brooks White]

Essay (1939-01), “One Man’s Meat,” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 178
    (Source)

On the call for writers to dutifully do those things during times of national crisis or war.

When collected in his book, One Man's Meat (1942), the essay was renamed "Salt Water Farm." Sometimes the excerpted third section of the essay is referred to as "The Duty of Writers."