,,what ,,is ,,art8 ,,what ,,is ,,art8 ,,by ,,leo ,,tolstoy ,,translated ,,from ,,the ,,original ,,ms41 ,,with ,,an ,,introduction ,,by ,,aylmer ,,maude ,,new ,,york ,,funk ,,wagnalls ,,company #aijd ,introduction ,what thoughtful man has not been perplexed by problems relating to art8 ,an estimable and charming ,russian lady ,i knew1 felt the charm of the music and ritual of the services of the ,russo-,greek ,church so strongly that she wished the peasants1 in whom she was interested1 to retain their blind faith1 though she herself disbelieved the church doctrines4 8,their lives are so poor and bare--they have so little art1 so little poetry and colour in their lives--let them at least enjoy what they have2 it would be cruel to undeceive them10 said she4 ,a false and antiquated view of life is supported by means of art1 and is inseparably linked to some manifestations of art which we enjoy and prize4 ,if the false view of life be destroyed this art will cease to appear valuable4 ,is it best to screen the error for the sake of preserving the art8 ,or should the art be sacrificed for the sake of truthfulness8 ,again and again in history a dominant church has utilised art to maintain its sway over men4 ,reformers 7early ,christians1 ,mohammedans1 ,puritans1 and others7 have perceived that art bound people to the old faith1 and they were angry with art4 ,they diligently chipped the noses from statues and images1 and were wroth with ceremonies1 decorations1 stained-glass windows1 and processions4 ,they were even ready to banish art altogether1 for1 besides the superstitions it upheld1 they saw that it depraved and perverted men by dramas1 drinking-songs1 novels1 pictures1 and dances1 of a kind that awakened man's lower nature4 ,yet art always reasserted her sway1 and to-day we are told by many that art has nothing to do with morality--that 8art should be followed for art's sake40 ,i went one day1 with a lady artist1 to the ,bodkin ,art ,gallery in ,moscow4 ,in one of the rooms1 on a table1 lay a book of coloured pictures1 issued in ,paris and supplied1 ,i believe1 to private subscribers only4 ,the pictures were admirably executed1 but represented scenes in the private cabinets of a restaurant4 ,sexual indulgence was the chief subject of each picture4 ,women extravagantly dressed and partly undressed1 women exposing their legs and breasts to men in evening dress2 men and women taking liberties with each other1 or dancing the 8can-can10 etc41 etc4 ,my companion the artist1 a maiden lady of irreproachable conduct and reputation1 began deliberately to look at these pictures4 ,i could not let my attention dwell on them without ill effects4 ,such things had a certain attraction for me1 and tended to make me restless and nervous4 ,i ventured to suggest that the subject-matter of the pictures was objectionable4 ,but my companion 7who prided herself on being an artist7 remarked with conscious superiority1 that from an artist's point of view the subject was of no consequence4 ,the pictures being very well executed were artistic1 and therefore worthy of attention and study4 ,morality had nothing to do with art4 ,here again is a problem4 ,one remembers ,plato's advice not to let our thoughts run upon women1 for if we do we shall think clearly about nothing else1 and one knows that to neglect this advice is to lose tranquillity of mind2 but then one does not wish to be considered narrow1 ascetic1 or inartistic1 nor to lose artistic pleasures which those around us esteem so highly4 ,again1 the newspapers last year printed proposals to construct a ,wagner ,opera ,house1 to cost1 if ,i recollect rightly1 #ajj1jjj--;about as much as a hundred labourers may earn by fifteen or twenty years' hard work4 ,the writers thought it would be a good thing if such an ,opera ,house were erected and endowed4 ,but ,i had a talk lately with a man who1 till his health failed him1 had worked as a builder in ,london4 ,he told me that when he was younger he had been very fond of theatre-going1 but1 later1 when he thought things over and considered that in almost every number of his weekly paper he read of cases of people whose death was hastened by lack of good food1 he felt it was not right that so much labour should be spent on theatres4 ,in reply to this view it is urged that food for the mind is as important as food for the body4 ,the labouring classes work to produce food and necessaries for themselves and for the cultured1 while some of the cultured class produce plays and operas4 ,it is a division of labour4 ,but this again invites the rejoinder that1 sure enough1 the labourers produce food for themselves and also food that the cultured class accept and consume1 but that the artists seem too often to produce their spiritual food for the cultured only--at any rate that a singularly small share seems to reach the country labourers who work to supply the bodily food6 ,even were the 8division of labour0 shown to be a fair one1 the 8division of products0 seems remarkably one-sided4 ,once again3 how is it that often when a new work is produced1 neither the critics1 the artists1 the publishers1 nor the public1 seem to know whether it is valuable or worthless8 ,some of the most famous books in ,english literature could hardly find a publisher1 or were savagely derided by leading critics2 while other works once acclaimed as masterpieces are now laughed at or utterly forgotten4 ,a play which nobody now reads was once passed off as a newly-discovered masterpiece of ,shakespear's1 and was produced at a leading ,london theatre4 ,are the critics playing blind-man's buff8 ,are they relying on each other8 ,is each following his own whim and fancy8 ,or do they possess a criterion which they never reveal to those outside the profession8 ,such are a few of the many problems relating to art which present themselves to us all1 and it is the purpose of this book to enable us to reach such a comprehension of art1 and of the position art should occupy in our lives1 as will enable us to answer such questions4 ,the task is one of enormous difficulty4 ,under the cloak of 8art10 so much selfish amusement and self-indulgence tries to justify itself1 and so many mercenary interests are concerned in preventing the light from shining in upon the subject1 that the clamour raised by this book can only be compared to that raised by the silversmiths of ,ephesus when they shouted1 8,great is ,diana of the ,ephesians60 for about the space of two hours4 ,elaborate theories blocked the path with subtle sophistries or ponderous pseudo-erudition4 ,merely to master these1 and expose them1 was by itself a colossal labour1 but necessary in order to clear the road for a statement of any fresh view4 ,to have accomplished this work of exposure in a few chapters is a wonderful achievement4 ,to have done it without making the book intolerably dry is more wonderful still4 ,in ,chapter ,,iii4 7where a rapid summary of some sixty sthetic writers is given7 even ,tolstoy's powers fail to make the subject interesting1 except to the specialist1 and he has to plead with his readers 8not to be overcome by dulness1 but to read these extracts through40 ,among the writers mentioned1 ,english readers miss the names of ,john ,ruskin and ,william ,morris1 especially as so much that ,tolstoy says1 is in accord with their views4 ,of ,ruskin1 ,tolstoy has a very high opinion4 ,i have heard him say1 8,i don't know why you ,english make such a fuss about ,gladstone--you have a much greater man in ,ruskin40 ,as a stylist1 too1 ,tolstoy speaks of him with high commendation4 ,ruskin1 however1 though he has written on art with profound insight1 and has said many things with which ,tolstoy fully agrees1 has1 ,i think1 nowhere so systematised and summarised his view that it can be readily quoted in the concise way which has enabled ,tolstoy to indicate his points of essential agreement with ,home1 ,vron1 and ,kant4 ,even the attempt to summarise ,kant's sthetic philosophy in a dozen lines will hardly be of much service except to readers who have already some acquaintance with the subject4 ,for those to whom the difference between 8subjective0 and 8objective0 perceptions is fresh1 a dozen pages would be none too much4 ,and to summarise ,ruskin would be perhaps more difficult than to condense ,kant4 ,as to ,william ,morris1 we are reminded of his dictum that art is the workman's expression of joy in his work1 by ,tolstoy's 8,as soon as the author is not producing art for his own satisfaction1--does not himself feel what he wishes to express1--a resistance immediately springs up0 7p4 #aed72 and again1 8,in such transmission to others of the feelings that have arisen in him1 he 7the artist7 will find his happiness0 7p4 #aie74 ,tolstoy sweeps over a far wider range of thought1 but he and ,morris are not opposed4 ,morris was emphasising part of what ,tolstoy is implying4 ,but to return to the difficulties of ,tolstoy's task4 ,there is one1 not yet mentioned1 lurking in the hearts of most of us4 ,we have enjoyed works of 8art40 ,we have been interested by the information conveyed in a novel1 or we have been thrilled by an unexpected 8effect02 have admired the exactitude with which real life has been reproduced1 or have had our feelings touched by allusions to1 or reproductions of1 works--old ,german legends1 ,greek myths1 or ,hebrew poetry--which moved us long ago1 as they moved generations before us4 ,and we thought all this was 8art40 ,not clearly understanding what art is1 and wherein its importance lies1 we were not only attached to these things1 but attributed importance to them1 calling them 8artistic0 and 8beautiful10 without well knowing what we meant by those words4 ,but here is a book that obliges us to clear our minds4 ,it challenges us to define 8art0 and 8beauty10 and to say why we consider these things1 that pleased us1 to be specially important4 ,and as to beauty1 we find that the definition given by sthetic writers amounts merely to this1 that 8,beauty is a kind of pleasure received by us1 not having personal advantage for its object40 ,but it follows from this1 that 8beauty0 is a matter of taste1 differing among different people1 and to attach special importance to what pleases me 7and others who have had the same sort of training that ,i have had7 is merely to repeat the old1 old mistake which so divides human society2 it is like declaring that my race is the best race1 my nation the best nation1 my church the best church1 and my family the 8best0 family4 ,it indicates ignorance and selfishness4 ,but 8truth angers those whom it does not convince20--people do not wish to understand these things4 ,it seems1 at first1 as though ,tolstoy were obliging us to sacrifice something valuable4 ,we do not realise that we are being helped to select the best art1 but we do feel that we are being deprived of our sense of satisfaction in ,rudyard ,kipling4 ,both the magnitude and the difficulty of the task were therefore very great1 but they have been surmounted in a marvellous manner4 ,of the effect this book has had on me personally1 ,i can only say that 8whereas ,i was blind1 now ,i see40 ,though sensitive to some forms of art1 ,i was1 when ,i took it up1 much in the dark on questions of sthetic philosophy2 when ,i had done with it1 ,i had grasped the main solution of the problem so clearly that--though ,i waded through nearly all that the critics and reviewers had to say about the book--,i never again became perplexed upon the central issues4 ,tolstoy was indeed peculiarly qualified for the task he has accomplished4 ,it was after many years of work as a writer of fiction1 and when he was already standing in the very foremost rank of ,european novelists1 that he found himself compelled to face1 in deadly earnest1 the deepest problems of human life4 ,he not only could not go on writing books1 but he felt he could not live1 unless he found clear guidance1 so that he might walk sure-footedly and know the purpose and meaning of his life4 ,not as a mere question of speculative curiosity1 but as a matter of vital necessity1 he devoted years to rediscover the truths which underlie all religion4 ,to fit him for this task he possessed great knowledge of men and books1 a wide experience of life1 a knowledge of languages1 and a freedom from bondage to any authority but that of reason and conscience4 ,he was pinned to no ,thirty-nine ,articles1 and was in receipt of no retaining fee which he was not prepared to sacrifice4 ,another gift1 rare among men of his position1 was his wonderful sincerity and 7due1 ,i think1 to that sincerity7 an amazing power of looking at the phenomena of our complex and artificial life with the eyes of a little child2 going straight to the real1 obvious facts of the case1 and brushing aside the sophistries1 the conventionalities1 and the 8authorities0 by which they are obscured4 ,he commenced the task when he was about fifty years of age1 and since then 7i4e41 during the last twenty years7 he has produced nine philosophical or scientific works of first-rate importance1 besides a great many stories and short articles4 ,these works1 in chronological order1 are-- ,my ,confession4 ,a ,criticism of ,dogmatic ,theology1 which has never been translated4 ,the ,four ,gospels ,harmonised and ,translated1 of which only two parts1 out of three1 have as yet appeared in ,english4 ,what ,i ,believe1 sometimes called ,my ,religion4 ,the ,gospel in ,brief4 ,what are we to do then8 sometimes called in ,english ,what to do8 ,on ,life1 which is not an easy work in the original1 and has not been satisfactorily translated4#a ,the ,kingdom of ,god is within you2 and ,the ,christian ,teaching1 which appeared after ,what is ,art8 though it was written before it4 ,to these scientific works ,i am inclined to add ,the ,kreutzer ,sonata1 with the ,sequel or ,postscript explaining its purpose2 for though ,the ,kreutzer ,sonata is a story1 the understanding of sexual problems1 dealt with explicitly in the ,sequel1 is an integral part of that comprehension of life which causes ,tolstoy to admire ,christ1 ,buddha1 or ,francis of ,assisi4 ,these ten works treat of the meaning of our life2 of the problems raised by the fact that we approve of some things and disapprove of others1 and find ourselves deciding which of two courses to pursue4 ,religion1 ,government1 ,property1 ,sex1 ,war1 and all the relations in which man stands to man1 to his own consciousness1 and to the ultimate source 7which we call ,god7 from whence that consciousness proceeds--are examined with the utmost frankness4 ,and all this time the problems of ,art3 ,what is ,art8 ,what importance is due to it8 ,how is it related to the rest of life8--were working in his mind4 ,he was a great artist1 often upbraided for having abandoned his art4 ,he1 of all men1 was bound to clear his thoughts on this perplexing subject1 and to express them4 ,his whole philosophy of life--the 8religious perception0 to which1 with such tremendous labour and effort1 he had attained1 forbade him to detach art from life1 and place it in a water-tight compartment where it should not act on life or be re-acted upon by life4 ,life to him is rational4 ,it has a clear aim and purpose1 discernible by the aid of reason and conscience4 ,and no human activity can be fully understood or rightly appreciated until the central purpose of life is perceived4 ,you cannot piece together a puzzle-map as long as you keep one bit in a wrong place1 but when the pieces all fit together1 then you have a demonstration that they are all in their right places4 ,tolstoy used that simile years ago when explaining how the comprehension of the text1 8resist not him that is evil10 enabled him to perceive the reasonableness of ,christ's teaching1 which had long baffled him4 ,so it is with the problem of ,art4 ,wrongly understood1 it will tend to confuse and perplex your whole comprehension of life4 ,but given the clue supplied by true 8religious perception10 and you can place art so that it shall fit in with a right understanding of politics1 economics1 sex-relationships1 science1 and all other phases of human activity4 ,the basis on which this work rests1 is a perception of the meaning of human life4 ,this has been quite lost sight of by some of the reviewers1 who have merely misrepresented what ,tolstoy says1 and then demonstrated how very stupid he would have been had he said what they attributed to him4 ,leaving his premises and arguments untouched1 they dissent from various conclusions--as though it were all a mere question of taste4 ,they say that they are very fond of things which ,tolstoy ridicules1 and that they can't understand why he does not like what they like--which is quite possible1 especially if they have not understood the position from which he starts4 ,but such criticism can lead to nothing4 ,discussions as to why one man likes pears and another prefers meat1 do not help towards finding a definition of what is essential in nourishment2 and just so1 8the solution of questions of taste in art does not help to make clear what this particular human activity which we call art really consists in40 ,the object of the following brief summary of a few main points is to help the reader to avoid pitfalls into which many reviewers have fallen4 ,it aims at being no more than a bare statement of the positions--for more than that1 the reader must turn to the book itself4 ,let it be granted at the outset1 that ,tolstoy writes for those who have 8ears to hear40 ,he seldom pauses to safeguard himself against the captious critic1 and cares little for minute verbal accuracy4 ,for instance1 on page #add1 he mentions 8,paris10 where an ,english writer 7even one who knew to what an extent ,paris is the art centre of ,france1 and how many artists flock thither from ,russia1 ,america1 and all ends of the earth7 would have been almost sure to have said 8,france10 for fear of being thought to exaggerate4 ,one needs some alertness of mind to follow ,tolstoy in his task of compressing so large a subject into so small a space4 ,moreover1 he is an emphatic writer who says what he means1 and even1 ,i think1 sometimes rather overemphasizes it4 ,with this much warning let us proceed to a brief summary of ,tolstoy's view of art4 8,art is a human activity10 and consequently does not exist for its own sake1 but is valuable or objectionable in proportion as it is serviceable or harmful to mankind4 ,the object of this activity is to transmit to others feeling the artist has experienced4 ,such feelings--intentionally re-evoked and successfully transmitted to others--are the subject-matter of all art4 ,by certain external signs--movements1 lines1 colours1 sounds1 or arrangements of words--an artist infects other people so that they share his feelings4 ,thus 8art is a means of union among men1 joining them together in the same feelings40 ,chapters ,,ii4 to ,v4 contain an examination of various theories which have taken art to be something other than this1 and step by step we are brought to the conclusion that art is this1 and nothing but this4 ,having got our definition of art1 let us first consider art independently of its subject-matter1 i4e41 without asking whether the feelings transmitted are good1 bad1 or indifferent4 ,without adequate expression there is no art1 for there is no infection1 no transference to others of the author's feeling4 ,the test of art is infection4 ,if an author has moved you so that you feel as he felt1 if you are so united to him in feeling that it seems to you that he has expressed just what you have long wished to express1 the work that has so infected you is a work of art4 ,in this sense1 it is true that art has nothing to do with morality2 for the test lies in the 8infection10 and not in any consideration of the goodness or badness of the emotions conveyed4 ,thus the test of art is an internal one4 ,the activity of art is based on the fact that a man1 receiving1 through his sense of hearing or sight1 another man's expression of feeling1 is capable of experiencing the emotion that moved the man who expressed it4 ,we all share the same common human nature1 and in this sense1 at least1 are sons of one ,father4 ,to take the simplest example3 a man laughs1 and another1 who hears1 becomes merry2 or a man weeps1 and another1 who hears1 feels sorrow4 ,note in passing that it does not amount to art 8if a man infects others directly1 immediately1 at the very time he experiences the feeling2 if he causes another man to yawn when he himself cannot help yawning10 etc4 ,art begins when some one1 with the object of making others share his feeling1 expresses his feeling by certain external indications4 ,normal human beings possess this faculty to be infected by the expression of another man's emotions4 ,for a plain man of unperverted taste1 living in contact with nature1 with animals1 and with his fellow-men--say1 for 8a country peasant of unperverted taste1 this is as easy as it is for an animal of unspoilt scent to follow the trace he needs40 ,and he will know indubitably whether a work presented to him does1 or does not1 unite him in feeling with the author4 ,but very many people 8of our circle0 7upper and middle class society7 live such unnatural lives1 in such conventional relations to the people around them1 and in such artificial surroundings1 that they have lost 8that simple feeling1 that sense of infection with another's feeling--compelling us to joy in another's gladness1 to sorrow in another's grief1 and to mingle souls with another--which is the essence of art40 ,such people1 therefore1 have no inner test by which to recognise a work of art2 and they will always be mistaking other things for art1 and seeking for external guides1 such as the opinions of 8recognised authorities40 ,or they will mistake for art something that produces a merely physiological effect--lulling or exciting them2 or some intellectual puzzle that gives them something to think about4 ,but if most people of the 8cultured crowd0 are impervious to true art1 is it really possible that a common ,russian country peasant1 for instance1 whose work-days are filled with agricultural labour1 and whose brief leisure is largely taken up by his family life and by his participation in the affairs of the village commune--is it possible that he can recognise and be touched by works of art8 ,certainly it is6 ,just as in ancient ,greece crowds assembled to hear the poems of ,homer1 so to-day in ,russia1 as in many countries and many ages1 the ,gospel parables1 and much else of the highest art1 are gladly heard by the common people4 ,and this does not refer to any superstitious use of the ,bible1 but to its use as literature4 ,not only do normal1 labouring country people possess the capacity to be infected by good art--8the epic of ,genesis1 folk-legends1 fairy-tales1 folk-songs1 etc410 but they themselves produce songs1 stories1 dances1 decorations1 etc41 which are works of true art4 ,take as examples the works of ,burns or ,bunyan1 and the peasant women's song mentioned by ,tolstoy in ,chapter ,,xiv41 or some of those melodies produced by the negro slaves on the southern plantations1 which have touched1 and still touch1 many of us with the emotions felt by their unknown and unpaid composers4 ,the one great quality which makes a work of art truly contagious is its sincerity4 ,if an artist is really actuated by a feeling1 and is strongly impelled to communicate that feeling to other people--not for money or fame1 or anything else1 but because he feels he must share it--then he will not be satisfied till he has found a clear way of expressing it4 ,and the man who is not borrowing his feelings1 but has drawn what he expresses from the depths of his nature1 is sure to be original1 for in the same way that no two people have exactly similar faces or forms1 no two people have exactly similar minds or souls4 ,that in briefest outline is what ,tolstoy says about art1 considered apart from its subject-matter4 ,and this is how certain critics have met it4 ,they say that when ,tolstoy says the test of art is internal1 he must mean that it is external4 ,when he says that country peasants have in the past appreciated1 and do still appreciate1 works of the highest art1 he means that the way to detect a work of art is to see what is apparently most popular among the masses4 ,go into the streets or music-halls of the cities in any particular country and year1 and observe what is most frequently sung1 shouted1 or played on the barrel-organs4 ,it may happen to be 8,tarara-boom-deay10 or1 8,we don't want to fight1 ,but1 by ,jingo1 if we do40 ,but whatever it is1 you may at once declare these songs to be the highest musical art1 without even pausing to ask to what they owe their vogue--what actress1 or singer1 or politician1 or wave of patriotic passion has conduced to their popularity4 ,nor need you consider whether that popularity is not merely temporary and local4 ,tolstoy has said that works of the highest art are understood by unperverted country peasants--and here are things which are popular with the mob1 ergo1 these things must be the highest art4 ,the critics then proceed to say that such a test is utterly absurd4 ,and on this point ,i am able to agree with the critics4 ,some of these writers commence their articles by saying that ,tolstoy is a most profound thinker1 a great prophet1 an intellectual force1 etc4 ,yet when ,tolstoy1 in his emphatic way1 makes the sweeping remark that 8good art always pleases every one10 the critics do not read on to find out what he means1 but reply3 8,no6 good art does not please every one2 some people are colour-blind1 and some are deaf1 or have no ear for music40 ,it is as though a man strenuously arguing a point were to say1 8,every one knows that two and two make four10 and a boy who did not at all see what the speaker was driving at1 were to reply3 8,no1 our new-born baby doesn't know it60 ,it would distract attention from the subject in hand1 but it would not elucidate matters4 ,there is1 of course1 a verbal contradiction between the statements that 8good art always pleases every one0 7p4 #ajj71 and the remark concerning 8people of our circle10 who1 8with very few exceptions1 artists and public and critics1 444 cannot distinguish true works of art from counterfeits1 but continually mistake for real art the worst and most artificial0 7p4 #aea74 ,but ,i venture to think that any one of intelligence1 and free from prejudice1 reading this book carefully1 need not fail to reach the author's meaning4 ,a point to be carefully noted is the distinction between science and art4 8,science investigates and brings to human perception such truths and such knowledge as the people of a given time and society consider most important4 ,art transmits these truths from the region of perception to the region of emotion0 7p4 #ajb74 ,science is an 8activity of the understanding which demands preparation and a certain sequence of knowledge1 so that one cannot learn trigonometry before knowing geometry40 8,the business of art10 on the other hand1 8lies just in this--to make that understood and felt which1 in the form of an argument1 might be incomprehensible and inaccessible0 7p4 #ajb74 ,it 8infects any man whatever his plane of development10 and 8the hindrance to understanding the best and highest feelings 7as is said in the gospel7 does not at all lie in deficiency of development or learning1 but1 on the contrary1 in false development and false learning0 7pp4 #ajb1 #ajc74 ,science and art are frequently blended in one work--e4g41 in the gospel elucidation of ,christ's comprehension of life1 or1 to take a modern instance1 in ,henry ,george's elucidation of the land question in ,progress and ,poverty4 ,the class distinction to which ,tolstoy repeatedly alludes needs some explanation4 ,the position of the lower classes in ,england and in ,russia is different4 ,in ,russia a much larger number of people live on the verge of starvation2 the condition of the factory-hands is much worse than in ,england1 and there are many glaring cases of brutal cruelty inflicted on the peasants by the officials1 the police1 or the military1--but in ,russia a far greater proportion of the population live in the country1 and a peasant usually has his own house1 and tills his share of the communal lands4 ,the 8unperverted country peasant0 of whom ,tolstoy speaks is a man who perhaps suffers grievous want when there is a bad harvest in his province1 but he is a man accustomed to the experiences of a natural life1 to the management of his own affairs1 and to a real voice in the arrangements of the village commune4 ,the ,government interferes1 from time to time1 to collect its taxes by force1 to take the young men for soldiers1 or to maintain the 8rights0 of the upper classes2 but otherwise the peasant is free to do what he sees to be necessary and reasonable4 ,on the other hand1 ,english labourers are1 for the most part1 not so poor1 they have more legal rights1 and they have votes2 but a far larger number of them live in towns and are engaged in unnatural occupations1 while even those that do live in touch with nature are usually mere wage-earners1 tilling other men's land1 and living often in abject submission to the farmer1 the parson1 or the lady-bountiful4 ,they are dependent on an employer for daily bread1 and the condition of a wage-labourer is as unnatural as that of a landlord4 ,the tyranny of the ,st4 ,petersburg bureaucracy is more dramatic1 but less omnipresent--and probably far less fatal to the capacity to enjoy art--than the tyranny of our respectable1 self-satisfied1 and property-loving middle-class4 ,i am therefore afraid that we have no great number of 8unperverted0 country labourers to compare with those of whom ,tolstoy speaks--and some of whom ,i have known personally4 ,but the truth ,tolstoy elucidates lies far too deep in human nature to be infringed by such differences of local circumstance4 ,whatever those circumstances may be1 the fact remains that in proportion as a man approaches towards the condition not only of 8earning his subsistence by some kind of labour10 but of 8living on all its sides the life natural and proper to mankind10 his capacity to appreciate true art tends to increase4 ,on the other hand1 when a class settles down into an artificial way of life1--loses touch with nature1 becomes confused in its perceptions of what is good and what is bad1 and prefers the condition of a parasite to that of a producer1--its capacity to appreciate true art must diminish4 ,having lost all clear perception of the meaning of life1 such people are necessarily left without any criterion which will enable them to distinguish good from bad art1 and they are sure to follow eagerly after beauty1 or 8that which pleases them40 ,the artists of our society can usually only reach people of the upper and middle classes4 ,but who is the great artist8--he who delights a select audience of his own day and class1 or he whose works link generation to generation and race to race in a common bond of feeling8 ,surely art should fulfil its purpose as completely as possible4 ,a work of art that united every one with the author1 and with one another1 would be perfect art4 ,tolstoy1 in his emphatic way1 speaks of works of 8universal0 art1 and 7though the profound critics hasten to inform us that no work of art ever reached everybody7 certainly the more nearly a work of art approaches to such expression of feeling that every one may be infected by it--the nearer 7apart from all question of subject-matter7 it approaches perfection4 ,but now as to subject-matter4 ,the subject-matter of art consists of feelings which can be spread from man to man1 feelings which are 8contagious0 or 8infectious40 ,is it of no importance what feelings increase and multiply among men8 ,one man feels that submission to the authority of his church1 and belief in all that it teaches him1 is good2 another is embued by a sense of each man's duty to think with his own head--to use for his guidance in life the reason and conscience given to him4 ,one man feels that his nation ought to wipe out in blood the shame of a defeat inflicted on her2 another feels that we are brothers1 sons of one spirit1 and that the slaughter of man by man is always wrong4 ,one man feels that the most desirable thing in life is the satisfaction obtainable by the love of women2 another man feels that sex-love is an entanglement and a snare1 hindering his real work in life4 ,and each of these1 if he possess an artist's gift of expression1 and if the feeling be really his own and sincere1 may infect other men4 ,but some of these feelings will benefit and some will harm mankind1 and the more widely they are spread the greater will be their effect4 ,art unites men4 ,surely it is desirable that the feelings in which it unites them should be 8the best and highest to which men have risen10 or at least should not run contrary to our perception of what makes for the well-being of ourselves and of others4 ,and our perception of what makes for the well-being of ourselves and of others is what ,tolstoy calls our 8religious perception40 ,therefore the subject-matter of what we1 in our day1 can esteem as being the best art1 can be of two kinds only-- 7#a7 ,feelings flowing from the highest perception now attainable by man of our right relation to our neighbour and to the ,source from which we come4 ,dickens' 8,christmas ,carol10 uniting us in a more vivid sense of compassion and love1 is a ready example of such art4 7#b7 ,the simple feelings of common life1 accessible to every one--provided that they are such as do not hinder progress towards well-being4 ,art of this kind makes us realise to how great an extent we already are members one of another--sharing the feelings of one common human nature4 ,the success of a very primitive novel--the story of ,joseph1 which made its way into the sacred books of the ,jews1 spread from land to land and from age to age1 and continues to be read to-day among people quite free from bibliolatry--shows how nearly 8universal0 may be the appeal of this kind of art4 ,this branch includes all harmless jokes1 folk-stories1 nursery rhymes1 and even dolls1 if only the author or designer has expressed a feeling 7tenderness1 pleasure1 humour1 or what not7 so as to infect others4 ,but how are we to know what are the 8best0 feelings8 ,what is good8 and what is evil8 ,this is decided by 8religious perception40 ,some such perception exists in every human being2 there is always something he approves of1 and something he disapproves of4 ,reason and conscience are always present1 active or latent1 as long as man lives4 ,miss ,flora ,shaw tells that the most degraded cannibal she ever met1 drew the line at eating his own mother--nothing would induce him to entertain the thought1 his moral sense was revolted by the suggestion4 ,in most societies the 8religious perception10 to which they have advanced1--the foremost stage in mankind's long march towards perfection1 which has been discerned1--has been clearly expressed by some one1 and more or less consciously accepted as an ideal by the many4 ,but there are transition periods in history when the worn-out formularies of a past age have ceased to satisfy men1 or have become so incrusted with superstitions that their original brightness is lost4 ,the 8religious perception0 that is dawning may not yet have found such expression as to be generally understood1 but for all that it exists1 and shows itself by compelling men to repudiate beliefs that satisfied their forefathers1 the outward and visible signs of which are still endowed and dominant long after their spirit has taken refuge in temples not made with hands4 ,at such times it is difficult for men to understand each other1 for the very words needed to express the deepest experiences of men's consciousness mean different things to different men4 ,so among us to-day1 to many minds faith means credulity1 and ,god suggests a person of the male sex1 father of one only-begotten son1 and creator of the universe4 ,this is why ,tolstoy's clear and rational 8religious perception10 expressed in the books named on a previous page1 is frequently spoken of by people who have not grasped it1 as 8mysticism40 ,the narrow materialist is shocked to find that ,tolstoy will not confine himself to the 8objective0 view of life4 ,encountering in himself that 8inner voice0 which compels us all to choose between good and evil1 ,tolstoy refuses to be diverted from a matter which is of immediate and vital importance to him1 by discussions as to the derivation of the external manifestations of conscience which biologists are able to detect in remote forms of life4 ,the real mystic1 on the other hand1 shrinks from ,tolstoy's desire to try all things by the light of reason1 to depend on nothing vague1 and to accept nothing on authority4 ,the man who does not trust his own reason1 fears that life thus squarely faced will prove less worth having than it is when clothed in mist4 ,in this work1 however1 ,tolstoy does not recapitulate at length what he has said before4 ,he does not pause to re-explain why he condemns ,patriotism--i4e41 each man's preference for the predominance of his own country1 which leads to the murder of man by man in war2 or ,churches1 which are sectarian--i4e41 which striving to assert that your doxy is heterodoxy1 but that our doxy is orthodoxy1 make external authorities 7,popes1 ,bibles1 ,councils7 supreme1 and cling to superstitions 7their own miracles1 legends1 and myths71 thus separating themselves from communion with the rest of mankind4 ,nor does he re-explain why he 7like ,christ7 says 8pitiable is your plight--ye rich10 who live artificial lives1 maintainable only by the unbrotherly use of force 7police and soldiers71 but blessed are ye poor--who1 by your way of life1 are within easier reach of brotherly conditions1 if you will but trust to reason and conscience1 and change the direction of your hearts and of your labour1--working no more primarily from fear or greed1 but seeking first the kingdom of righteousness1 in which all good things will be added unto you4 ,he merely summarises it all in a few sentences1 defining the 8religious perception0 of to-day1 which alone can decide for us 8the degree of importance both of the feelings transmitted by art and of the information transmitted by science40 8,the religious perception of our time1 in its widest and most practical application1 is the consciousness that our well-being1 both material and spiritual1 individual and collective1 temporal and eternal1 lies in the growth of brotherhood among men--in their loving harmony with one another0 7p4 #aei74 ,and again3 8,however differently in form people belonging to our ,christian world may define the destiny of man2 whether they see it in human progress in whatever sense of the words1 in the union of all men in a socialistic realm1 or in the establishment of a commune2 whether they look forward to the union of mankind under the guidance of one universal ,church1 or to the federation of the world1--however various in form their definitions of the destination of human life may be1 all men in our times already admit that the highest well-being attainable by men is to be reached by their union with one another0 7p4 #ahh74 ,this is the foundation on which the whole work is based4 ,it follows necessarily from this perception that we should consider as most important in science 8investigations into the results of good and bad actions1 considerations of the reasonableness or unreasonableness of human institutions and beliefs1 considerations of how human life should be lived in order to obtain the greatest well-being for each2 as to what one may and ought1 and what one cannot and should not believe2 how to subdue one's passions1 and how to acquire the habit of virtue40 ,this is the science that 8occupied ,moses1 ,solon1 ,socrates1 ,epictetus1 ,confucius1 ,mencius1 ,marcus ,aurelius1 ,spinoza1 and all those who have taught men to live a moral life10 and it is precisely the kind of scientific investigation to which ,tolstoy has devoted most of the last twenty years1 and for the sake of which he is often said to have 8abandoned art40 ,since science1 like art1 is a 8human activity10 that science best deserves our esteem1 best deserves to be 8chosen1 tolerated1 approved1 and diffused10 which treats of what is supremely important to man2 which deals with urgent1 vital1 inevitable problems of actual life4 ,such science as this brings 8to the consciousness of men the truths that flow from the religious perception of our times10 and 8indicates the various methods of applying this consciousness to life40 8,art should transform this perception into feeling40 ,the 8science0 which is occupied in 8pouring liquids from one jar into another1 or analysing the spectrum1 or cutting up frogs and porpoises10 is no use for rendering such guidance to art1 though capable of practical applications which1 under a more righteous system of society1 might greatly have lightened the sufferings of mankind4 ,naturally enough1 the last chapter of the book deals with the relation between science and art4 ,and the conclusion is that3 8,the destiny of art in our time is to transmit from the realm of reason to the realm of feeling the truth that well-being for men consists in being united together1 and to set up1 in place of the existing reign of force1 that kingdom of ,god1 i4e4 of love1 which we all recognise to be the highest aim of human life40 ,and this art of the future will not be poorer1 but far richer1 in subject-matter than the art of to-day4 ,from the lullaby--that will delight millions of people1 generation after generation--to the highest religious art1 dealing with strong1 rich1 and varied emotions flowing from a fresh outlook upon life and all its problems--the field open for good art is enormous4 ,with so much to say that is urgently important to all1 the art of the future will1 in matter of form also1 be far superior to our art in 8clearness1 beauty1 simplicity1 and compression0 7p4 #aid74 ,for beauty 7i4e41 8that which pleases07--though it depends on taste1 and can furnish no criterion for art--will be a natural characteristic of work done1 not for hire1 nor even for fame1 but because men1 living a natural and healthy life1 wish to share the 8highest spiritual strength which passes through them0 with the greatest possible number of others4 ,the feelings such an artist wishes to share1 he will transmit in a way that will please him1 and will please other men who share his nature4 ,morality is in the nature of things--we cannot escape it4 ,in a society where each man sets himself to obtain wealth1 the difficulty of obtaining an honest living tends to become greater and greater4 ,the more keenly a society pants to obtain 8that which pleases10 and puts this forward as the first and great consideration1 the more puerile and worthless will their art become4 ,but in a society which sought1 primarily1 for right relations between its members1 an abundance would easily be obtainable for all2 and when 8religious perception0 guides a people's art--beauty inevitably results1 as has always been the case when men have seized a fresh perception of life and of its purpose4 99 99 99 99 99 ,an illustration which ,tolstoy struck out of the work while it was being printed1 may serve to illustrate how1 with the aid of the principles explained above1 we may judge of the merits of any work professing to be art4 ,take ,romeo and ,juliet4 ,the conventional view is that ,shakespear is the greatest of artists1 and that ,romeo and ,juliet is one of his good plays4 ,why this is so nobody can tell you4 ,it is so3 that is the way certain people feel about it4 ,they are 8the authorities10 and to doubt their dictum is to show that you know nothing about art4 ,tolstoy does not agree with them in their estimate of ,shakespear1 therefore ,tolstoy is wrong6 ,but now let us apply ,tolstoy's view of art to ,romeo and ,juliet4 ,he does not deny that it infects4 8,let us admit that it is a work of art1 that it infects 7though it is so artificial that it can infect only those who have been carefully educated thereunto72 but what are the feelings it transmits80 ,that is to say1 judging by the internal test1 ,tolstoy admits that ,romeo and ,juliet unites him to its author and to other people in feeling4 ,but the work is very far from being one of 8universal0 art--only a small minority of people ever have cared1 or ever will care1 for it4 ,even in ,england1 or even in the layer of ,european society it is best adapted to reach1 it only touches a minority1 and does not approach the universality attained by the story of ,joseph and many pieces of folk-lore4 ,but perhaps the subject-matter1 the feeling with which ,romeo and ,juliet infects those whom it does reach1 lifts it into the class of the highest religious art8 ,not so4 ,the feeling is one of the attractiveness of 8love at first sight40 ,a girl fourteen years old and a young man meet at an aristocratic party1 where there is feasting and pleasure and idleness1 and1 without knowing each other's minds1 they fall in love as the birds and beasts do4 ,if any feeling is transmitted to us1 it is the feeling that there is a pleasure in these things4 ,somewhere1 in most natures1 there dwells1 dominant or dormant1 an inclination to let such physical sexual attraction guide our course in life4 ,to give it a plain name1 it is 8sensuality40 8,how can ,i1 father or mother of a daughter of ,juliet's age1 wish that those foul feelings which the play transmits should be communicated to my daughter8 ,and if the feelings transmitted by the play are bad1 how can ,i call it good in subject-matter80 ,but1 objects a friend1 the moral of ,romeo and ,juliet is excellent4 ,see what disasters followed from the physical 8love at first sight40 ,but that is quite another matter4 ,it is the feelings with which you are infected when reading1 and not any moral you can deduce1 that is subject-matter of art4 ,pondering upon the consequences that flow from ,romeo and ,juliet's behaviour may belong to the domain of moral science1 but not to that of art4 ,i have hesitated to use an illustration ,tolstoy had struck out1 but ,i think it serves its purpose4 ,no doubt there are other1 subordinate1 feelings 7e4g4 humour7 to be found in ,romeo and ,juliet2 but many quaint conceits that are ingenious1 and have been much admired1 are not1 ,i think1 infectious4 ,tried by such tests1 the enormous majority of the things we have been taught to consider great works of art are found wanting4 ,either they fail to infect 7and attract merely by being interesting1 realistic1 effectful1 or by borrowing from others71 and are therefore not works of art at all2 or they are works of 8exclusive art10 bad in form and capable of infecting only a select audience trained and habituated to such inferior art2 or they are bad in subject-matter1 transmitting feelings harmful to mankind4 ,tolstoy does not shrink from condemning his own artistic productions2 with the exception of two short stories1 he tells us they are works of bad art4 ,take1 for instance1 the novel ,resurrection1 which is now appearing1 and of which he has1 somewhere1 spoken disparagingly1 as being 8written in my former style10 and being therefore bad art4 ,what does this mean8 ,the book is a masterpiece in its own line2 it is eagerly read in many languages2 it undoubtedly infects its readers1 and the feelings transmitted are1 in the main1 such as ,tolstoy approves of--in fact1 they are the feelings to which his religious perception has brought him4 ,if lust is felt in one chapter1 the reaction follows as inevitably as in real life1 and is transmitted with great artistic power4 ,why a work of such rare merit does not satisfy ,tolstoy1 is because it is a work of 8exclusive art10 laden with details of time and place4 ,it has not the 8simplicity and compression0 necessary in works of 8universal0 art4 ,things are mentioned which might apparently be quite well omitted4 ,the style1 also1 is not one of great simplicity2 the sentences are often long and involved1 as is commonly the case in ,tolstoy's writings4 ,it is a novel appealing mainly to the class that has leisure for novel reading because it neglects to produce its own food1 make its own clothes1 or build its own houses4 ,if ,tolstoy is stringent in his judgment of other artists1 he is more stringent still in his judgment of his own artistic works4 ,had ,resurrection been written by ,dickens1 or by ,hugo1 ,tolstoy would1 ,i think1 have found a place for it 7with whatever reservations7 among the examples of religious art4 ,for indeed1 strive as we may to be clear and explicit1 our approval and disapproval is a matter of degree4 ,the thought which underlay the remark3 8,why callest thou me good8 none is good1 save one1 even ,god10 applies not to man only1 but to all things human4 ,what is ,art8 itself is a work of science--though many passages1 and even some whole chapters1 appeal to us as works of art1 and we feel the contagion of the author's hope1 his anxiety to serve the cause of truth and love1 his indignation 7sometimes rather sharply expressed7 with what blocks the path of advance1 and his contempt for much that the 8cultured crowd10 in our erudite1 perverted society1 have persuaded themselves1 and would fain persuade others1 is the highest art4 ,one result which follows inevitably from ,tolstoy's view 7and which illustrates how widely his views differ from the fashionable sthetic mysticism71 is that art is not stationary but progressive4 ,it is true that our highest religious perception found expression eighteen hundred years ago1 and then served as the basis of an art which is still unmatched2 and similar cases can be instanced from the ,east4 ,but allowing for such great exceptions1--to which1 not inaptly1 the term of 8inspiration0 has been specially applied1--the subject-matter of art improves1 though long periods of time may have to be considered in order to make this obvious4 ,our power of verbal expression1 for instance1 may now be no better than it was in the days of ,david1 but we must no longer esteem as good in subject-matter poems which appeal to the ,eternal to destroy a man's private or national foes2 for we have reached a 8religious perception0 which bids us have no foes1 and the ultimate source 7undefinable by us7 from which this consciousness has come1 is what we mean when we speak of ,god4 ,,aylmer ,,maude4 ,wickham's ,farm1 ,near ,danbury1 ,essex1 #bcrd ,march #ahii4 ,footnote #a3 ,bolton ,hall has recently published a little work1 ,life1 and ,love1 and ,death1 with the object of making the philosophy contained in ,on ,life more easily accessible in ,english4 ,the ,author's ,preface ,this book of mine1 8,what is ,art80 appears now for the first time in its true form4 ,more than one edition has already been issued in ,russia1 but in each case it has been so mutilated by the 8,censor10 that ,i request all who are interested in my views on art only to judge of them by the work in its present shape4 ,the causes which led to the publication of the book--with my name attached to it--in a mutilated form1 were the following3--,in accordance with a decision ,i arrived at long ago1--not to submit my writings to the 8,censorship0 7which ,i consider to be an immoral and irrational institution71 but to print them only in the shape in which they were written1--,i intended not to attempt to print this work in ,russia4 ,however1 my good acquaintance ,professor ,grote1 editor of a ,moscow psychological magazine1 having heard of the contents of my work1 asked me to print it in his magazine1 and promised me that he would get the book through the 8,censor's0 office unmutilated if ,i would but agree to a few very unimportant alterations1 merely toning down certain expressions4 ,i was weak enough to agree to this1 and it has resulted in a book appearing1 under my name1 from which not only have some essential thoughts been excluded1 but into which the thoughts of other men--even thoughts utterly opposed to my own convictions--have been introduced4 ,the thing occurred in this way4 ,first1 ,grote softened my expressions1 and in some cases weakened them4 ,for instance1 he replaced the words3 always by sometimes1 all by some1 ,church religion by ,roman ,catholic religion1 8,mother of ,god0 by ,madonna1 patriotism by pseudo-patriotism1 palaces by palatii1#b etc41 and ,i did not consider it necessary to protest4 ,but when the book was already in type1 the ,censor required that whole sentences should be altered1 and that instead of what ,i said about the evil of landed property1 a remark should be substituted on the evils of a landless proletariat4#c ,i agreed to this also and to some further alterations4 ,it seemed not worth while to upset the whole affair for the sake of one sentence1 and when one alteration had been agreed to it seemed not worth while to protest against a second and a third4 ,so1 little by little1 expressions crept into the book which altered the sense and attributed things to me that ,i could not have wished to say4 ,so that by the time the book was printed it had been deprived of some part of its integrity and sincerity4 ,but there was consolation in the thought that the book1 even in this form1 if it contains something that is good1 would be of use to ,russian readers whom it would otherwise not have reached4 ,things1 however1 turned out otherwise4 ,nous comptions sans notre hte4 ,after the legal term of four days had already elapsed1 the book was seized1 and1 on instructions received from ,petersburg1 it was handed over to the 8,spiritual ,censor40 ,then ,grote declined all further participation in the affair1 and the 8,spiritual ,censor0 proceeded to do what he would with the book4 ,the 8,spiritual ,censorship0 is one of the most ignorant1 venal1 stupid1 and despotic institutions in ,russia4 ,books which disagree in any way with the recognised state religion of ,russia1 if once it gets hold of them1 are almost always totally suppressed and burnt2 which is what happened to all my religious works when attempts were made to print them in ,russia4 ,probably a similar fate would have overtaken this work also1 had not the editors of the magazine employed all means to save it4 ,the result of their efforts was that the 8,spiritual ,censor10 a priest who probably understands art and is interested in art as much as ,i understand or am interested in church services1 but who gets a good salary for destroying whatever is likely to displease his superiors1 struck out all that seemed to him to endanger his position1 and substituted his thoughts for mine wherever he considered it necessary to do so4 ,for instance1 where ,i speak of ,christ going to the ,cross for the sake of the truth ,he professed1 the 8,censor0 substituted a statement that ,christ died for mankind1 i4e4 he attributed to me an assertion of the dogma of the ,redemption1 which ,i consider to be one of the most untrue and harmful of ,church dogmas4 ,after correcting the book in this way1 the 8,spiritual ,censor0 allowed it to be printed4 ,to protest in ,russia is impossible1 no newspaper would publish such a protest1 and to withdraw my book from the magazine and place the editor in an awkward position with the public was also not possible4 ,so the matter has remained4 ,a book has appeared under my name containing thoughts attributed to me which are not mine4 ,i was persuaded to give my article to a ,russian magazine1 in order that my thoughts1 which may be useful1 should become the possession of ,russian readers2 and the result has been that my name is affixed to a work from which it might be assumed that ,i quite arbitrarily assert things contrary to the general opinion1 without adducing my reasons2 that ,i only consider false patriotism bad1 but patriotism in general a very good feeling2 that ,i merely deny the absurdities of the ,roman ,catholic ,church and disbelieve in the ,madonna1 but that ,i believe in the ,orthodox ,eastern faith and in the 8,mother of ,god02 that ,i consider all the writings collected in the ,bible to be holy books1 and see the chief importance of ,christ's life in the ,redemption of mankind by his death4 ,i have narrated all this in such detail because it strikingly illustrates the indubitable truth1 that all compromise with institutions of which your conscience disapproves1--compromises which are usually made for the sake of the general good1--instead of producing the good you expected1 inevitably lead you not only to acknowledge the institution you disapprove of1 but also to participate in the evil that institution produces4 ,i am glad to be able by this statement at least to do something to correct the error into which ,i was led by my compromise4 ,i have also to mention that besides reinstating the parts excluded by the ,censor from the ,russian editions1 other corrections and additions of importance have been made in this edition4 ,,leo ,,tolstoy4 #bith ,march #ahih4 ,footnote #b3 ,tolstoy's remarks on ,church religion were re-worded so as to seem to relate only to the ,western ,church1 and his disapproval of luxurious life was made to apply not1 say1 to ,queen ,victoria or ,nicholas ,,ii41 but to the ,csars or the ,pharaohs4--,trans4 ,footnote #c3 ,the ,russian peasant is usually a member of a village commune1 and has therefore a right to a share in the land belonging to the village4 ,tolstoy disapproves of the order of society which allows less land for the support of a whole village full of people than is sometimes owned by a single landed proprietor4 ,the 8,censor0 will not allow disapproval of this state of things to be expressed1 but is prepared to admit that the laws and customs1 say1 of ,england--where a yet more extreme form of landed property exists1 and the men who actually labour on the land usually possess none of it--deserve criticism4--,trans4 ,contents ,,introduction v ,,author',s ,,preface xxxiii ,,chapter ,i ,time and labour spent on art--,lives stunted in its service--,morality sacrificed to and anger justified by art--,the rehearsal of an opera described #a ,,chapter ,,ii ,does art compensate for so much evil8--,what is art8--,confusion of opinions--,is it 8that which produces beauty08--,the word 8beauty0 in ,russian--,chaos in sthetics #i ,,chapter ,,iii ,summary of various sthetic theories and definitions1 from ,baumgarten to to-day #bj ,,chapter ,,iv ,definitions of art founded on beauty--,taste not definable--,a clear definition needed to enable us to recognise works of art #ch ,,chapter ,v ,definitions not founded on beauty--,tolstoy's definition--,the extent and necessity of art--,how people in the past have distinguished good from bad in art #df ,,chapter ,,vi ,how art for pleasure has come into esteem--,religions indicate what is considered good and bad--,church ,christianity--,the ,renaissance--,scepticism of the upper classes--,they confound beauty with goodness #ec ,,chapter ,,vii ,an sthetic theory framed to suit this view of life #fa ,,chapter ,,viii ,who have adopted it8--,real art needful for all men--,our art too expensive1 too unintelligible1 and too harmful for the masses--,the theory of 8the elect0 in art #fg ,,chapter ,,ix ,perversion of our art--,it has lost its natural subject-matter--,has no flow of fresh feeling--,transmits chiefly three base emotions #gc ,,chapter ,x ,loss of comprehensibility--,decadent art--,recent ,french art--,have we a right to say it is bad and that what we like is good art8--,the highest art has always been comprehensible to normal people--,what fails to infect normal people is not art #gi ,,chapter ,,xi ,counterfeits of art produced by3 ,borrowing2 ,imitating2 ,striking2 ,interesting--,qualifications needful for production of real works of art1 and those sufficient for production of counterfeits #ajf ,,chapter ,,xii ,causes of production of counterfeits--,professionalism--,critici sm--,schools of art #aah ,,chapter ,,xiii ,wagner's 8,nibelung's ,ring0 a type of counterfeit art--,its success1 and the reasons thereof #abh ,,chapter ,,xiv ,truths fatal to preconceived views are not readily recognised--,proportion of works of art to counterfeits--,perversion of taste and incapacity to recognise art--,examples #adc ,,chapter ,,xv ,the quality of art1 considered apart from its subject-matter--,the sign of art3 infectiousness--,incomprehensible to those whose taste is perverted--,conditions of infection3 ,individuality2 ,clearness2 ,sincerity #aeb ,,chapter ,,xvi ,the quality of art1 considered according to its subject-matter--,the better the feeling the better the art--,the cultured crowd--,the religious perception of our age--,the new ideals put fresh demands to art--,art unites--,religious art--,universal art--,both co-operate to one result--,the new appraisement of art--,bad art--,examples of art--,how to test a work claiming to be art #aef ,,chapter ,,xvii ,results of absence of true art--,results of perversion of art3 ,labour and lives spent on what is useless and harmful--,the abnormal life of the rich--,perplexity of children and plain folk--,confusion of right and wrong--,nietzsche and ,redbeard--,superstition1 ,patriotism1 and ,sensuality #age ,,chapter ,,xviii ,the purpose of human life is the brotherly union of man--,art must be guided by this perception #ahg ,,chapter ,,xix ,the art of the future not a possession of a select minority1 but a means towards perfection and unity #aib ,,chapter ,,xx ,the connection between science and art--,the mendacious sciences2 the trivial sciences--,science should deal with the great problems of human life1 and serve as a basis for art #bjj ,,appendices ,appendix ,i #bae ,appendix ,,ii #bah ,appendix ,,iii #bbf ,appendix ,,iv #bcb ,what is ,art8 ,take up any one of our ordinary newspapers1 and you will find a part devoted to the theatre and music4 ,in almost every number you will find a description of some art exhibition1 or of some particular picture1 and you will always find reviews of new works of art that have appeared1 of volumes of poems1 of short stories1 or of novels4 ,promptly1 and in detail1 as soon as it has occurred1 an account is published of how such and such an actress or actor played this or that rle in such and such a drama1 comedy1 or opera2 and of the merits of the performance1 as well as of the contents of the new drama1 comedy1 or opera1 with its defects and merits4 ,with as much care and detail1 or even more1 we are told how such and such an artist has sung a certain piece1 or has played it on the piano or violin1 and what were the merits and defects of the piece and of the performance4 ,in every large town there is sure to be at least one1 if not more than one1 exhibition of new pictures1 the merits and defects of which are discussed in the utmost detail by critics and connoisseurs4 ,new novels and poems1 in separate volumes or in the magazines1 appear almost every day1 and the newspapers consider it their duty to give their readers detailed accounts of these artistic productions4 ,for the support of art in ,russia 7where for the education of the people only a hundredth part is spent of what would be required to give everyone the opportunity of instruction7 the ,government grants millions of roubles in subsidies to academies1 conservatoires and theatres4 ,in ,france twenty million francs are assigned for art1 and similar grants are made in ,germany and ,england4 ,in every large town enormous buildings are erected for museums1 academies1 conservatoires1 dramatic schools1 and for performances and concerts4 ,hundreds of thousands of workmen1--carpenters1 masons1 painters1 joiners1 paperhangers1 tailors1 hairdressers1 jewellers1 moulders1 type-setters1--spend their whole lives in hard labour to satisfy the demands of art1 so that hardly any other department of human activity1 except the military1 consumes so much energy as this4 ,not only is enormous labour spent on this activity1 but in it1 as in war1 the very lives of men are sacrificed4 ,hundreds of thousands of people devote their lives from childhood to learning to twirl their legs rapidly 7dancers71 or to touch notes and strings very rapidly 7musicians71 or to draw with paint and represent what they see 7artists71 or to turn every phrase inside out and find a rhyme to every word4 ,and these people1 often very kind and clever1 and capable of all sorts of useful labour1 grow savage over their specialised and stupefying occupations1 and become one-sided and self-complacent specialists1 dull to all the serious phenomena of life1 and skilful only at rapidly twisting their legs1 their tongues1 or their fingers4 ,but even this stunting of human life is not the worst4 ,i remember being once at the rehearsal of one of the most ordinary of the new operas which are produced at all the opera houses of ,europe and ,america4 ,i arrived when the first act had already commenced4 ,to reach the auditorium ,i had to pass through the stage entrance4 ,by dark entrances and passages1 ,i was led through the vaults of an enormous building past immense machines for changing the scenery and for illuminating2 and there in the gloom and dust ,i saw workmen busily engaged4 ,one of these men1 pale1 haggard1 in a dirty blouse1 with dirty1 work-worn hands and cramped fingers1 evidently tired and out of humour1 went past me1 angrily scolding another man4 ,ascending by a dark stair1 ,i came out on the boards behind the scenes4 ,amid various poles and rings and scattered scenery1 decorations and curtains1 stood and moved dozens1 if not hundreds1 of painted and dressed-up men1 in costumes fitting tight to their thighs and calves1 and also women1 as usual1 as nearly nude as might be4 ,these were all singers1 or members of the chorus1 or ballet-dancers1 awaiting their turns4 ,my guide led me across the stage and1 by means of a bridge of boards1 across the orchestra 7in which perhaps a hundred musicians of all kinds1 from kettle-drum to flute and harp1 were seated71 to the dark pit-stalls4 ,on an elevation1 between two lamps with reflectors1 and in an arm-chair placed before a music-stand1 sat the director of the musical part1 bton in hand1 managing the orchestra and singers1 and1 in general1 the production of the whole opera4 ,the performance had already commenced1 and on the stage a procession of ,indians who had brought home a bride was being represented4 ,besides men and women in costume1 two other men in ordinary clothes bustled and ran about on the stage2 one was the director of the dramatic part1 and the other1 who stepped about in soft shoes and ran from place to place with unusual agility1 was the dancing-master1 whose salary per month exceeded what ten labourers earn in a year4 ,these three directors arranged the singing1 the orchestra1 and the procession4 ,the procession1 as usual1 was enacted by couples1 with tinfoil halberds on their shoulders4 ,they all came from one place1 and walked round and round again1 and then stopped4 ,the procession took a long time to arrange3 first the ,indians with halberds came on too late2 then too soon2 then at the right time1 but crowded together at the exit2 then they did not crowd1 but arranged themselves badly at the sides of the stage2 and each time the whole performance was stopped and recommenced from the beginning4 ,the procession was introduced by a recitative1 delivered by a man dressed up like some variety of ,turk1 who1 opening his mouth in a curious way1 sang1 8,home ,i bring the bri-i-ide40 ,he sings and waves his arm 7which is of course bare7 from under his mantle4 ,the procession commences1 but here the ,french horn1 in the accompaniment of the recitative1 does something wrong2 and the director1 with a shudder as if some catastrophe had occurred1 raps with his stick on the stand4 ,all is stopped1 and the director1 turning to the orchestra1 attacks the ,french horn1 scolding him in the rudest terms1 as cabmen abuse each other1 for taking the wrong note4 ,and again the whole thing recommences4 ,the ,indians with their halberds again come on1 treading softly in their extraordinary boots2 again the singer sings1 8,home ,i bring the bri-i-ide40 ,but here the pairs get too close together4 ,more raps with the stick1 more scolding1 and a recommencement4 ,again1 8,home ,i bring the bri-i-ide10 again the same gesticulation with the bare arm from under the mantle1 and again the couples1 treading softly with halberds on their shoulders1 some with sad and serious faces1 some talking and smiling1 arrange themselves in a circle and begin to sing4 ,all seems to be going well1 but again the stick raps1 and the director1 in a distressed and angry voice1 begins to scold the men and women of the chorus4 ,it appears that when singing they had omitted to raise their hands from time to time in sign of animation4 8,are you all dead1 or what8 ,cows that you are6 ,are you corpses1 that you can't move80 ,again they re-commence1 8,home ,i bring the bri-i-ide10 and again1 with sorrowful faces1 the chorus women sing1 first one and then another of them raising their hands4 ,but two chorus-girls speak to each other1--again a more vehement rapping with the stick4 8,have you come here to talk8 ,can't you gossip at home8 ,you there in red breeches1 come nearer4 ,look towards me6 ,recommence60 ,again1 8,home ,i bring the bri-i-ide40 ,and so it goes on for one1 two1 three hours4 ,the whole of such a rehearsal lasts six hours on end4 ,raps with the stick1 repetitions1 placings1 corrections of the singers1 of the orchestra1 of the procession1 of the dancers1--all seasoned with angry scolding4 ,i heard the words1 8asses10 8fools10 8idiots10 8swine10 addressed to the musicians and singers at least forty times in the course of one hour4 ,and the unhappy individual to whom the abuse is addressed1--flautist1 horn-blower1 or singer1--physically and mentally demoralised1 does not reply1 and does what is demanded of him4 ,twenty times is repeated the one phrase1 8,home ,i bring the bri-i-ide10 and twenty times the striding about in yellow shoes with a halberd over the shoulder4 ,the conductor knows that these people are so demoralised that they are no longer fit for anything but to blow trumpets and walk about with halberds and in yellow shoes1 and that they are also accustomed to dainty1 easy living1 so that they will put up with anything rather than lose their luxurious life4 ,he therefore gives free vent to his churlishness1 especially as he has seen the same thing done in ,paris and ,vienna1 and knows that this is the way the best conductors behave1 and that it is a musical tradition of great artists to be so carried away by the great business of their art that they cannot pause to consider the feelings of other artists4 ,it would be difficult to find a more repulsive sight4 ,i have seen one workman abuse another for not supporting the weight piled upon him when goods were being unloaded1 or1 at hay-stacking1 the village elder scold a peasant for not making the rick right1 and the man submitted in silence4 ,and1 however unpleasant it was to witness the scene1 the unpleasantness was lessened by the consciousness that the business in hand was needful and important1 and that the fault for which the head-man scolded the labourer was one which might spoil a needful undertaking4 ,but what was being done here8 ,for what1 and for whom8 ,very likely the conductor was tired out1 like the workman ,i passed in the vaults2 it was even evident that he was2 but who made him tire himself8 ,and for what was he tiring himself8 ,the opera he was rehearsing was one of the most ordinary of operas for people who are accustomed to them1 but also one of the most gigantic absurdities that could possibly be devised4 ,an ,indian king wants to marry2 they bring him a bride2 he disguises himself as a minstrel2 the bride falls in love with the minstrel and is in despair1 but afterwards discovers that the minstrel is the king1 and everyone is highly delighted4 ,that there never were1 or could be1 such ,indians1 and that they were not only unlike ,indians1 but that what they were doing was unlike anything on earth except other operas1 was beyond all manner of doubt2 that people do not converse in such a way as recitative1 and do not place themselves at fixed distances1 in a quartet1 waving their arms to express their emotions2 that nowhere1 except in theatres1 do people walk about in such a manner1 in pairs1 with tinfoil halberds and in slippers2 that no one ever gets angry in such a way1 or is affected in such a way1 or laughs in such a way1 or cries in such a way2 and that no one on earth can be moved by such performances2 all this is beyond the possibility of doubt4 ,instinctively the question presents itself--,for whom is this being done8 ,whom can it please8 ,if there are1 occasionally1 good melodies in the opera1 to which it is pleasant to listen1 they could have been sung simply1 without these stupid costumes and all the processions and recitatives and hand-wavings4 ,the ballet1 in which half-naked women make voluptuous movements1 twisting themselves into various sensual wreathings1 is simply a lewd performance4 ,so one is quite at a loss as to whom these things are done for4 ,the man of culture is heartily sick of them1 while to a real working man they are utterly incomprehensible4 ,if anyone can be pleased by these things 7which is doubtful71 it can only be some young footman or depraved artisan1 who has contracted the spirit of the upper classes but is not yet satiated with their amusements1 and wishes to show his breeding4 ,and all this nasty folly is prepared1 not simply1 nor with kindly merriment1 but with anger and brutal cruelty4 ,it is said that it is all done for the sake of art1 and that art is a very important thing4 ,but is it true that art is so important that such sacrifices should be made for its sake8 ,this question is especially urgent1 because art1 for the sake of which the labour of millions1 the lives of men1 and above all1 love between man and man1 are being sacrificed1--this very art is becoming something more and more vague and uncertain to human perception4 ,criticism1 in which the lovers of art used to find support for their opinions1 has latterly become so self-contradictory1 that1 if we exclude from the domain of art all that to which the critics of various schools themselves deny the title1 there is scarcely any art left4 ,the artists of various sects1 like the theologians of the various sects1 mutually exclude and destroy themselves4 ,listen to the artists of the schools of our times1 and you will find1 in all branches1 each set of artists disowning others4 ,in poetry the old romanticists deny the parnassians and the decadents2 the parnassians disown the romanticists and the decadents2 the decadents disown all their predecessors and the symbolists2 the symbolists disown all their predecessors and les mages2 and les mages disown all1 all their predecessors4 ,among novelists we have naturalists1 psychologists1 and 8nature-ists10 all rejecting each other4 ,and it is the same in dramatic art1 in painting and in music4 ,so that art1 which demands such tremendous labour-sacrifices from the people1 which stunts human lives and transgresses against human love1 is not only not a thing clearly and firmly defined1 but is understood in such contradictory ways by its own devotees that it is difficult to say what is meant by art1 and especially what is good1 useful art1--art for the sake of which we might condone such sacrifices as are being offered at its shrine4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,for the production of every ballet1 circus1 opera1 operetta1 exhibition1 picture1 concert1 or printed book1 the intense and unwilling labour of thousands and thousands of people is needed at what is often harmful and humiliating work4 ,it were well if artists made all they require for themselves1 but1 as it is1 they all need the help of workmen1 not only to produce art1 but also for their own usually luxurious maintenance4 ,and1 one way or other1 they get it2 either through payments from rich people1 or through subsidies given by ,government 7in ,russia1 for instance1 in grants of millions of roubles to theatres1 conservatoires and academies74 ,this money is collected from the people1 some of whom have to sell their only cow to pay the tax1 and who never get those sthetic pleasures which art gives4 ,it was all very well for a ,greek or ,roman artist1 or even for a ,russian artist of the first half of our century 7when there were still slaves1 and it was considered right that there should be71 with a quiet mind to make people serve him and his art2 but in our day1 when in all men there is at least some dim perception of the equal rights of all1 it is impossible to constrain people to labour unwillingly for art1 without first deciding the question whether it is true that art is so good and so important an affair as to redeem this evil4 ,if not1 we have the terrible probability to consider1 that while fearful sacrifices of the labour and lives of men1 and of morality itself1 are being made to art1 that same art may be not only useless but even harmful4 ,and therefore it is necessary for a society in which works of art arise and are supported1 to find out whether all that professes to be art is really art2 whether 7as is presupposed in our society7 all that which is art is good2 and whether it is important and worth those sacrifices which it necessitates4 ,it is still more necessary for every conscientious artist to know this1 that he may be sure that all he does has a valid meaning2 that it is not merely an infatuation of the small circle of people among whom he lives which excites in him the false assurance that he is doing a good work2 and that what he takes from others for the support of his often very luxurious life1 will be compensated for by those productions at which he works4 ,and that is why answers to the above questions are especially important in our time4 ,what is this art1 which is considered so important and necessary for humanity that for its sake these sacrifices of labour1 of human life1 and even of goodness may be made8 8,what is art8 ,what a question6 ,art is architecture1 sculpture1 painting1 music1 and poetry in all its forms10 usually replies the ordinary man1 the art amateur1 or even the artist himself1 imagining the matter about which he is talking to be perfectly clear1 and uniformly understood by everybody4 ,but in architecture1 one inquires further1 are there not simple buildings which are not objects of art1 and buildings with artistic pretensions which are unsuccessful and ugly and therefore cannot be considered as works of art8 wherein lies the characteristic sign of a work of art8 ,it is the same in sculpture1 in music1 and in poetry4 ,art1 in all its forms1 is bounded on one side by the practically useful and on the other by unsuccessful attempts at art4 ,how is art to be marked off from each of these8 ,the ordinary educated man of our circle1 and even the artist who has not occupied himself especially with sthetics1 will not hesitate at this question either4 ,he thinks the solution has been found long ago1 and is well known to everyone4 8,art is such activity as produces beauty10 says such a man4 ,if art consists in that1 then is a ballet or an operetta art8 you inquire4 8,yes10 says the ordinary man1 though with some hesitation1 8a good ballet or a graceful operetta is also art1 in so far as it manifests beauty40 ,but without even asking the ordinary man what differentiates the 8good0 ballet and the 8graceful0 operetta from their opposites 7a question he would have much difficulty in answering71 if you ask him whether the activity of costumiers and hairdressers1 who ornament the figures and faces of the women for the ballet and the operetta1 is art2 or the activity of ,worth1 the dressmaker2 of scent-makers and men-cooks1 then he will1 in most cases1 deny that their activity belongs to the sphere of art4 ,but in this the ordinary man makes a mistake1 just because he is an ordinary man and not a specialist1 and because he has not occupied himself with sthetic questions4 ,had he looked into these matters1 he would have seen in the great ,renan's book1 ,marc ,aurele1 a dissertation showing that the tailor's work is art1 and that those who do not see in the adornment of woman an affair of the highest art are very small-minded and dull4 8,c'est le grand art0 says ,renan4 ,moreover1 he would have known that in many sthetic systems--for instance1 in the sthetics of the learned ,professor ,kralik1 ,weltschnheit1 ,versuch einer allgemeinen sthetik1 von ,richard ,kralik1 and in ,les problmes de l',esthtique ,contemporaine1 by ,guyau--the arts of costume1 of taste1 and of touch are included4 8,es ,folgt nun ein ,fnfblatt von ,knsten1 die der subjectiven ,sinnlichkeit entkeimen0 7,there results then a pentafoliate of arts1 growing out of the subjective perceptions71 says ,kralik 7p4 #age74 8,sie sind die sthetische ,behandlung der fnf ,sinne40 7,they are the sthetic treatment of the five senses47 ,these five arts are the following3-- ,die ,kunst des ,geschmacksinns--,the art of the sense of taste 7p4 #age74 ,die ,kunst des ,geruchsinns--,the art of the sense of smell 7p4 #agg74 ,die ,kunst des ,tastsinns--,the art of the sense of touch 7p4 #ahj74 ,die ,kunst des ,gehrsinns--,the art of the sense of hearing 7p4 #ahb74 ,die ,kunst des ,gesichtsinns--,the art of the sense of sight 7p4 #ahd74 ,of the first of these--die ,kunst des ,geschmacksinns--he says3 8,man hlt zwar gewhnlich nur zwei oder hchstens drei ,sinne fr wrdig1 den ,stoff knstlerischer ,behandlung abzugeben1 aber ich glaube nur mit bedingtem ,recht4 ,ich will kein allzugrosses ,gewicht darauf legen1 dass der gemeine ,sprachgebrauch manch andere ,knste1 wie zum ,beispiel die ,kochkunst kennt40#d ,and further3 8,und es ist doch gewiss eine sthetische ,leistung1 wenn es der ,kochkunst gelingt aus einem thierischen ,kadaver einen ,gegenstand des ,geschmacks in jedem ,sinne zu machen4 ,der ,grundsatz der ,kunst des ,geschmacksinns 7die weiter ist als die sogenannte ,kochkunst7 ist also dieser3 ,es soll alles ,geniessbare als ,sinnbild einer ,idee behandelt werden und in jedesmaligem ,einklang zur auszudrckenden ,idee40#e ,this author1 like ,renan1 acknowledges a ,kostmkunst 7,art of ,costume7 7p4 #bjj71 etc4 ,such is also the opinion of the ,french writer1 ,guyau1 who is highly esteemed by some authors of our day4 ,in his book1 ,les problmes de l'esthtique contemporaine1 he speaks seriously of touch1 taste1 and smell as giving1 or being capable of giving1 aesthetic impressions3 8,si la couleur manque au toucher1 il nous fournit en revanche une notion que l'il seul ne peut nous donner1 et qui a une valeur esthtique considrable1 celle du doux1 du soyeux du poli4 ,ce qui caractrise la beaut du velours1 c'est sa douceur au toucher non moins que son brillant4 ,dans l'ide que nous nous faisons de la beaut d'une femme1 le velout de sa peau entre comme lment essentiel40 8,chacun de nous probablement avec un peu d'attention se rappellera des jouissances du got1 qui out t de vritables jouissances esthtiques40#f ,and he recounts how a glass of milk drunk by him in the mountains gave him sthetic enjoyment4 ,so it turns out that the conception of art as consisting in making beauty manifest is not at all so simple as it seemed1 especially now1 when in this conception of beauty are included our sensations of touch and taste and smell1 as they are by the latest sthetic writers4 ,but the ordinary man either does not know1 or does not wish to know1 all this1 and is firmly convinced that all questions about art may be simply and clearly solved by acknowledging beauty to be the subject-matter of art4 ,to him it seems clear and comprehensible that art consists in manifesting beauty1 and that a reference to beauty will serve to explain all questions about art4 ,but what is this beauty which forms the subject-matter of art8 ,how is it defined8 ,what is it8 ,as is always the case1 the more cloudy and confused the conception conveyed by a word1 with the more aplomb and self-assurance do people use that word1 pretending that what is understood by it is so simple and clear that it is not worth while even to discuss what it actually means4 ,this is how matters of orthodox religion are usually dealt with1 and this is how people now deal with the conception of beauty4 ,it is taken for granted that what is meant by the word beauty is known and understood by everyone4 ,and yet not only is this not known1 but1 after whole mountains of books have been written on the subject by the most learned and profound thinkers during one hundred and fifty years 7ever since ,baumgarten founded sthetics in the year #agej71 the question1 ,what is beauty8 remains to this day quite unsolved1 and in each new work on sthetics it is answered in a new way4 ,one of the last books ,i read on sthetics is a not ill-written booklet by ,julius ,mithalter1 called ,rtsel des ,schnen 7,the ,enigma of the ,beautiful74 ,and that title precisely expresses the position of the question1 ,what is beauty8 ,after thousands of learned men have discussed it during one hundred and fifty years1 the meaning of the word beauty remains an enigma still4 ,the ,germans answer the question in their manner1 though in a hundred different ways4 ,the physiologist-stheticians1 especially the ,englishmen3 ,herbert ,spencer1 ,grant ,allen and his school1 answer it1 each in his own way2 the ,french eclectics1 and the followers of ,guyau and ,taine1 also each in his own way2 and all these people know all the preceding solutions given by ,baumgarten1 and ,kant1 and ,schelling1 and ,schiller1 and ,fichte1 and ,winckelmann1 and ,lessing1 and ,hegel1 and ,schopenhauer1 and ,hartmann1 and ,schasler1 and ,cousin1 and ,lvque and others4 ,what is this strange conception 8beauty10 which seems so simple to those who talk without thinking1 but in defining which all the philosophers of various tendencies and different nationalities can come to no agreement during a century and a half8 ,what is this conception of beauty1 on which the dominant doctrine of art rests8 ,in ,russian1 by the word krasota 7beauty7 we mean only that which pleases the sight4 ,and though latterly people have begun to speak of 8an ugly deed10 or of 8beautiful music10 it is not good ,russian4 ,a ,russian of the common folk1 not knowing foreign languages1 will not understand you if you tell him that a man who has given his last coat to another1 or done anything similar1 has acted 8beautifully10 that a man who has cheated another has done an 8ugly0 action1 or that a song is 8beautiful40 ,in ,russian a deed may be kind and good1 or unkind and bad4 ,music may be pleasant and good1 or unpleasant and bad2 but there can be no such thing as 8beautiful0 or 8ugly0 music4 ,beautiful may relate to a man1 a horse1 a house1 a view1 or a movement4 ,of actions1 thoughts1 character1 or music1 if they please us1 we may say that they are good1 or1 if they do not please us1 that they are not good4 ,but beautiful can be used only concerning that which pleases the sight4 ,so that the word and conception 8good0 includes the conception of 8beautiful10 but the reverse is not the case2 the conception 8beauty0 does not include the conception 8good40 ,if we say 8good0 of an article which we value for its appearance1 we thereby say that the article is beautiful2 but if we say it is 8beautiful10 it does not at all mean that the article is a good one4 ,such is the meaning ascribed by the ,russian language1 and therefore by the sense of the people1 to the words and conceptions 8good0 and 8beautiful40 ,in all the ,european languages1 i4e4 the languages of those nations among whom the doctrine has spread that beauty is the essential thing in art1 the words 8beau10 8schn10 8beautiful10 8bello10 etc41 while keeping their meaning of beautiful in form1 have come to also express 8goodness10 8kindness10 i4e4 have come to act as substitutes for the word 8good40 ,so that it has become quite natural in those languages to use such expressions as 8belle ame10 8schne ,gedanken10 of 8beautiful deed40 ,those languages no longer have a suitable word wherewith expressly to indicate beauty of form1 and have to use a combination of words such as 8beau par la forme10 8beautiful to look at10 etc41 to convey that idea4 ,observation of the divergent meanings which the words 8beauty0 and 8beautiful0 have in ,russian on the one hand1 and in those ,european languages now permeated by this sthetic theory on the other hand1 shows us that the word 8beauty0 has1 among the latter1 acquired a special meaning1 namely1 that of 8good40 ,what is remarkable1 moreover1 is that since we ,russians have begun more and more to adopt the ,european view of art1 the same evolution has begun to show itself in our language also1 and some people speak and write quite confidently1 and without causing surprise1 of beautiful music and ugly actions1 or even thoughts2 whereas forty years ago1 when ,i was young1 the expressions 8beautiful music0 and 8ugly actions0 were not only unusual but incomprehensible4 ,evidently this new meaning given to beauty by ,european thought begins to be assimilated by ,russian society4 ,and what really is this meaning8 ,what is this 8beauty0 as it is understood by the ,european peoples8 ,in order to answer this question1 ,i must here quote at least a small selection of those definitions of beauty most generally adopted in existing sthetic systems4 ,i especially beg the reader not to be overcome by dulness1 but to read these extracts through1 or1 still better1 to read some one of the erudite sthetic authors4 ,not to mention the voluminous ,german stheticians1 a very good book for this purpose would be either the ,german book by ,kralik1 the ,english work by ,knight1 or the ,french one by ,lvque4 ,it is necessary to read one of the learned sthetic writers in order to form at first-hand a conception of the variety in opinion and the frightful obscurity which reigns in this region of speculation2 not1 in this important matter1 trusting to another's report4 ,this1 for instance1 is what the ,german sthetician ,schasler says in the preface to his famous1 voluminous1 and detailed work on sthetics3-- 8,hardly in any sphere of philosophic science can we find such divergent methods of investigation and exposition1 amounting even to self-contradiction1 as in the sphere of sthetics4 ,on the one hand we have elegant phraseology without any substance1 characterised in great part by most one-sided superficiality2 and on the other hand1 accompanying undeniable profundity of investigation and richness of subject-matter1 we get a revolting awkwardness of philosophic terminology1 enfolding the simplest thoughts in an apparel of abstract science as though to render them worthy to enter the consecrated palace of the system2 and finally1 between these two methods of investigation and exposition1 there is a third1 forming1 as it were1 the transition from one to the other1 a method consisting of eclecticism1 now flaunting an elegant phraseology and now a pedantic erudition4444 ,a style of exposition that falls into none of these three defects but it is truly concrete1 and1 having important matter1 expresses it in clear and popular philosophic language1 can nowhere be found less frequently than in the domain of sthetics40#g ,it is only necessary1 for instance1 to read ,schasler's own book to convince oneself of the justice of this observation of his4 ,on the same subject the ,french writer ,vron1 in the preface to his very good work on sthetics1 says1 8,il n'y a pas de science1 qui ait t plus que l'esthtique livre aux rveries des mtaphysiciens4 ,depuis ,platon jusqu' aux doctrines officielles de nos jours1 on a fait de l'art je ne sais quel amalgame de fantaisies quintessencies1 et de mystres transcendantaux qui trouvent leur expression suprme dans la conception absolue du ,beau idal1 prototype immuable et divin des choses relles0 7,l'esthtique1 #ahgh1 p4 #e74h ,if the reader will only be at the pains to peruse the following extracts1 defining beauty1 taken from the chief writers on sthetics1 he may convince himself that this censure is thoroughly deserved4 ,i shall not quote the definitions of beauty attributed to the ancients1--,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 etc41 down to ,plotinus1--because1 in reality1 the ancients had not that conception of beauty separated from goodness which forms the basis and aim of sthetics in our time4 ,by referring the judgments of the ancients on beauty to our conception of it1 as is usually done in sthetics1 we give the words of the ancients a meaning which is not theirs4#i ,footnote #d3 ,only two1 or at most three1 senses are generally held worthy to supply matter for artistic treatment1 but ,i think this opinion is only conditionally correct4 ,i will not lay too much stress on the fact that our common speech recognises many other arts1 as1 for instance1 the art of cookery4 ,footnote #e3 ,and yet it is certainly an sthetic achievement when the art of cooking succeeds in making of an animal's corpse an object in all respects tasteful4 ,the principle of the ,art of ,taste 7which goes beyond the so-called ,art of ,cookery7 is therefore this3 ,all that is eatable should be treated as the symbol of some ,idea1 and always in harmony with the ,idea to be expressed4 ,footnote #f3 ,if the sense of touch lacks colour1 it gives us1 on the other hand1 a notion which the eye alone cannot afford1 and one of considerable sthetic value1 namely1 that of softness1 silkiness1 polish4 ,the beauty of velvet is characterised not less by its softness to the touch than by its lustre4 ,in the idea we form of a woman's beauty1 the softness of her skin enters as an essential element4 ,each of us probably1 with a little attention1 can recall pleasures of taste which have been real sthetic pleasures4 ,footnote #g3 ,m4 ,schasler1 ,kritische ,geschichte der ,aesthetik1 #ahgb1 vol4 i4 p4 #ac4 ,footnote #h3 ,there is no science which more than sthetics has been handed over to the reveries of the metaphysicians4 ,from ,plato down to the received doctrines of our day1 people have made of art a strange amalgam of quintessential fancies and transcendental mysteries1 which find their supreme expression in the conception of an absolute ideal ,beauty1 immutable and divine prototype of actual things4 ,footnote #i3 ,see on this matter ,benard's admirable book1 ,l'esthtique d',aristote1 also ,walter's ,geschichte der ,aesthetik im ,altertum4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,i begin with the founder of sthetics1 ,baumgarten 7#agad-agfb74 ,according to ,baumgarten1#aj the object of logical knowledge is ,truth1 the object of sthetic 7i4e4 sensuous7 knowledge is ,beauty4 ,beauty is the ,perfect 7the ,absolute71 recognised through the senses2 ,truth is the ,perfect perceived through reason2 ,goodness is the ,perfect reached by moral will4 ,beauty is defined by ,baumgarten as a correspondence1 i4e4 an order of the parts in their mutual relations to each other and in their relation to the whole4 ,the aim of beauty itself is to please and excite a desire1 8,wohlgefallen und ,erregung eines ,verlangens40 7,a position precisely the opposite of ,kant's definition of the nature and sign of beauty47 ,with reference to the manifestations of beauty1 ,baumgarten considers that the highest embodiment of beauty is seen by us in nature1 and he therefore thinks that the highest aim of art is to copy nature4 7,this position also is directly contradicted by the conclusions of the latest stheticians47 ,passing over the unimportant followers of ,baumgarten1--,maier1 ,eschenburg1 and ,eberhard1--who only slightly modified the doctrine of their teacher by dividing the pleasant from the beautiful1 ,i will quote the definitions given by writers who came immediately after ,baumgarten1 and defined beauty quite in another way4 ,these writers were ,sulzer1 ,mendelssohn1 and ,moritz4 ,they1 in contradiction to ,baumgarten's main position1 recognise as the aim of art1 not beauty1 but goodness4 ,thus ,sulzer 7#agbj-aggg7 says that only that can be considered beautiful which contains goodness4 ,according to his theory1 the aim of the whole life of humanity is welfare in social life4 ,this is attained by the education of the moral feelings1 to which end art should be subservient4 ,beauty is that which evokes and educates this feeling4 ,beauty is understood almost in the same way by ,mendelssohn 7#agbi-aghf74 ,according to him1 art is the carrying forward of the beautiful1 obscurely recognised by feeling1 till it becomes the true and good4 ,the aim of art is moral perfection4#aa ,for the stheticians of this school1 the ideal of beauty is a beautiful soul in a beautiful body4 ,so that these stheticians completely wipe out ,baumgarten's division of the ,perfect 7the ,absolute71 into the three forms of ,truth1 ,goodness1 and ,beauty2 and ,beauty is again united with the ,good and the ,true4 ,but this conception is not only not maintained by the later stheticians1 but the sthetic doctrine of ,winckelmann arises1 again in complete opposition4 ,this divides the mission of art from the aim of goodness in the sharpest and most positive manner1 makes external beauty the aim of art1 and even limits it to visible beauty4 ,according to the celebrated work of ,winckelmann 7#agag-agfg71 the law and aim of all art is beauty only1 beauty quite separated from and independent of goodness4 ,there are three kinds of beauty3--7#a7 beauty of form1 7#b7 beauty of idea1 expressing itself in the position of the figure 7in plastic art71 7#c7 beauty of expression1 attainable only when the two first conditions are present4 ,this beauty of expression is the highest aim of art1 and is attained in antique art2 modern art should therefore aim at imitating ancient art4#ab ,art is similarly understood by ,lessing1 ,herder1 and afterwards by ,goethe and by all the distinguished stheticians of ,germany till ,kant1 from whose day1 again1 a different conception of art commences4 ,native sthetic theories arose during this period in ,england1 ,france1 ,italy1 and ,holland1 and they1 though not taken from the ,german1 were equally cloudy and contradictory4 ,and all these writers1 just like the ,german stheticians1 founded their theories on a conception of the ,beautiful1 understanding beauty in the sense of a something existing absolutely1 and more or less intermingled with ,goodness or having one and the same root4 ,in ,england1 almost simultaneously with ,baumgarten1 even a little earlier1 ,shaftesbury1 ,hutcheson1 ,home1 ,burke1 ,hogarth1 and others1 wrote on art4 ,according to ,shaftesbury 7#afgj-agac71 8,that which is beautiful is harmonious and proportionable1 what is harmonious and proportionable is true1 and what is at once both beautiful and true is of consequence agreeable and good40#ac ,beauty1 he taught1 is recognised by the mind only4 ,god is fundamental beauty2 beauty and goodness proceed from the same fount4 ,so that1 although ,shaftesbury regards beauty as being something separate from goodness1 they again merge into something inseparable4 ,according to ,hutcheson 7#afid-agdg--8;,inquiry into the ,original of our ,ideas of ,beauty and ,virtue071 the aim of art is beauty1 the essence of which consists in evoking in us the perception of uniformity amid variety4 ,in the recognition of what is art we are guided by 8an internal sense40 ,this internal sense may be in contradiction to the ethical one4 ,so that1 according to ,hutcheson1 beauty does not always correspond with goodness1 but separates from it and is sometimes contrary to it4#ad ,according to ,home1 ,lord ,kames 7#afif-aghb71 beauty is that which is pleasant4 ,therefore beauty is defined by taste alone4 ,the standard of true taste is that the maximum of richness1 fulness1 strength1 and variety of impression should be contained in the narrowest limits4 ,that is the ideal of a perfect work of art4 ,according to ,burke 7#agbi-agig--8,philosophical ,inquiry into the ,origin of our ,ideas of the ,sublime and ,beautiful071 the sublime and beautiful1 which are the aim of art1 have their origin in the promptings of self-preservation and of society4 ,these feelings1 examined in their source1 are means for the maintenance of the race through the individual4 ,the first 7self-preservation7 is attained by nourishment1 defence1 and war2 the second 7society7 by intercourse and propagation4 ,therefore self-defence1 and war1 which is bound up with it1 is the source of the sublime2 sociability1 and the sex-instinct1 which is bound up with it1 is the source of beauty4#ae ,such were the chief ,english definitions of art and beauty in the eighteenth century4 ,during that period1 in ,france1 the writers on art were ,pre ,andr and ,batteux1 with ,diderot1 ,d',alembert1 and1 to some extent1 ,voltaire1 following later4 ,according to ,pre ,andr 78,essai sur le ,beau10 #agda71 there are three kinds of beauty--divine beauty1 natural beauty1 and artificial beauty4#af ,according to ,batteux 7#agac-aghj71 art consists in imitating the beauty of nature1 its aim being enjoyment4#ag ,such is also ,diderot's definition of art4 ,the ,french writers1 like the ,english1 consider that it is taste that decides what is beautiful4 ,and the laws of taste are not only not laid down1 but it is granted that they cannot be settled4 ,the same view was held by ,d',alembert and ,voltaire4#ah ,according to the ,italian sthetician of that period1 ,pagano1 art consists in uniting the beauties' dispersed in nature4 ,the capacity to perceive these beauties is taste1 the capacity to bring them into one whole is artistic genius4 ,beauty commingles with goodness1 so that beauty is goodness made visible1 and goodness is inner beauty4#ai ,according to the opinion of other ,italians3 ,muratori 7#afgb-agej71--8,riflessioni sopra il buon gusto intorno le science e le arti10--and especially ,spaletti1#bj--8,saggio sopra la bellezza0 7#agfe71--;art amounts to an egotistical sensation1 founded 7as with ,burke7 on the desire for self-preservation and society4 ,among ,dutch writers1 ,hemsterhuis 7#agbj-agij71 who had an influence on the ,german stheticians and on ,goethe1 is remarkable4 ,according to him1 beauty is that which gives most pleasure1 and that gives most pleasure which gives us the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time4 ,enjoyment of the beautiful1 because it gives the greatest quantity of perceptions in the shortest time1 is the highest notion to which man can attain4#ba ,such were the sthetic theories outside ,germany during the last century4 ,in ,germany1 after ,winckelmann1 there again arose a completely new sthetic theory1 that of ,kant 7#agbd-ahjd71 which more than all others clears up what this conception of beauty1 and consequently of art1 really amounts to4 ,the sthetic teaching of ,kant is founded as follows3--,man has a knowledge of nature outside him and of himself in nature4 ,in nature1 outside himself1 he seeks for truth2 in himself he seeks for goodness4 ,the first is an affair of pure reason1 the other of practical reason 7free-will74 ,besides these two means of perception1 there is yet the judging capacity 7,urteilskraft71 which forms judgments without reasonings and produces pleasure without desire 7,urtheil ohne ,begriff und ,vergngen ohne ,begehren74 ,this capacity is the basis of sthetic feeling4 ,beauty1 according to ,kant1 in its subjective meaning is that which1 in general and necessarily1 without reasonings and without practical advantage1 pleases4 ,in its objective meaning it is the form of a suitable object in so far as that object is perceived without any conception of its utility4#bb ,beauty is defined in the same way by the followers of ,kant1 among whom was ,schiller 7#agei-ahje74 ,according to ,schiller1 who wrote much on sthetics1 the aim of art is1 as with ,kant1 beauty1 the source of which is pleasure without practical advantage4 ,so that art may be called a game1 not in the sense of an unimportant occupation1 but in the sense of a manifestation of the beauties of life itself without other aim than that of beauty4#bc ,besides ,schiller1 the most remarkable of ,kant's followers in the sphere of sthetics was ,wilhelm ,humboldt1 who1 though he added nothing to the definition of beauty1 explained various forms of it1--the drama1 music1 the comic1 etc4#bd ,after ,kant1 besides the second-rate philosophers1 the writers on sthetics were ,fichte1 ,schelling1 ,hegel1 and their followers4 ,fichte 7#agfb-ahad7 says that perception of the beautiful proceeds from this3 the world--i4e4 nature--has two sides3 it is the sum of our limitations1 and it is the sum of our free idealistic activity4 ,in the first aspect the world is limited1 in the second aspect it is free4 ,in the first aspect every object is limited1 distorted1 compressed1 confined--and we see deformity2 in the second we perceive its inner completeness1 vitality1 regeneration--and we see beauty4 ,so that the deformity or beauty of an object1 according to ,fichte1 depends on the point of view of the observer4 ,beauty therefore exists1 not in the world1 but in the beautiful soul 7schner ,geist74 ,art is the manifestation of this beautiful soul1 and its aim is the education1 not only of the mind--that is the business of the savant2 not only of the heart--that is the affair of the moral preacher2 but of the whole man4 ,and so the characteristic of beauty lies1 not in anything external1 but in the presence of a beautiful soul in the artist4#be ,following ,fichte1 and in the same direction1 ,friedrich ,schlegel and ,adam ,mller also defined beauty4 ,according to ,schlegel 7#aggb--ahbi71 beauty in art is understood too incompletely1 one-sidedly1 and disconnectedly4 ,beauty exists not only in art1 but also in nature and in love2 so that the truly beautiful is expressed by the union of art1 nature1 and love4 ,therefore1 as inseparably one with aesthetic art1 ,schlegel acknowledges moral and philosophic art4#bf ,according to ,adam ,muller 7#aggi-ahbi71 there are two kinds of beauty2 the one1 general beauty1 which attracts people as the sun attracts the planet--this is found chiefly in antique art--and the other1 individual beauty1 which results from the observer himself becoming a sun attracting beauty1--this is the beauty of modern art4 ,a world in which all contradictions are harmonised is the highest beauty4 ,every work of art is a reproduction of this universal harmony4#bg ,the highest art is the art of life4#bh ,next after ,fichte and his followers came a contemporary of his1 the philosopher ,schelling 7#agge-ahed71 who has had a great influence on the sthetic conceptions of our times4 ,according to ,schelling's philosophy1 art is the production or result of that conception of things by which the subject becomes its own object1 or the object its own subject4 ,beauty is the perception of the infinite in the finite4 ,and the chief characteristic of works of art is unconscious infinity4 ,art is the uniting of the subjective with the objective1 of nature with reason1 of the unconscious with the conscious1 and therefore art is the highest means of knowledge4 ,beauty is the contemplation of things in themselves as they exist in the prototype 7,in den ,urbildern74 ,it is not the artist who by his knowledge or skill produces the beautiful1 but the idea of beauty in him itself produces it4#bi ,of ,schelling's followers the most noticeable was ,solger 7#aghj-ahai--,vorlesungen ber ,aesthetik74 ,according to him1 the idea of beauty is the fundamental idea of everything4 ,in the world we see only distortions of the fundamental idea1 but art1 by imagination1 may lift itself to the height of this idea4 ,art is therefore akin to creation4#cj ,according to another follower of ,schelling1 ,krause 7#agha-ahcb71 true1 positive beauty is the manifestation of the ,idea in an individual form2 art is the actualisation of the beauty existing in the sphere of man's free spirit4 ,the highest stage of art is the art of life1 which directs its activity towards the adornment of life so that it may be a beautiful abode for a beautiful man4#ca ,after ,schelling and his followers came the new sthetic doctrine of ,hegel1 which is held to this day1 consciously by many1 but by the majority unconsciously4 ,this teaching is not only no clearer or better defined than the preceding ones1 but is1 if possible1 even more cloudy and mystical4 ,according to ,hegel 7#aggj-ahca71 ,god manifests himself in nature and in art in the form of beauty4 ,god expresses himself in two ways3 in the object and in the subject1 in nature and in spirit4 ,beauty is the shining of the ,idea through matter4 ,only the soul1 and what pertains to it1 is truly beautiful2 and therefore the beauty of nature is only the reflection of the natural beauty of the spirit--the beautiful has only a spiritual content4 ,but the spiritual must appear in sensuous form4 ,the sensuous manifestation of spirit is only appearance 7schein71 and this appearance is the only reality of the beautiful4 ,art is thus the production of this appearance of the ,idea1 and is a means1 together with religion and philosophy1 of bringing to consciousness and of expressing the deepest problems of humanity and the highest truths of the spirit4 ,truth and beauty1 according to ,hegel1 are one and the same thing2 the difference being only that truth is the ,idea itself as it exists in itself1 and is thinkable4 ,the ,idea1 manifested externally1 becomes to the apprehension not only true but beautiful4 ,the beautiful is the manifestation of the ,idea4#cb ,following ,hegel came his many adherents1 ,weisse1 ,arnold ,ruge1 ,rosenkrantz1 ,theodor ,vischer and others4 ,according to ,weisse 7#ahja-ahfg71 art is the introduction 7,einbildung7 of the absolute spiritual reality of beauty into external1 dead1 indifferent matter1 the perception of which latter apart from the beauty brought into it presents the negation of all existence in itself 7,negation alles ,frsichseins74 ,in the idea of truth1 ,weisse explains1 lies a contradiction between the subjective and the objective sides of knowledge1 in that an individual ,i discerns the ,universal4 ,this contradiction can be removed by a conception that should unite into one the universal and the individual1 which fall asunder in our conceptions of truth4 ,such a conception would be reconciled 7aufgehoben7 truth4 ,beauty is such a reconciled truth4#cc ,according to ,ruge 7#ahjb-ahhj71 a strict follower of ,hegel1 beauty is the ,idea expressing itself4 ,the spirit1 contemplating itself1 either finds itself expressed completely1 and then that full expression of itself is beauty2 or incompletely1 and then it feels the need to alter this imperfect expression of itself1 and becomes creative art4#cd ,according to ,vischer 7#ahjg-ahhg71 beauty is the ,idea in the form of a finite phenomenon4 ,the ,idea itself is not indivisible1 but forms a system of ideas1 which may be represented by ascending and descending lines4 ,the higher the idea the more beauty it contains2 but even the lowest contains beauty1 because it forms an essential link of the system4 ,the highest form of the ,idea is personality1 and therefore the highest art is that which has for its subject-matter the highest personality4#ce ,such were the theories of the ,german stheticians in the ,hegelian direction1 but they did not monopolise sthetic dissertations4 ,in ,germany1 side by side and simultaneously with the ,hegelian theories1 there appeared theories of beauty not only independent of ,hegel's position 7that beauty is the manifestation of the ,idea71 but directly contrary to this view1 denying and ridiculing it4 ,such was the line taken by ,herbart and1 more particularly1 by ,schopenhauer4 ,according to ,herbart 7#aggf-ahda71 there is not1 and cannot be1 any such thing as beauty existing in itself4 ,what does exist is only our opinion1 and it is necessary to find the base of this opinion 7sthetisches ,elementarurtheil74 ,such bases are connected with our impressions4 ,there are certain relations which we term beautiful2 and art consists in finding these relations1 which are simultaneous in painting1 the plastic art1 and architecture1 successive and simultaneous in music1 and purely successive in poetry4 ,in contradiction to the former stheticians1 ,herbart holds that objects are often beautiful which express nothing at all1 as1 for instance1 the rainbow1 which is beautiful for its lines and colours1 and not for its mythological connection with ,iris or ,noah's rainbow4#cf ,another opponent of ,hegel was ,schopenhauer1 who denied ,hegel's whole system1 his sthetics included4 ,according to ,schopenhauer 7#aghh-ahfj71 ,will objectivizes itself in the world on various planes2 and although the higher the plane on which it is objectivized the more beautiful it is1 yet each plane has its own beauty4 ,renunciation of one's individuality and contemplation of one of these planes of manifestation of ,will gives us a perception of beauty4 ,all men1 says ,schopenhauer1 possess the capacity to objectivize the ,idea on different planes4 ,the genius of the artist has this capacity in a higher degree1 and therefore makes a higher beauty manifest4#cg ,after these more eminent writers there followed1 in ,germany1 less original and less influential ones1 such as ,hartmann1 ,kirkmann1 ,schnasse1 and1 to some extent1 ,helmholtz 7as an sthetician71 ,bergmann1 ,jungmann1 and an innumerable host of others4 ,according to ,hartmann 7#ahdb71 beauty lies1 not in the external world1 nor in 8the thing in itself10 neither does it reside in the soul of man1 but it lies in the 8seeming0 7,schein7 produced by the artist4 ,the thing in itself is not beautiful1 but is transformed into beauty by the artist4#ch ,according to ,schnasse 7#agih-ahge71 there is no perfect beauty in the world4 ,in nature there is only an approach towards it4 ,art gives what nature cannot give4 ,in the energy of the free ego1 conscious of harmony not found in nature1 beauty is disclosed4#ci ,kirkmann wrote on experimental aesthetics4 ,all aspects of history in his system are joined by pure chance4 ,thus1 according to ,kirkmann 7#ahjb-ahhd71 there are six realms of history3--,the realm of ,knowledge1 of ,wealth1 of ,morality1 of ,faith1 of ,politics1 and of ,beauty2 and activity in the last-named realm is art4#dj ,according to ,helmholtz 7#ahba71 who wrote on beauty as it relates to music1 beauty in musical productions is attained only by following unalterable laws4 ,these laws are not known to the artist2 so that beauty is manifested by the artist unconsciously1 and cannot be subjected to analysis4#da ,according to ,bergmann 7#ahdj7 7,ueber das ,schne1 #ahhg71 to define beauty objectively is impossible4 ,beauty is only perceived subjectively1 and therefore the problem of sthetics is to define what pleases whom4#db ,according to ,jungmann 7d4 #ahhe71 firstly1 beauty is a suprasensible quality of things2 secondly1 beauty produces in us pleasure by merely being contemplated2 and1 thirdly1 beauty is the foundation of love4#dc ,the sthetic theories of the chief representatives of ,france1 ,england1 and other nations in recent times have been the following3-- ,in ,france1 during this period1 the prominent writers on sthetics were ,cousin1 ,jouffroy1 ,pictet1 ,ravaisson1 ,lvque4 ,cousin 7#agib-ahfg7 was an eclectic1 and a follower of the ,german idealists4 ,according to his theory1 beauty always has a moral foundation4 ,he disputes the doctrine that art is imitation and that the beautiful is what pleases4 ,he affirms that beauty may be defined objectively1 and that it essentially consists in variety in unity4#dd ,after ,cousin came ,jouffroy 7#agif-ahdb71 who was a pupil of ,cousin's and also a follower of the ,german stheticians4 ,according to his definition1 beauty is the expression of the invisible by those natural signs which manifest it4 ,the visible world is the garment by means of which we see beauty4#de ,the ,swiss writer ,pictet repeated ,hegel and ,plato1 supposing beauty to exist in the direct and free manifestation of the divine ,idea revealing itself in sense forms4#df ,lvque was a follower of ,schelling and ,hegel4 ,he holds that beauty is something invisible behind nature--a force or spirit revealing itself in ordered energy4#dg ,similar vague opinions about the nature of beauty were expressed by the ,french metaphysician ,ravaisson1 who considered beauty to be the ultimate aim and purpose of the world4 8,la beaut la plus divine et principalement la plus parfaite contient le secret du monde40#dh ,and again3--8,le monde entier est l'uvre d'une beaut absolue1 qui n'est la cause des choses que par l'amour qu'elle met en elles40 ,i purposely abstain from translating these metaphysical expressions1 because1 however cloudy the ,germans may be1 the ,french1 once they absorb the theories of the ,germans and take to imitating them1 far surpass them in uniting heterogeneous conceptions into one expression1 and putting forward one meaning or another indiscriminately4 ,for instance1 the ,french philosopher ,renouvier1 when discussing beauty1 says3--8,ne craignons pas de dire qu'une vrit qui ne serait pas belle1 ne serait qu'un jeu logique de notre esprit et que la seule vrit solide et digne de ce nom c'est la beaut40#di ,besides the sthetic idealists who wrote and still write under the influence of ,german philosophy1 the following recent writers have also influenced the comprehension of art and beauty in ,france3 ,taine1 ,guyau1 ,cherbuliez1 ,coster1 and ,vron4 ,according to ,taine 7#ahbh-ahic71 beauty is the manifestation of the essential characteristic of any important idea more completely than it is expressed in reality4#ej ,guyau 7#ahed-ahhh7 taught that beauty is not something exterior to the object itself1--is not1 as it were1 a parasitic growth on it1--but is itself the very blossoming forth of that on which it appears4 ,art is the expression of reasonable and conscious life1 evoking in us both the deepest consciousness of existence and the highest feelings and loftiest thoughts4 ,art lifts man from his personal life into the universal life1 by means1 not only of participation in the same ideas and beliefs1 but also by means of similarity in feeling4#ea ,according to ,cherbuliez1 art is an activity1 7#a7 satisfying our innate love of forms 7apparences71 7#b7 endowing these forms with ideas1 7#c7 affording pleasure alike to our senses1 heart1 and reason4 ,beauty is not inherent in objects1 but is an act of our souls4 ,beauty is an illusion2 there is no absolute beauty4 ,but what we consider characteristic and harmonious appears beautiful to us4 ,coster held that the ideas of the beautiful1 the good1 and the true are innate4 ,these ideas illuminate our minds and are identical with ,god1 who is ,goodness1 ,truth1 and ,beauty4 ,the idea of ,beauty includes unity of essence1 variety of constitutive elements1 and order1 which brings unity into the various manifestations of life4#eb ,for the sake of completeness1 ,i will further cite some of the very latest writings upon art4 ,la psychologie du ,beau et de l',art1 par ,mario ,pilo 7#ahie71 says that beauty is a product of our physical feelings4 ,the aim of art is pleasure1 but this pleasure 7for some reason7 he considers to be necessarily highly moral4 ,the ,essai sur l'art contemporain1 par ,fierens ,gevaert 7#ahig71 says that art rests on its connection with the past1 and on the religious ideal of the present which the artist holds when giving to his work the form of his individuality4 ,then again1 ,sar ,peladan's ,l'art idaliste et mystique 7#ahid7 says that beauty is one of the manifestations of ,god4 8,il n'y a pas d'autre ,ralit que ,dieu1 n'y a pas d'autre ,vrit que ,dieu1 il n'y a pas d'autre ,beaut1 que ,dieu0 7p4 #cc74 ,this book is very fantastic and very illiterate1 but is characteristic in the positions it takes up1 and noticeable on account of a certain success it is having with the younger generation in ,france4 ,all the sthetics diffused in ,france up to the present time are similar in kind1 but among them ,vron's ,l'esthtique 7#ahgh7 forms an exception1 being reasonable and clear4 ,that work1 though it does not give an exact definition of art1 at least rids sthetics of the cloudy conception of an absolute beauty4 ,according to ,vron 7#ahbe-ahhi71 art is the manifestation of emotion transmitted externally by a combination of lines1 forms1 colours1 or by a succession of movements1 sounds1 or words subjected to certain rhythms4#ec ,in ,england1 during this period1 the writers on sthetics define beauty more and more frequently1 not by its own qualities1 but by taste1 and the discussion about beauty is superseded by a discussion on taste4 ,after ,reid 7#agjd-agif71 who acknowledged beauty as being entirely dependent on the spectator1 ,alison1 in his ,essay on the ,nature and ,principles of ,taste 7#agij71 proved the same thing4 ,from another side this was also asserted by ,erasmus ,darwin 7#agca-ahjb71 the grandfather of the celebrated ,charles ,darwin4 ,he says that we consider beautiful that which is connected in our conception with what we love4 ,richard ,knight's work1 ,an ,analytical ,inquiry into the ,principles of ,taste1 also tends in the same direction4 ,most of the ,english theories of sthetics are on the same lines4 ,the prominent writers on sthetics in ,england during the present century have been ,charles ,darwin1 7to some extent71 ,herbert ,spencer1 ,grant ,allen1 ,ker1 and ,knight4 ,according to ,charles ,darwin 7#ahji-ahhb--;,descent of ,man1 #ahga71 beauty is a feeling natural not only to man but also to animals1 and consequently to the ancestors of man4 ,birds adorn their nests and esteem beauty in their mates4 ,beauty has an influence on marriages4 ,beauty includes a variety of diverse conceptions4 ,the origin of the art of music is the call of the males to the females4#ed ,according to ,herbert ,spencer 7b4 #ahbj71 the origin of art is play1 a thought previously expressed by ,schiller4 ,in the lower animals all the energy of life is expended in life-maintenance and race-maintenance2 in man1 however1 there remains1 after these needs are satisfied1 some superfluous strength4 ,this excess is used in play1 which passes over into art4 ,play is an imitation of real activity1 so is art4 ,the sources of sthetic pleasure are threefold3--7#a7 ,that 8which exercises the faculties affected in the most complete ways1 with the fewest drawbacks from excess of exercise10 7#b7 8the difference of a stimulus in large amount1 which awakens a glow of agreeable feeling10 7#c7 the partial revival of the same1 with special combinations4#ee ,in ,todhunter's ,theory of the ,beautiful 7#ahgb71 beauty is infinite loveliness1 which we apprehend both by reason and by the enthusiasm of love4 ,the recognition of beauty as being such depends on taste2 there can be no criterion for it4 ,the only approach to a definition is found in culture4 7,what culture is1 is not defined47 ,intrinsically1 art--that which affects us through lines1 colours1 sounds1 or words--is not the product of blind forces1 but of reasonable ones1 working1 with mutual helpfulness1 towards a reasonable aim4 ,beauty is the reconciliation of contradictions4#ef ,grant ,allen is a follower of ,spencer1 and in his ,physiological sthetics 7#ahgg7 he says that beauty has a physical origin4 sthetic pleasures come from the contemplation of the beautiful1 but the conception of beauty is obtained by a physiological process4 ,the origin of art is play2 when there is a superfluity of physical strength man gives himself to play2 when there is a superfluity of receptive power man gives himself to art4 ,the beautiful is that which affords the maximum of stimulation with the minimum of waste4 ,differences in the estimation of beauty proceed from taste4 ,taste can be educated4 ,we must have faith in the judgments 8of the finest-nurtured and most discriminative0 men4 ,these people form the taste of the next generation4#eg ,according to ,ker's ,essay on the ,philosophy of ,art 7#ahhc71 beauty enables us to make part of the objective world intelligible to ourselves without being troubled by reference to other parts of it1 as is inevitable for science4 ,so that art destroys the opposition between the one and the many1 between the law and its manifestation1 between the subject and its object1 by uniting them4 ,art is the revelation and vindication of freedom1 because it is free from the darkness and incomprehensibility of finite things4#eh ,according to ,knight's ,philosophy of the ,beautiful1 ,part ,,ii4 7#ahic71 beauty is 7as with ,schelling7 the union of object and subject1 the drawing forth from nature of that which is cognate to man1 and the recognition in oneself of that which is common to all nature4 ,the opinions on beauty and on ,art here mentioned are far from exhausting what has been written on the subject4 ,and every day fresh writers on sthetics arise1 in whose disquisitions appear the same enchanted confusion and contradictoriness in defining beauty4 ,some1 by inertia1 continue the mystical sthetics of ,baumgarten and ,hegel with sundry variations2 others transfer the question to the region of subjectivity1 and seek for the foundation of the beautiful in questions of taste2 others--the stheticians of the very latest formation--seek the origin of beauty in the laws of physiology2 and finally1 others again investigate the question quite independently of the conception of beauty4 ,thus1 ,sully in his ,sensation and ,intuition3 ,studies in ,psychology and sthetics 7#ahgd71 dismisses the conception of beauty altogether1 art1 by his definition1 being the production of some permanent object or passing action fitted to supply active enjoyment to the producer1 and a pleasurable impression to a number of spectators or listeners1 quite apart from any personal advantage derived from it4#ei ,footnote #aj3 ,schasler1 p4 #cfa4 ,footnote #aa3 ,schasler1 p4 #cfi4 ,footnote #ab3 ,schasler1 pp4 #chh-cij4 ,footnote #ac3 ,knight1 ,philosophy of the ,beautiful1 i4 pp4 #afe1 #aff4 ,footnote #ad3 ,schasler1 p4 #bhi4 ,knight1 pp4 #afh1 #afi4 ,footnote #ae3 ,r4 ,kralik1 ,weltschnheit1 ,versuch einer allgemeinen ,aesthetik1 pp4 #cjd-cjf4 ,footnote #af3 ,knight1 p4 #aja4 ,footnote #ag3 ,schasler1 p4 #caf4 ,footnote #ah3 ,knight1 pp4 #ajb-ajd4 ,footnote #ai3 ,r4 ,kralik1 p4 #abd4 ,footnote #bj3 ,spaletti1 ,schasler1 p4 #cbh4 ,footnote #ba3 ,schasler1 pp4 #cca-ccc4 ,footnote #bb3 ,schasler1 pp4 #ebe-ebh4 ,footnote #bc3 ,knight1 pp4 #fa-fc4 ,footnote #bd3 ,schasler1 pp4 #gdj-gdc4 ,footnote #be3 ,schasler1 pp4 #gfi-gga4 ,footnote #bf3 ,schasler1 pp4 #ghf1 #ghg4 ,footnote #bg3 ,kralik1 p4 #adh4 ,footnote #bh3 ,kralik1 p4 #hbj4 ,footnote #bi3 ,schasler1 pp4 #hbh1 #hbi1 #hcd-hda4 ,footnote #cj3 ,schasler1 p4 #hia4 ,footnote #ca3 ,schasler1 p4 #iag4 ,footnote #cb3 ,schasler1 pp4 #idf1 #ajhe1 #ihd1 #ihe1 #iij4 ,footnote #cc3 ,schasler1 pp4 #iff1 #fee1 #ief4 ,footnote #cd3 ,schasler1 p4 #ajag4 ,footnote #ce3 ,schasler1 pp4 #ajfe1 #ajff4 ,footnote #cf3 ,schasler1 pp4 #ajig-aajj4 ,footnote #cg3 ,schasler1 pp4 #aabd1 #aajg4 ,footnote #ch3 ,knight1 pp4 #ha1 #hb4 ,footnote #ci3 ,knight1 p4 #hc4 ,footnote #dj3 ,schasler1 p4 #aaba4 ,footnote #da3 ,knight1 pp4 #he1 #hf4 ,footnote #db3 ,knight1 p4 #hh4 ,footnote #dc3 ,knight1 p4 #hh4 ,footnote #dd3 ,knight1 p4 #aab4 ,footnote #de3 ,knight1 p4 #aaf4 ,footnote #df3 ,knight1 pp4 #aah1 #aai4 ,footnote #dg3 ,knight1 pp4 #abc1 #abd4 ,footnote #dh3 ,la philosophie en ,france1 p4 #bcb4 ,footnote #di3 ,du fondement de l'induction4 ,footnote #ej3 ,philosophie de l'art1 vol4 i4 #ahic1 p4 #dg4 ,footnote #ea3 ,knight1 p4 #aci-ada4 ,footnote #eb3 ,knight1 pp4 #acd4 ,footnote #ec3 ,l'esthtique1 p4 #ajf4 ,footnote #ed3 ,knight1 p4 #bch4 ,footnote #ee3 ,knight1 pp4 #bci1 #bdj4 ,footnote #ef3 ,knight1 pp4 #bdj-bdc4 ,footnote #eg3 ,knight1 pp4 #bej-beb4 ,footnote #eh3 ,knight1 pp4 #beh1 #bei4 ,footnote #ei3 ,knight1 p4 #bdc4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,to what do these definitions of beauty amount8 ,not reckoning the thoroughly inaccurate definitions of beauty which fail to cover the conception of art1 and which suppose beauty to consist either in utility1 or in adjustment to a purpose1 or in symmetry1 or in order1 or in proportion1 or in smoothness1 or in harmony of the parts1 or in unity amid variety1 or in various combinations of these1--not reckoning these unsatisfactory attempts at objective definition1 all the sthetic definitions of beauty lead to two fundamental conceptions4 ,the first is that beauty is something having an independent existence 7existing in itself71 that it is one of the manifestations of the absolutely ,perfect1 of the ,idea1 of the ,spirit1 of ,will1 or of ,god2 the other is that beauty is a kind of pleasure received by us1 not having personal advantage for its object4 ,the first of these definitions was accepted by ,fichte1 ,schelling1 ,hegel1 ,schopenhauer1 and the philosophising ,frenchmen1 ,cousin1 ,jouffroy1 ,ravaisson1 and others1 not to enumerate the second-rate sthetic philosophers4 ,and this same objective-mystical definition of beauty is held by a majority of the educated people of our day4 ,it is a conception very widely spread1 especially among the elder generation4 ,the second view1 that beauty is a certain kind of pleasure received by us1 not having personal advantage for its aim1 finds favour chiefly among the ,english sthetic writers1 and is shared by the other part of our society1 principally by the younger generation4 ,so there are 7and it could not be otherwise7 only two definitions of beauty3 the one objective1 mystical1 merging this conception into that of the highest perfection1 ,god--a fantastic definition1 founded on nothing2 the other1 on the contrary1 a very simple and intelligible subjective one1 which considers beauty to be that which pleases 7,i do not add to the word 8pleases0 the words 8without the aim of advantage10 because 8pleases0 naturally presupposes the absence of the idea of profit74 ,on the one hand1 beauty is viewed as something mystical and very elevated1 but unfortunately at the same time very indefinite1 and consequently embracing philosophy1 religion1 and life itself 7as in the theories of ,schelling and ,hegel1 and their ,german and ,french followers72 or1 on the other hand 7as necessarily follows from the definition of ,kant and his adherents71 beauty is simply a certain kind of disinterested pleasure received by us4 ,and this conception of beauty1 although it seems very clear1 is1 unfortunately1 again inexact2 for it widens out on the other side1 i4e4 it includes the pleasure derived from drink1 from food1 from touching a delicate skin1 etc41 as is acknowledged by ,guyau1 ,kralik1 and others4 ,it is true that1 following the development of the sthetic doctrines on beauty1 we may notice that1 though at first 7in the times when the foundations of the science of sthetics were being laid7 the metaphysical definition of beauty prevailed1 yet the nearer we get to our own times the more does an experimental definition 7recently assuming a physiological form7 come to the front1 so that at last we even meet with such stheticians as ,vron and ,sully1 who try to escape entirely from the conception of beauty4 ,but such stheticians have very little success1 and with the majority of the public1 as well as of artists and the learned1 a conception of beauty is firmly held which agrees with the definitions contained in most of the sthetic treatises1 i4e4 which regards beauty either as something mystical or metaphysical1 or as a special kind of enjoyment4 ,what then is this conception of beauty1 so stubbornly held to by people of our circle and day as furnishing a definition of art8 ,in the subjective aspect1 we call beauty that which supplies us with a particular kind of pleasure4 ,in the objective aspect1 we call beauty something absolutely perfect1 and we acknowledge it to be so only because we receive1 from the manifestation of this absolute perfection1 a certain kind of pleasure2 so that this objective definition is nothing but the subjective conception differently expressed4 ,in reality both conceptions of beauty amount to one and the same thing1 namely1 the reception by us of a certain kind of pleasure1 i4e4 we call 8beauty0 that which pleases us without evoking in us desire4 ,such being the position of affairs1 it would seem only natural that the science of art should decline to content itself with a definition of art based on beauty 7i4e4 on that which pleases71 and seek a general definition1 which should apply to all artistic productions1 and by reference to which we might decide whether a certain article belonged to the realm of art or not4 ,but no such definition is supplied1 as the reader may see from those summaries of the sthetic theories which ,i have given1 and as he may discover even more clearly from the original sthetic works1 if he will be at the pains to read them4 ,all attempts to define absolute beauty in itself--whether as an imitation of nature1 or as suitability to its object1 or as a correspondence of parts1 or as symmetry1 or as harmony1 or as unity in variety1 etc4--either define nothing at all1 or define only some traits of some artistic productions1 and are far from including all that everybody has always held1 and still holds1 to be art4 ,there is no objective definition of beauty4 ,the existing definitions1 7both the metaphysical and the experimental71 amount only to one and the same subjective definition which 7strange as it seems to say so7 is1 that art is that which makes beauty manifest1 and beauty is that which pleases 7without exciting desire74 ,many stheticians have felt the insufficiency and instability of such a definition1 and1 in order to give it a firm basis1 have asked themselves why a thing pleases4 ,and they have converted the discussion on beauty into a question concerning taste1 as did ,hutcheson1 ,voltaire1 ,diderot1 and others4 ,but all attempts to define what taste is must lead to nothing1 as the reader may see both from the history of sthetics and experimentally4 ,there is and can be no explanation of why one thing pleases one man and displeases another1 or vice vers4 ,so that the whole existing science of sthetics fails to do what we might expect from it1 being a mental activity calling itself a science1 namely1 it does not define the qualities and laws of art1 or of the beautiful 7if that be the content of art71 or the nature of taste 7if taste decides the question of art and its merit71 and then1 on the basis of such definitions1 acknowledge as art those productions which correspond to these laws1 and reject those which do not come under them4 ,but this science of sthetics consists in first acknowledging a certain set of productions to be art 7because they please us71 and then framing such a theory of art that all those productions which please a certain circle of people should fit into it4 ,there exists an art canon1 according to which certain productions favoured by our circle are acknowledged as being art1--,phidias1 ,sophocles1 ,homer1 ,titian1 ,raphael1 ,bach1 ,beethoven1 ,dante1 ,shakespear1 ,goethe1 and others1--and the sthetic laws must be such as to embrace all these productions4 ,in sthetic literature you will incessantly meet with opinions on the merit and importance of art1 founded not on any certain laws by which this or that is held to be good or bad1 but merely on the consideration whether this art tallies with the art canon we have drawn up4 ,the other day ,i was reading a far from ill-written book by ,folgeldt4 ,discussing the demand for morality in works of art1 the author plainly says that we must not demand morality in art4 ,and in proof of this he advances the fact that if we admit such a demand1 ,shakespear's ,romeo and ,juliet and ,goethe's ,wilhelm ,meister would not fit into the definition of good art2 but since both these books are included in our canon of art1 he concludes that the demand is unjust4 ,and therefore it is necessary to find a definition of art which shall fit the works2 and instead of a demand for morality1 ,folgeldt postulates as the basis of art a demand for the important 7,bedeutungsvolles74 ,all the existing sthetic standards are built on this plan4 ,instead of giving a definition of true art1 and then deciding what is and what is not good art by judging whether a work conforms or does not conform to the definition1 a certain class of works1 which for some reason please a certain circle of people1 is accepted as being art1 and a definition of art is then devised to cover all these productions4 ,i recently came upon a remarkable instance of this method in a very good ,german work1 ,the ,history of ,art in the ,nineteenth ,century1 by ,muther4 ,describing the pre-,raphaelites1 the ,decadents and the ,symbolists 7who are already included in the canon of art71 he not only does not venture to blame their tendency1 but earnestly endeavours to widen his standard so that it may include them all1 they appearing to him to represent a legitimate reaction from the excesses of realism4 ,no matter what insanities appear in art1 when once they find acceptance among the upper classes of our society a theory is quickly invented to explain and sanction them2 just as if there had never been periods in history when certain special circles of people recognised and approved false1 deformed1 and insensate art which subsequently left no trace and has been utterly forgotten4 ,and to what lengths the insanity and deformity of art may go1 especially when1 as in our days1 it knows that it is considered infallible1 may be seen by what is being done in the art of our circle to-day4 ,so that the theory of art1 founded on beauty1 expounded by sthetics1 and1 in dim outline1 professed by the public1 is nothing but the setting up as good1 of that which has pleased and pleases us1 i4e4 pleases a certain class of people4 ,in order to define any human activity1 it is necessary to understand its sense and importance4 ,and1 in order to do that1 it is primarily necessary to examine that activity in itself1 in its dependence on its causes1 and in connection with its effects1 and not merely in relation to the pleasure we can get from it4 ,if we say that the aim of any activity is merely our pleasure1 and define it solely by that pleasure1 our definition will evidently be a false one4 ,but this is precisely what has occurred in the efforts to define art4 ,now1 if we consider the food question1 it will not occur to anyone to affirm that the importance of food consists in the pleasure we receive when eating it4 ,everyone understands that the satisfaction of our taste cannot serve as a basis for our definition of the merits of food1 and that we have therefore no right to presuppose that the dinners with cayenne pepper1 ,limburg cheese1 alcohol1 etc41 to which we are accustomed and which please us1 form the very best human food4 ,and in the same way1 beauty1 or that which pleases us1 can in no sense serve as the basis for the definition of art2 nor can a series of objects which afford us pleasure serve as the model of what art should be4 ,to see the aim and purpose of art in the pleasure we get from it1 is like assuming 7as is done by people of the lowest moral development1 e4g4 by savages7 that the purpose and aim of food is the pleasure derived when consuming it4 ,just as people who conceive the aim and purpose of food to be pleasure cannot recognise the real meaning of eating1 so people who consider the aim of art to be pleasure cannot realise its true meaning and purpose1 because they attribute to an activity1 the meaning of which lies in its connection with other phenomena of life1 the false and exceptional aim of pleasure4 ,people come to understand that the meaning of eating lies in the nourishment of the body only when they cease to consider that the object of that activity is pleasure4 ,and it is the same with regard to art4 ,people will come to understand the meaning of art only when they cease to consider that the aim of that activity is beauty1 i4e4 pleasure4 ,the acknowledgment of beauty 7i4e4 of a certain kind of pleasure received from art7 as being the aim of art1 not only fails to assist us in finding a definition of what art is1 but1 on the contrary1 by transferring the question into a region quite foreign to art 7into metaphysical1 psychological1 physiological1 and even historical discussions as to why such a production pleases one person1 and such another displeases or pleases someone else71 it renders such definition impossible4 ,and since discussions as to why one man likes pears and another prefers meat do not help towards finding a definition of what is essential in nourishment1 so the solution of questions of taste in art 7to which the discussions on art involuntarily come7 not only does not help to make clear what this particular human activity which we call art really consists in1 but renders such elucidation quite impossible1 until we rid ourselves of a conception which justifies every kind of art1 at the cost of confusing the whole matter4 ,to the question1 ,what is this art1 to which is offered up the labour of millions1 the very lives of men1 and even morality itself8 we have extracted replies from the existing sthetics1 which all amount to this3 that the aim of art is beauty1 that beauty is recognised by the enjoyment it gives1 and that artistic enjoyment is a good and important thing1 because it is enjoyment4 ,in a word1 that enjoyment is good because it is enjoyment4 ,thus1 what is considered the definition of art is no definition at all1 but only a shuffle to justify existing art4 ,therefore1 however strange it may seem to say so1 in spite of the mountains of books written about art1 no exact definition of art has been constructed4 ,and the reason of this is that the conception of art has been based on the conception of beauty4 ,,chapter ,v ,what is art1 if we put aside the conception of beauty1 which confuses the whole matter8 ,the latest and most comprehensible definitions of art1 apart from the conception of beauty1 are the following3--7#a a7 ,art is an activity arising even in the animal kingdom1 and springing from sexual desire and the propensity to play 7,schiller1 ,darwin1 ,spencer71 and 7#a b7 accompanied by a pleasurable excitement of the nervous system 7,grant ,allen74 ,this is the physiological-evolutionary definition4 7#b7 ,art is the external manifestation1 by means of lines1 colours1 movements1 sounds1 or words1 of emotions felt by man 7,vron74 ,this is the experimental definition4 ,according to the very latest definition 7,sully71 7#c7 ,art is 8the production of some permanent object1 or passing action1 which is fitted not only to supply an active enjoyment to the producer1 but to convey a pleasurable impression to a number of spectators or listeners1 quite apart from any personal advantage to be derived from it40 ,notwithstanding the superiority of these definitions to the metaphysical definitions which depended on the conception of beauty1 they are yet far from exact4 7#a a7 ,the first1 the physiological-evolutionary definition1 is inexact1 because1 instead of speaking about the artistic activity itself1 which is the real matter in hand1 it treats of the derivation of art4 ,the modification of it 7#a b71 based on the physiological effects on the human organism1 is inexact1 because within the limits of such definition many other human activities can be included1 as has occurred in the neo-sthetic theories1 which reckon as art the preparation of handsome clothes1 pleasant scents1 and even of victuals4 ,the experimental definition 7#b71 which makes art consist in the expression of emotions1 is inexact1 because a man may express his emotions by means of lines1 colours1 sounds1 or words1 and yet may not act on others by such expression2 and then the manifestation of his emotions is not art4 ,the third definition 7that of ,sully7 is inexact1 because in the production of objects or actions affording pleasure to the producer and a pleasant emotion to the spectators or hearers apart from personal advantage1 may be included the showing of conjuring tricks or gymnastic exercises1 and other activities which are not art4 ,and1 further1 many things1 the production of which does not afford pleasure to the producer1 and the sensation received from which is unpleasant1 such as gloomy1 heart-rending scenes in a poetic description or a play1 may nevertheless be undoubted works of art4 ,the inaccuracy of all these definitions arises from the fact that in them all 7as also in the metaphysical definitions7 the object considered is the pleasure art may give1 and not the purpose it may serve in the life of man and of humanity4 ,in order correctly to define art1 it is necessary1 first of all1 to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure1 and to consider it as one of the conditions of human life4 ,viewing it in this way1 we cannot fail to observe that art is one of the means of intercourse between man and man4 ,every work of art causes the receiver to enter into a certain kind of relationship both with him who produced1 or is producing1 the art1 and with all those who1 simultaneously1 previously or subsequently1 receive the same artistic impression4 ,speech1 transmitting the thoughts and experiences of men1 serves as a means of union among them1 and art acts in a similar manner4 ,the peculiarity of this latter means of intercourse1 distinguishing it from intercourse by means of words1 consists in this1 that whereas by words a man transmits his thoughts to another1 by means of art he transmits his feelings4 ,the activity of art is based on the fact that a man1 receiving through his sense of hearing or sight another man's expression of feeling1 is capable of experiencing the emotion which moved the man who expressed it4 ,to take the simplest example3 one man laughs1 and another1 who hears1 becomes merry2 or a man weeps1 and another1 who hears1 feels sorrow4 ,a man is excited or irritated1 and another man1 seeing him1 comes to a similar state of mind4 ,by his movements1 or by the sounds of his voice1 a man expresses courage and determination1 or sadness and calmness1 and this state of mind passes on to others4 ,a man suffers1 expressing his sufferings by groans and spasms1 and this suffering transmits itself to other people2 a man expresses his feeling of admiration1 devotion1 fear1 respect1 or love to certain objects1 persons1 or phenomena1 and others are infected by the same feelings of admiration1 devotion1 fear1 respect1 or love to the same objects1 persons1 and phenomena4 ,and it is on this capacity of man to receive another man's expression of feeling1 and experience those feelings himself1 that the activity of art is based4 ,if a man infects another or others1 directly1 immediately1 by his appearance1 or by the sounds he gives vent to at the very time he experiences the feeling2 if he causes another man to yawn when he himself cannot help yawning1 or to laugh or cry when he himself is obliged to laugh or cry1 or to suffer when he himself is suffering--that does not amount to art4 ,art begins when one person1 with the object of joining another or others to himself in one and the same feeling1 expresses that feeling by certain external indications4 ,to take the simplest example3 a boy1 having experienced1 let us say1 fear on encountering a wolf1 relates that encounter2 and1 in order to evoke in others the feeling he has experienced1 describes himself1 his condition before the encounter1 the surroundings1 the wood1 his own lightheartedness1 and then the wolf's appearance1 its movements1 the distance between himself and the wolf1 etc4 ,all this1 if only the boy when telling the story1 again experiences the feelings he had lived through and infects the hearers and compels them to feel what the narrator had experienced1 is art4 ,if even the boy had not seen a wolf but had frequently been afraid of one1 and if1 wishing to evoke in others the fear he had felt1 he invented an encounter with a wolf1 and recounted it so as to make his hearers share the feelings he experienced when he feared the wolf1 that also would be art4 ,and just in the same way it is art if a man1 having experienced either the fear of suffering or the attraction of enjoyment 7whether in reality or in imagination71 expresses these feelings on canvas or in marble so that others are infected by them4 ,and it is also art if a man feels or imagines to himself feelings of delight1 gladness1 sorrow1 despair1 courage1 or despondency1 and the transition from one to another of these feelings1 and expresses these feelings by sounds1 so that the hearers are infected by them1 and experience them as they were experienced by the composer4 ,the feelings with which the artist infects others may be most various--very strong or very weak1 very important or very insignificant1 very bad or very good3 feelings of love for native land1 self-devotion and submission to fate or to ,god expressed in a drama1 raptures of lovers described in a novel1 feelings of voluptuousness expressed in a picture1 courage expressed in a triumphal march1 merriment evoked by a dance1 humour evoked by a funny story1 the feeling of quietness transmitted by an evening landscape or by a lullaby1 or the feeling of admiration evoked by a beautiful arabesque--it is all art4 ,if only the spectators or auditors are infected by the feelings which the author has felt1 it is art4 ,to evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced1 and having evoked it in oneself then1 by means of movements1 lines1 colours1 sounds1 or forms expressed in words1 so to transmit that feeling that others may experience the same feeling--this is the activity of art4 ,art is a human activity1 consisting in this1 that one man consciously1 by means of certain external signs1 hands on to others feelings he has lived through1 and that other people are infected by these feelings1 and also experience them4 ,art is not1 as the metaphysicians say1 the manifestation of some mysterious ,idea of beauty1 or ,god2 it is not1 as the sthetical physiologists say1 a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy2 it is not the expression of man's emotions by external signs2 it is not the production of pleasing objects2 and1 above all1 it is not pleasure2 but it is a means of union among men1 joining them together in the same feelings1 and indispensable for the life and progress towards well-being of individuals and of humanity4 ,as1 thanks to man's capacity to express thoughts by words1 every man may know all that has been done for him in the realms of thought by all humanity before his day1 and can1 in the present1 thanks to this capacity to understand the thoughts of others1 become a sharer in their activity1 and can himself hand on to his contemporaries and descendants the thoughts he has assimilated from others1 as well as those which have arisen within himself2 so1 thanks to man's capacity to be infected with the feelings of others by means of art1 all that is being lived through by his contemporaries is accessible to him1 as well as the feelings experienced by men thousands of years ago1 and he has also the possibility of transmitting his own feelings to others4 ,if people lacked this capacity to receive the thoughts conceived by the men who preceded them1 and to pass on to others their own thoughts1 men would be like wild beasts1 or like ,kaspar ,hauser4#fj ,and if men lacked this other capacity of being infected by art1 people might be almost more savage still1 and1 above all1 more separated from1 and more hostile to1 one another4 ,and therefore the activity of art is a most important one1 as important as the activity of speech itself1 and as generally diffused4 ,we are accustomed to understand art to be only what we hear and see in theatres1 concerts1 and exhibitions2 together with buildings1 statues1 poems1 novels4444 ,but all this is but the smallest part of the art by which we communicate with each other in life4 ,all human life is filled with works of art of every kind--from cradle-song1 jest1 mimicry1 the ornamentation of houses1 dress and utensils1 up to church services1 buildings1 monuments1 and triumphal processions4 ,it is all artistic activity4 ,so that by art1 in the limited sense of the word1 we do not mean all human activity transmitting feelings1 but only that part which we for some reason select from it and to which we attach special importance4 ,this special importance has always been given by all men to that part of this activity which transmits feelings flowing from their religious perception1 and this small part of art they have specifically called art1 attaching to it the full meaning of the word4 ,that was how men of old--,socrates1 ,plato1 and ,aristotle--looked on art4 ,thus did the ,hebrew prophets and the ancient ,christians regard art2 thus it was1 and still is1 understood by the ,mahommedans1 and thus is it still understood by religious folk among our own peasantry4 ,some teachers of mankind--as ,plato in his ,republic1 and people such as the primitive ,christians1 the strict ,mahommedans1 and the ,buddhists--have gone so far as to repudiate all art4 ,people viewing art in this way 7in contradiction to the prevalent view of to-day1 which regards any art as good if only it affords pleasure7 considered1 and consider1 that art 7as contrasted with speech1 which need not be listened to7 is so highly dangerous in its power to infect people against their wills1 that mankind will lose far less by banishing all art than by tolerating each and every art4 ,evidently such people were wrong in repudiating all art1 for they denied that which cannot be denied--one of the indispensable means of communication1 without which mankind could not exist4 ,but not less wrong are the people of civilised ,european society of our class and day1 in favouring any art if it but serves beauty1 i4e4 gives people pleasure4 ,formerly1 people feared lest among the works of art there might chance to be some causing corruption1 and they prohibited art altogether4 ,now1 they only fear lest they should be deprived of any enjoyment art can afford1 and patronise any art4 ,and ,i think the last error is much grosser than the first1 and that its consequences are far more harmful4 ,footnote #fj3 8,the foundling of ,nuremberg10 found in the market-place of that town on #bfth ,may #ahbh1 apparently some sixteen years old4 ,he spoke little1 and was almost totally ignorant even of common objects4 ,he subsequently explained that he had been brought up in confinement underground1 and visited by only one man1 whom he saw but seldom4--,trans4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,but how could it happen that that very art1 which in ancient times was merely tolerated 7if tolerated at all71 should have come1 in our times1 to be invariably considered a good thing if only it affords pleasure8 ,it has resulted from the following causes4 ,the estimation of the value of art 7i4e4 of the feelings it transmits7 depends on men's perception of the meaning of life2 depends on what they consider to be the good and the evil of life4 ,and what is good and what is evil is defined by what are termed religions4 ,humanity unceasingly moves forward from a lower1 more partial1 and obscure understanding of life1 to one more general and more lucid4 ,and in this1 as in every movement1 there are leaders1--those who have understood the meaning of life more clearly than others1--and of these advanced men there is always one who has1 in his words and by his life1 expressed this meaning more clearly1 accessibly1 and strongly than others4 ,this man's expression of the meaning of life1 together with those superstitions1 traditions1 and ceremonies which usually form themselves round the memory of such a man1 is what is called a religion4 ,religions are the exponents of the highest comprehension of life accessible to the best and foremost men at a given time in a given society2 a comprehension towards which1 inevitably and irresistibly1 all the rest of that society must advance4 ,and therefore only religions have always served1 and still serve1 as bases for the valuation of human sentiments4 ,if feelings bring men nearer the ideal their religion indicates1 if they are in harmony with it and do not contradict it1 they are good2 if they estrange men from it and oppose it1 they are bad4 ,if the religion places the meaning of life in worshipping one ,god and fulfilling what is regarded as ,his will1 as was the case among the ,jews1 then the feelings flowing from love to that ,god1 and to ,his law1 successfully transmitted through the art of poetry by the prophets1 by the psalms1 or by the epic of the book of ,genesis1 is good1 high art4 ,all opposing that1 as for instance the transmission of feelings of devotion to strange gods1 or of feelings incompatible with the law of ,god1 would be considered bad art4 ,or if1 as was the case among the ,greeks1 the religion places the meaning of life in earthly happiness1 in beauty and in strength1 then art successfully transmitting the joy and energy of life would be considered good art1 but art which transmitted feelings of effeminacy or despondency would be bad art4 ,if the meaning of life is seen in the well-being of one's nation1 or in honouring one's ancestors and continuing the mode of life led by them1 as was the case among the ,romans and the ,chinese respectively1 then art transmitting feelings of joy at sacrificing one's personal well-being for the common weal1 or at exalting one's ancestors and maintaining their traditions1 would be considered good art2 but art expressing feelings contrary to this would be regarded as bad4 ,if the meaning of life is seen in freeing oneself from the yoke of animalism1 as is the case among the ,buddhists1 then art successfully transmitting feelings that elevate the soul and humble the flesh will be good art1 and all that transmits feelings strengthening the bodily passions will be bad art4 ,in every age1 and in every human society1 there exists a religious sense1 common to that whole society1 of what is good and what is bad1 and it is this religious conception that decides the value of the feelings transmitted by art4 ,and therefore1 among all nations1 art which transmitted feelings considered to be good by this general religious sense was recognised as being good and was encouraged2 but art which transmitted feelings considered to be bad by this general religious conception1 was recognised as being bad1 and was rejected4 ,all the rest of the immense field of art by means of which people communicate one with another1 was not esteemed at all1 and was only noticed when it ran counter to the religious conception of its age1 and then merely to be repudiated4 ,thus it was among all nations1--,greeks1 ,jews1 ,indians1 ,egyptians1 and ,chinese1--and so it was when ,christianity appeared4 ,the ,christianity of the first centuries recognised as productions of good art1 only legends1 lives of saints1 sermons1 prayers and hymn-singing1 evoking love of ,christ1 emotion at his life1 desire to follow his example1 renunciation of worldly life1 humility1 and the love of others2 all productions transmitting feelings of personal enjoyment they considered to be bad1 and therefore rejected3 for instance1 tolerating plastic representations only when they were symbolical1 they rejected all the pagan sculptures4 ,this was so among the ,christians of the first centuries1 who accepted ,christ's teaching1 if not quite in its true form1 at least not in the perverted1 paganised form in which it was accepted subsequently4 ,but besides this ,christianity1 from the time of the wholesale conversion of nations by order of the authorities1 as in the days of ,constantine1 ,charlemagne1 and ,vladimir1 there appeared another1 a ,church ,christianity1 which was nearer to paganism than to ,christ's teaching4 ,and this ,church ,christianity1 in accordance with its own teaching1 estimated quite otherwise the feelings of people and the productions of art which transmitted those feelings4 ,this ,church ,christianity not only did not acknowledge the fundamental and essential positions of true ,christianity1--the immediate relationship of each man to the ,father1 the consequent brotherhood and equality of all men1 and the substitution of humility and love in place of every kind of violence--but1 on the contrary1 having set up a heavenly hierarchy similar to the pagan mythology1 and having introduced the worship of ,christ1 of the ,virgin1 of angels1 of apostles1 of saints1 and of martyrs1 and not only of these divinities themselves1 but also of their images1 it made blind faith in the ,church and its ordinances the essential point of its teaching4 ,however foreign this teaching may have been to true ,christianity1 however degraded1 not only in comparison with true ,christianity1 but even with the life-conception of ,romans such as ,julian and others2 it was1 for all that1 to the barbarians who accepted it1 a higher doctrine than their former adoration of gods1 heroes1 and good and bad spirits4 ,and therefore this teaching was a religion to them1 and on the basis of that religion the art of the time was assessed4 ,and art transmitting pious adoration of the ,virgin1 ,jesus1 the saints and the angels1 a blind faith in and submission to the ,church1 fear of torments and hope of blessedness in a life beyond the grave1 was considered good2 all art opposed to this was considered bad4 ,the teaching on the basis of which this art arose was a perversion of ,christ's teaching1 but the art which sprang up on this perverted teaching was nevertheless a true art1 because it corresponded to the religious view of life held by the people among whom it arose4 ,the artists of the ,middle ,ages1 vitalised by the same source of feeling--religion--as the mass of the people1 and transmitting1 in architecture1 sculpture1 painting1 music1 poetry or drama1 the feelings and states of mind they experienced1 were true artists2 and their activity1 founded on the highest conceptions accessible to their age and common to the entire people1 though1 for our times a mean art1 was1 nevertheless a true one1 shared by the whole community4 ,and this was the state of things until1 in the upper1 rich1 more educated classes of ,european society1 doubt arose as to the truth of that understanding of life which was expressed by ,church ,christianity4 ,when1 after the ,crusades and the maximum development of papal power and its abuses1 people of the rich classes became acquainted with the wisdom of the classics1 and saw1 on the one hand1 the reasonable lucidity of the teaching of the ancient sages1 and1 on the other hand1 the incompatibility of the ,church doctrine with the teaching of ,christ1 they lost all possibility of continuing to believe the ,church teaching4 ,if1 in externals1 they still kept to the forms of ,church teaching1 they could no longer believe in it1 and held to it only by inertia and for the sake of influencing the masses1 who continued to believe blindly in ,church doctrine1 and whom the upper classes1 for their own advantage1 considered it necessary to support in those beliefs4 ,so that a time came when ,church ,christianity ceased to be the general religious doctrine of all ,christian people2 some--the masses--continued blindly to believe in it1 but the upper classes--those in whose hands lay the power and wealth1 and therefore the leisure to produce art and the means to stimulate it--ceased to believe in that teaching4 ,in respect to religion1 the upper circles of the ,middle ,ages found themselves in the same position in which the educated ,romans were before ,christianity arose1 i4e4 they no longer believed in the religion of the masses1 but had no beliefs to put in place of the worn-out ,church doctrine which for them had lost its meaning4 ,there was only this difference1 that whereas for the ,romans who lost faith in their emperor-gods and household-gods it was impossible to extract anything further from all the complex mythology they had borrowed from all the conquered nations1 and it was consequently necessary to find a completely new conception of life1 the people of the ,middle ,ages1 when they doubted the truth of the ,church teaching1 had no need to seek a fresh one4 ,that ,christian teaching which they professed in a perverted form as ,church doctrine1 had mapped out the path of human progress so far ahead1 that they had but to rid themselves of those perversions which hid the teaching announced by ,christ1 and to adopt its real meaning--if not completely1 then at least in some greater degree than that in which the ,church had held it4 ,and this was partially done1 not only in the reformations of ,wyclif1 ,huss1 ,luther1 and ,calvin1 but by all that current of non-,church ,christianity1 represented in earlier times by the ,paulicians1 the ,bogomili1#fa and1 afterwards1 by the ,waldenses and the other non-,church ,christians who were called heretics4 ,but this could be1 and was1 done chiefly by poor people--who did not rule4 ,a few of the rich and strong1 like ,francis of ,assisi and others1 accepted the ,christian teaching in its full significance1 even though it undermined their privileged positions4 ,but most people of the upper classes 7though in the depth of their souls they had lost faith in the ,church teaching7 could not or would not act thus1 because the essence of that ,christian view of life1 which stood ready to be adopted when once they rejected the ,church faith1 was a teaching of the brotherhood 7and therefore the equality7 of man1 and this negatived those privileges on which they lived1 in which they had grown up and been educated1 and to which they were accustomed4 ,not1 in the depth of their hearts1 believing in the ,church teaching1--which had outlived its age and had no longer any true meaning for them1--and not being strong enough to accept true ,christianity1 men of these rich1 governing classes--popes1 kings1 dukes1 and all the great ones of the earth--were left without any religion1 with but the external forms of one1 which they supported as being profitable and even necessary for themselves1 since these forms screened a teaching which justified those privileges which they made use of4 ,in reality1 these people believed in nothing1 just as the ,romans of the first centuries of our era believed in nothing4 ,but at the same time these were the people who had the power and the wealth1 and these were the people who rewarded art and directed it4 ,and1 let it be noticed1 it was just among these people that there grew up an art esteemed not according to its success in expressing men's religious feelings1 but in proportion to its beauty1--in other words1 according to the enjoyment it gave4 ,no longer able to believe in the ,church religion whose falsehood they had detected1 and incapable of accepting true ,christian teaching1 which denounced their whole manner of life1 these rich and powerful people1 stranded without any religious conception of life1 involuntarily returned to that pagan view of things which places life's meaning in personal enjoyment4 ,and then took place among the upper classes what is called the 8,renaissance of science and art10 and which was really not only a denial of every religion but also an assertion that religion is unnecessary4 ,the ,church doctrine is so coherent a system that it cannot be altered or corrected without destroying it altogether4 ,as soon as doubt arose with regard to the infallibility of the pope 7and this doubt was then in the minds of all educated people71 doubt inevitably followed as to the truth of tradition4 ,but doubt as to the truth of tradition is fatal not only to popery and ,catholicism1 but also to the whole ,church creed with all its dogmas3 the divinity of ,christ1 the resurrection1 and the ,trinity2 and it destroys the authority of the ,scriptures1 since they were considered to be inspired only because the tradition of the ,church decided it so4 ,so that the majority of the highest classes of that age1 even the popes and the ecclesiastics1 really believed in nothing at all4 ,in the ,church doctrine these people did not believe1 for they saw its insolvency2 but neither could they follow ,francis of ,assisi1 ,keltchitsky1#fb and most of the heretics1 in acknowledging the moral1 social teaching of ,christ1 for that teaching undermined their social position4 ,and so these people remained without any religious view of life4 ,and1 having none1 they could have no standard wherewith to estimate what was good and what was bad art but that of personal enjoyment4 ,and1 having acknowledged their criterion of what was good to be pleasure1 i4e41 beauty1 these people of the upper classes of ,european society went back in their comprehension of art to the gross conception of the primitive ,greeks which ,plato had already condemned4 ,and conformably to this understanding of life a theory of art was formulated4 ,footnote #fa3 ,eastern sects well known in early ,church history1 who rejected the ,church's rendering of ,christ's teaching and were cruelly persecuted4--,trans4 ,footnote #fb3 ,keltchitsky1 a ,bohemian of the fifteenth century1 was the author of a remarkable book1 ,the ,net of ,faith1 directed against ,church and ,state4 ,it is mentioned in ,tolstoy's ,the ,kingdom of ,god is ,within ,you4--,trans4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,from the time that people of the upper classes lost faith in ,church ,christianity1 beauty 7i4e4 the pleasure received from art7 became their standard of good and bad art4 ,and1 in accordance with that view1 an sthetic theory naturally sprang up among those upper classes justifying such a conception1--a theory according to which the aim of art is to exhibit beauty4 ,the partisans of this sthetic theory1 in confirmation of its truth1 affirmed that it was no invention of their own1 but that it existed in the nature of things1 and was recognised even by the ancient ,greeks4 ,but this assertion was quite arbitrary1 and has no foundation other than the fact that among the ancient ,greeks1 in consequence of the low grade of their moral ideal 7as compared with the ,christian71 their conception of the good1 1 was not yet sharply divided from their conception of the beautiful1 4 ,that highest perfection of goodness 7not only not identical with beauty1 but1 for the most part1 contrasting with it7 which was discerned by the ,jews even in the times of ,isaiah1 and fully expressed by ,christianity1 was quite unknown to the ,greeks4 ,they supposed that the beautiful must necessarily also be the good4 ,it is true that their foremost thinkers--,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle--felt that goodness may happen not to coincide with beauty4 ,socrates expressly subordinated beauty to goodness2 ,plato1 to unite the two conceptions1 spoke of spiritual beauty2 while ,aristotle demanded from art that it should have a moral influence on people 774 ,but1 notwithstanding all this1 they could not quite dismiss the notion that beauty and goodness coincide4 ,and consequently1 in the language of that period1 a compound word 7-1 beauty-goodness71 came into use to express that notion4 ,evidently the ,greek sages began to draw near to that perception of goodness which is expressed in ,buddhism and in ,christianity1 and they got entangled in defining the relation between goodness and beauty4 ,plato's reasonings about beauty and goodness are full of contradictions4 ,and it was just this confusion of ideas that those ,europeans of a later age1 who had lost all faith1 tried to elevate into a law4 ,they tried to prove that this union of beauty and goodness is inherent in the very essence of things2 that beauty and goodness must coincide2 and that the word and conception - 7which had a meaning for ,greeks but has none at all for ,christians7 represents the highest ideal of humanity4 ,on this misunderstanding the new science of sthetics was built up4 ,and1 to justify its existence1 the teachings of the ancients on art were so twisted as to make it appear that this invented science of sthetics had existed among the ,greeks4 ,in reality1 the reasoning of the ancients on art was quite unlike ours4 ,as ,benard1 in his book on the sthetics of ,aristotle1 quite justly remarks3 8,pour qui veut y regarder de prs1 la thorie du beau et celle de l'art sont tout fait spares dans ,aristote1 comme elles le sont dans ,platon et chez tous leurs successeurs0 7,l'esthtique d',aristote et de ses successeurs1 ,paris1 #ahhi1 p4 #bh74fc ,and indeed the reasoning of the ancients on art not only does not confirm our science of sthetics1 but rather contradicts its doctrine of beauty4 ,but nevertheless all the sthetic guides1 from ,schasler to ,knight1 declare that the science of the beautiful--sthetic science--was commenced by the ancients1 by ,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle2 and was continued1 they say1 partially by the ,epicureans and ,stoics3 by ,seneca and ,plutarch1 down to ,plotinus4 ,but it is supposed that this science1 by some unfortunate accident1 suddenly vanished in the fourth century1 and stayed away for about #aejj years1 and only after these #aejj years had passed did it revive in ,germany1 ,a4,d4 #agej1 in ,baumgarten's doctrine4 ,after ,plotinus1 says ,schasler1 fifteen centuries passed away during which there was not the slightest scientific interest felt for the world of beauty and art4 ,these one and a half thousand years1 says he1 have been lost to sthetics and have contributed nothing towards the erection of the learned edifice of this science4#fd ,in reality nothing of the kind happened4 ,the science of sthetics1 the science of the beautiful1 neither did nor could vanish because it never existed4 ,simply1 the ,greeks 7just like everybody else1 always and everywhere7 considered art 7like everything else7 good only when it served goodness 7as they understood goodness71 and bad when it was in opposition to that goodness4 ,and the ,greeks themselves were so little developed morally1 that goodness and beauty seemed to them to coincide4 ,on that obsolete ,greek view of life was erected the science of sthetics1 invented by men of the eighteenth century1 and especially shaped and mounted in ,baumgarten's theory4 ,the ,greeks 7as anyone may see who will read ,benard's admirable book on ,aristotle and his successors1 and ,walter's work on ,plato7 never had a science of sthetics4 sthetic theories arose about one hundred and fifty years ago among the wealthy classes of the ,christian ,european world1 and arose simultaneously among different nations1--,german1 ,italian1 ,dutch1 ,french1 and ,english4 ,the founder and organiser of it1 who gave it a scientific1 theoretic form1 was ,baumgarten4 ,with a characteristically ,german1 external exactitude1 pedantry and symmetry1 he devised and expounded this extraordinary theory4 ,and1 notwithstanding its obvious insolidity1 nobody else's theory so pleased the cultured crowd1 or was accepted so readily and with such an absence of criticism4 ,it so suited the people of the upper classes1 that to this day1 notwithstanding its entirely fantastic character and the arbitrary nature of its assertions1 it is repeated by learned and unlearned as though it were something indubitable and self-evident4 ,habent sua fata libelli pro capite lectoris1 and so1 or even more so1 theories habent sua fata according to the condition of error in which that society is living1 among whom and for whom the theories are invented4 ,if a theory justifies the false position in which a certain part of a society is living1 then1 however unfounded or even obviously false the theory may be1 it is accepted1 and becomes an article of faith to that section of society4 ,such1 for instance1 was the celebrated and unfounded theory expounded by ,malthus1 of the tendency of the population of the world to increase in geometrical progression1 but of the means of sustenance to increase only in arithmetical progression1 and of the consequent overpopulation of the world2 such1 also1 was the theory 7an outgrowth of the ,malthusian7 of selection and struggle for existence as the basis of human progress4 ,such1 again1 is ,marx's theory1 which regards the gradual destruction of small private production by large capitalistic production now going on around us1 as an inevitable decree of fate4 ,however unfounded such theories are1 however contrary to all that is known and confessed by humanity1 and however obviously immoral they may be1 they are accepted with credulity1 pass uncriticised1 and are preached1 perchance for centuries1 until the conditions are destroyed which they served to justify1 or until their absurdity has become too evident4 ,to this class belongs this astonishing theory of the ,baumgartenian ,trinity--,goodness1 ,beauty1 and ,truth1 according to which it appears that the very best that can be done by the art of nations after #aijj years of ,christian teaching1 is to choose as the ideal of their life the ideal that was held by a small1 semi-savage1 slave-holding people who lived #bjjj years ago1 who imitated the nude human body extremely well1 and erected buildings pleasant to look at4 ,all these incompatibilities pass completely unnoticed4 ,learned people write long1 cloudy treatises on beauty as a member of the sthetic trinity of ,beauty1 ,truth1 and ,goodness2 das ,schne1 das ,wahre1 das ,gute2 le ,beau1 le ,vrai1 le ,bon1 are repeated1 with capital letters1 by philosophers1 stheticians and artists1 by private individuals1 by novelists and by feuilletonistes1 and they all think1 when pronouncing these sacrosanct words1 that they speak of something quite definite and solid--something on which they can base their opinions4 ,in reality1 these words not only have no definite meaning1 but they hinder us in attaching any definite meaning to existing art2 they are wanted only for the purpose of justifying the false importance we attribute to an art that transmits every kind of feeling if only those feelings afford us pleasure4 ,footnote #fc3 ,any one examining closely may see that the theory of beauty and that of art are quite separated in ,aristotle as they are in ,plato and in all their successors4 ,footnote #fd3 ,die ,lcke von fnf ,jahrhunderten1 welche zwischen den ,kunstphilosophischen ,betrachtungen des ,plato und ,aristoteles und die des ,plotins fllt1 kann zwar auffllig erscheinen2 dennoch kann man eigentlich nicht sagen1 dass in dieser ,zwischenzeit berhaupt von sthetischen ,dingen nicht die ,rede gewesen2 oder dass gar ein vlliger ,mangel an ,zusammenhang zwischen den ,kunst-anscliauungen des letztgenannten ,philosophen und denen der ersteren existire4 ,freilich wurde die von ,aristoteles begrndete ,wissenschaft in ,nichts dadurch gefrdert2 immerhin aber zeigt sich in jener ,zwischenzeit noch ein gewisses ,interesse fr sthetische ,fragen4 ,nach ,plotin aber1 die wenigen1 ihm in der ,zeit nahestehenden ,philosophen1 wie ,longin1 ,augustin1 u4 s4 f4 kommen1 wie wir gesehen1 kaum in ,betracht und schliessen sich brigens in ihrer ,anschauungsweise an ihn an1--vergehen nicht fnf1 sondern fnfzehn ,jahrhunderte1 in denen von irgend einer wissenschaftlichen ,interesse fr die ,welt des ,schnen und der ,kunst nichts zu spren ist4 ,diese anderthalbtausend ,jahre1 innerhalb deren der ,weltgeist durch die mannigfachsten ,kmpfe hindurch zu einer vllig neuen ,gestaltung des ,lebens sich durcharbeitete1 sind fr die ,aesthetik1 hinsichtlich des weiteren ,ausbaus dieser ,wissenschaft verloren4--,max ,schasler4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,but if art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen1 how could it be that humanity for a certain rather considerable period of its existence 7from the time people ceased to believe in ,church doctrine down to the present day7 should exist without this important activity1 and1 instead of it1 should put up with an insignificant artistic activity only affording pleasure8 ,in order to answer this question1 it is necessary1 first of all1 to correct the current error people make in attributing to our art the significance of true1 universal art4 ,we are so accustomed1 not only navely to consider the ,circassian family the best stock of people1 but also the ,anglo-,saxon race the best race if we are ,englishmen or ,americans1 or the ,teutonic if we are ,germans1 or the ,gallo-,latin if we are ,french1 or the ,slavonic if we are ,russians1 that when speaking of our own art we feel fully convinced1 not only that our art is true art1 but even that it is the best and only true art4 ,but in reality our art is not only not the only art 7as the ,bible once was held to be the only book71 but it is not even the art of the whole of ,christendom1--only of a small section of that part of humanity4 ,it was correct to speak of a national ,jewish1 ,grecian1 or ,egyptian art1 and one may speak of a now-existing ,chinese1 ,japanese1 or ,indian art shared in by a whole people4 ,such art1 common to a whole nation1 existed in ,russia till ,peter the ,first's time1 and existed in the rest of ,europe until the thirteenth or fourteenth century2 but since the upper classes of ,european society1 having lost faith in the ,church teaching1 did not accept real ,christianity but remained without any faith1 one can no longer speak of an art of the ,christian nations in the sense of the whole of art4 ,since the upper classes of the ,christian nations lost faith in ,church ,christianity1 the art of those upper classes has separated itself from the art of the rest of the people1 and there have been two arts--the art of the people and genteel art4 ,and therefore the answer to the question how it could occur that humanity lived for a certain period without real art1 replacing it by art which served enjoyment only1 is1 that not all humanity1 nor even any considerable portion of it1 lived without real art1 but only the highest classes of ,european ,christian society1 and even they only for a comparatively short time--from the commencement of the ,renaissance down to our own day4 ,and the consequence of this absence of true art showed itself1 inevitably1 in the corruption of that class which nourished itself on the false art4 ,all the confused1 unintelligible theories of art1 all the false and contradictory judgments on art1 and particularly the self-confident stagnation of our art in its false path1 all arise from the assertion1 which has come into common use and is accepted as an unquestioned truth1 but is yet amazingly and palpably false1 the assertion1 namely1 that the art of our upper classes#fe is the whole of art1 the true1 the only1 the universal art4 ,and although this assertion 7which is precisely similar to the assertion made by religious people of the various ,churches who consider that theirs is the only true religion7 is quite arbitrary and obviously unjust1 yet it is calmly repeated by all the people of our circle with full faith in its infallibility4 ,the art we have is the whole of art1 the real1 the only art1 and yet two-thirds of the human race 7all the peoples of ,asia and ,africa7 live and die knowing nothing of this sole and supreme art4 ,and even in our ,christian society hardly one per cent4 of the people make use of this art which we speak of as being the whole of art2 the remaining ninety-nine per cent4 live and die1 generation after generation1 crushed by toil and never tasting this art1 which moreover is of such a nature that1 if they could get it1 they would not understand anything of it4 ,we1 according to the current sthetic theory1 acknowledge art either as one of the highest manifestations of the ,idea1 ,god1 ,beauty1 or as the highest spiritual enjoyment2 furthermore1 we hold that all people have equal rights1 if not to material1 at any rate to spiritual well-being2 and yet ninety-nine per cent4 of our ,european population live and die1 generation after generation1 crushed by toil1 much of which toil is necessary for the production of our art which they never use1 and we1 nevertheless1 calmly assert that the art which we produce is the real1 true1 only art--all of art6 ,to the remark that if our art is the true art everyone should have the benefit of it1 the usual reply is that if not everybody at present makes use of existing art1 the fault lies1 not in the art1 but in the false organisation of society2 that one can imagine to oneself1 in the future1 a state of things in which physical labour will be partly superseded by machinery1 partly lightened by its just distribution1 and that labour for the production of art will be taken in turns2 that there is no need for some people always to sit below the stage moving the decorations1 winding up the machinery1 working at the piano or ,french horn1 and setting type and printing books1 but that the people who do all this work might be engaged only a few hours per day1 and in their leisure time might enjoy all the blessings of art4 ,that is what the defenders of our exclusive art say4 ,but ,i think they do not themselves believe it4 ,they cannot help knowing that fine art can arise only on the slavery of the masses of the people1 and can continue only as long as that slavery lasts1 and they cannot help knowing that only under conditions of intense labour for the workers1 can specialists--writers1 musicians1 dancers1 and actors--arrive at that fine degree of perfection to which they do attain1 or produce their refined works of art2 and only under the same conditions can there be a fine public to esteem such productions4 ,free the slaves of capital1 and it will be impossible to produce such refined art4 ,but even were we to admit the inadmissible1 and say that means may be found by which art 7that art which among us is considered to be art7 may be accessible to the whole people1 another consideration presents itself showing that fashionable art cannot be the whole of art1 viz4 the fact that it is completely unintelligible to the people4 ,formerly men wrote poems in ,latin1 but now their artistic productions are as unintelligible to the common folk as if they were written in ,sanskrit4 ,the usual reply to this is1 that if the people do not now understand this art of ours1 it only proves that they are undeveloped1 and that this has been so at each fresh step forward made by art4 ,first it was not understood1 but afterwards people got accustomed to it4 8,it will be the same with our present art2 it will be understood when everybody is as well educated as are we--the people of the upper classes--who produce this art10 say the defenders of our art4 ,but this assertion is evidently even more unjust than the former2 for we know that the majority of the productions of the art of the upper classes1 such as various odes1 poems1 dramas1 cantatas1 pastorals1 pictures1 etc41 which delighted the people of the upper classes when they were produced1 never were afterwards either understood or valued by the great masses of mankind1 but have remained1 what they were at first1 a mere pastime for rich people of their time1 for whom alone they ever were of any importance4 ,it is also often urged in proof of the assertion that the people will some day understand our art1 that some productions of so-called 8classical0 poetry1 music1 or painting1 which formerly did not please the masses1 do--now that they have been offered to them from all sides--begin to please these same masses2 but this only shows that the crowd1 especially the half-spoilt town crowd1 can easily 7its taste having been perverted7 be accustomed to any sort of art4 ,moreover1 this art is not produced by these masses1 nor even chosen by them1 but is energetically thrust upon them in those public places in which art is accessible to the people4 ,for the great majority of working people1 our art1 besides being inaccessible on account of its costliness1 is strange in its very nature1 transmitting as it does the feelings of people far removed from those conditions of laborious life which are natural to the great body of humanity4 ,that which is enjoyment to a man of the rich classes1 is incomprehensible1 as a pleasure1 to a working man1 and evokes in him either no feeling at all1 or only a feeling quite contrary to that which it evokes in an idle and satiated man4 ,such feelings as form the chief subjects of present-day art--say1 for instance1 honour1#ff patriotism and amorousness1 evoke in a working man only bewilderment and contempt1 or indignation4 ,so that even if a possibility were given to the labouring classes1 in their free time1 to see1 to read1 and to hear all that forms the flower of contemporary art 7as is done to some extent in towns1 by means of picture galleries1 popular concerts1 and libraries71 the working man 7to the extent to which he is a labourer1 and has not begun to pass into the ranks of those perverted by idleness7 would be able to make nothing of our fine art1 and if he did understand it1 that which he understood would not elevate his soul1 but would certainly1 in most cases1 pervert it4 ,to thoughtful and sincere people there can therefore be no doubt that the art of our upper classes never can be the art of the whole people4 ,but if art is an important matter1 a spiritual blessing1 essential for all men 78like religion10 as the devotees of art are fond of saying71 then it should be accessible to everyone4 ,and if1 as in our day1 it is not accessible to all men1 then one of two things3 either art is not the vital matter it is represented to be1 or that art which we call art is not the real thing4 ,the dilemma is inevitable1 and therefore clever and immoral people avoid it by denying one side of it1 viz4 denying that the common people have a right to art4 ,these people simply and boldly speak out 7what lies at the heart of the matter71 and say that the participators in and utilisers of what in their esteem is highly beautiful art1 i4e4 art furnishing the greatest enjoyment1 can only be 8schne ,geister10 8the elect10 as the romanticists called them1 the 8,uebermenschen10 as they are called by the followers of ,nietzsche2 the remaining vulgar herd1 incapable of experiencing these pleasures1 must serve the exalted pleasures of this superior breed of people4 ,the people who express these views at least do not pretend and do not try to combine the incombinable1 but frankly admit1 what is the case1 that our art is an art of the upper classes only4 ,so1 essentially1 art has been1 and is1 understood by everyone engaged on it in our society4 ,footnote #fe3 ,the contrast made is between the classes and the masses3 between those who do not and those who do earn their bread by productive manual labour2 the middle classes being taken as an offshoot of the upper classes4--,trans4 ,footnote #ff3 ,duelling is still customary among the higher circles in ,russia1 as in other ,continental countries4--,trans4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,the unbelief of the upper classes of the ,european world had this effect1 that instead of an artistic activity aiming at transmitting the highest feelings to which humanity has attained1--those flowing from religious perception1--we have an activity which aims at affording the greatest enjoyment to a certain class of society4 ,and of all the immense domain of art1 that part has been fenced off1 and is alone called art1 which affords enjoyment to the people of this particular circle4 ,apart from the moral effects on ,european society of such a selection from the whole sphere of art of what did not deserve such a valuation1 and the acknowledgment of it as important art1 this perversion of art has weakened art itself1 and well-nigh destroyed it4 ,the first great result was that art was deprived of the infinite1 varied1 and profound religious subject-matter proper to it4 ,the second result was that having only a small circle of people in view1 it lost its beauty of form and became affected and obscure2 and the third and chief result was that it ceased to be either natural or even sincere1 and became thoroughly artificial and brain-spun4 ,the first result--the impoverishment of subject-matter--followed because only that is a true work of art which transmits fresh feelings not before experienced by man4 ,as thought-product is only then real thought-product when it transmits new conceptions and thoughts1 and does not merely repeat what was known before1 so also an art-product is only then a genuine art-product when it brings a new feeling 7however insignificant7 into the current of human life4 ,this explains why children and youths are so strongly impressed by those works of art which first transmit to them feelings they had not before experienced4 ,the same powerful impression is made on people by feelings which are quite new1 and have never before been expressed by man4 ,and it is the source from which such feelings flow of which the art of the upper classes has deprived itself by estimating feelings1 not in conformity with religious perception1 but according to the degree of enjoyment they afford4 ,there is nothing older and more hackneyed than enjoyment1 and there is nothing fresher than the feelings springing from the religious consciousness of each age4 ,it could not be otherwise3 man's enjoyment has limits established by his nature1 but the movement forward of humanity1 that which is voiced by religious perception1 has no limits4 ,at every forward step taken by humanity--and such steps are taken in consequence of the greater and greater elucidation of religious perception--men experience new and fresh feelings4 ,and therefore only on the basis of religious perception 7which shows the highest level of life-comprehension reached by the men of a certain period7 can fresh emotion1 never before felt by man1 arise4 ,from the religious perception of the ancient ,greeks flowed the really new1 important1 and endlessly varied feelings expressed by ,homer and the tragic writers4 ,it was the same among the ,jews1 who attained the religious conception of a single ,god1--from that perception flowed all those new and important emotions expressed by the prophets4 ,it was the same for the poets of the ,middle ,ages1 who1 if they believed in a heavenly hierarchy1 believed also in the ,catholic commune2 and it is the same for a man of to-day who has grasped the religious conception of true ,christianity--the brotherhood of man4 ,the variety of fresh feelings flowing from religious perception is endless1 and they are all new1 for religious perception is nothing else than the first indication of that which is coming into existence1 viz4 the new relation of man to the world around him4 ,but the feelings flowing from the desire for enjoyment are1 on the contrary1 not only limited1 but were long ago experienced and expressed4 ,and therefore the lack of belief of the upper classes of ,europe has left them with an art fed on the poorest subject-matter4 ,the impoverishment of the subject-matter of upper-class art was further increased by the fact that1 ceasing to be religious1 it ceased also to be popular1 and this again diminished the range of feelings which it transmitted4 ,for the range of feelings experienced by the powerful and the rich1 who have no experience of labour for the support of life1 is far poorer1 more limited1 and more insignificant than the range of feelings natural to working people4 ,people of our circle1 stheticians1 usually think and say just the contrary of this4 ,i remember how ,gontchareff1 the author1 a very clever and educated man but a thorough townsman and an sthetician1 said to me that after ,tourgenieff's ,memoirs of a ,sportsman there was nothing left to write about in peasant life4 ,it was all used up4 ,the life of working people seemed to him so simple that ,tourgenieff's peasant stories had used up all there was to describe4 ,the life of our wealthy people1 with their love affairs and dissatisfaction with themselves1 seemed to him full of inexhaustible subject-matter4 ,one hero kissed his lady on her palm1 another on her elbow1 and a third somewhere else4 ,one man is discontented through idleness1 and another because people don't love him4 ,and ,gontchareff thought that in this sphere there is no end of variety4 ,and this opinion--that the life of working people is poor in subject-matter1 but that our life1 the life of the idle1 is full of interest--is shared by very many people in our society4 ,the life of a labouring man1 with its endlessly varied forms of labour1 and the dangers connected with this labour on sea and underground2 his migrations1 the intercourse with his employers1 overseers1 and companions and with men of other religions and other nationalities2 his struggles with nature and with wild beasts1 the associations with domestic animals1 the work in the forest1 on the steppe1 in the field1 the garden1 the orchard2 his intercourse with wife and children1 not only as with people near and dear to him1 but as with co-workers and helpers in labour1 replacing him in time of need2 his concern in all economic questions1 not as matters of display or discussion1 but as problems of life for himself and his family2 his pride in self-suppression and service to others1 his pleasures of refreshment2 and with all these interests permeated by a religious attitude towards these occurrences--all this to us1 who have not these interests and possess no religious perception1 seems monotonous in comparison with those small enjoyments and insignificant cares of our life1--a life1 not of labour nor of production1 but of consumption and destruction of that which others have produced for us4 ,we think the feelings experienced by people of our day and our class are very important and varied2 but in reality almost all the feelings of people of our class amount to but three very insignificant and simple feelings--the feeling of pride1 the feeling of sexual desire1 and the feeling of weariness of life4 ,these three feelings1 with their outgrowths1 form almost the only subject-matter of the art of the rich classes4 ,at first1 at the very beginning of the separation of the exclusive art of the upper classes from universal art1 its chief subject-matter was the feeling of pride4 ,it was so at the time of the ,renaissance and after it1 when the chief subject of works of art was the laudation of the strong--popes1 kings1 and dukes3 odes and madrigals were written in their honour1 and they were extolled in cantatas and hymns2 their portraits were painted1 and their statues carved1 in various adulatory ways4 ,next1 the element of sexual desire began more and more to enter into art1 and 7with very few exceptions1 and in novels and dramas almost without exception7 it has now become an essential feature of every art product of the rich classes4 ,the third feeling transmitted by the art of the rich--that of discontent with life--appeared yet later in modern art4 ,this feeling1 which1 at the commencement of the present century1 was expressed only by exceptional men2 by ,byron1 by ,leopardi1 and afterwards by ,heine1 has latterly become fashionable and is expressed by most ordinary and empty people4 ,most justly does the ,french critic ,doumic characterise the works of the new writers--8c'est la lassitude de vivre1 le mpris de l'poque prsente1 le regret d'un autre temps aperu travers l'illusion de l'art1 le got du paradoxe1 le besoin de se singulariser1 une aspiration de raffins vers la simplicit1 l'adoration enfantine du merveilleux1 la sduction maladive de la rverie1 l'branlement des nerfs1--surtout l'appel exaspr de la sensualit0 7,les ,jeunes1 ,ren ,doumic74#fg ,and1 as a matter of fact1 of these three feelings it is sensuality1 the lowest 7accessible not only to all men but even to all animals7 which forms the chief subject-matter of works of art of recent times4 ,from ,boccaccio to ,marcel ,prvost1 all the novels1 poems1 and verses invariably transmit the feeling of sexual love in its different forms4 ,adultery is not only the favourite1 but almost the only theme of all the novels4 ,a performance is not a performance unless1 under some pretence1 women appear with naked busts and limbs4 ,songs and romances--all are expressions of lust1 idealised in various degrees4 ,a majority of the pictures by ,french artists represent female nakedness in various forms4 ,in recent ,french literature there is hardly a page or a poem in which nakedness is not described1 and in which1 relevantly or irrelevantly1 their favourite thought and word nu is not repeated a couple of times4 ,there is a certain writer1 ,ren de ,gourmond1 who gets printed1 and is considered talented4 ,to get an idea of the new writers1 ,i read his novel1 ,les ,chevaux de ,diomde4 ,it is a consecutive and detailed account of the sexual connections some gentleman had with various women4 ,every page contains lust-kindling descriptions4 ,it is the same in ,pierre ,lous' book1 ,aphrodite1 which met with success2 it is the same in a book ,i lately chanced upon--,huysmans' ,certains1 and1 with but few exceptions1 it is the same in all the ,french novels4 ,they are all the productions of people suffering from erotic mania4 ,and these people are evidently convinced that as their whole life1 in consequence of their diseased condition1 is concentrated on amplifying various sexual abominations1 therefore the life of all the world is similarly concentrated4 ,and these people1 suffering from erotic mania1 are imitated throughout the whole artistic world of ,europe and ,america4 ,thus in consequence of the lack of belief and the exceptional manner of life of the wealthy classes1 the art of those classes became impoverished in its subject-matter1 and has sunk to the transmission of the feelings of pride1 discontent with life1 and1 above all1 of sexual desire4 ,footnote #fg3 ,it is the weariness of life1 contempt for the present epoch1 regret for another age seen through the illusion of art1 a taste for paradox1 a desire to be singular1 a sentimental aspiration after simplicity1 an infantine adoration of the marvellous1 a sickly tendency towards reverie1 a shattered condition of nerves1 and1 above all1 the exasperated demand of sensuality4 ,,chapter ,x ,in consequence of their unbelief the art of the upper classes became poor in subject-matter4 ,but besides that1 becoming continually more and more exclusive1 it became at the same time continually more and more involved1 affected1 and obscure4 ,when a universal artist 7such as were some of the ,grecian artists or the ,jewish prophets7 composed his work1 he naturally strove to say what he had to say in such a manner that his production should be intelligible to all men4 ,but when an artist composed for a small circle of people placed in exceptional conditions1 or even for a single individual and his courtiers1--for popes1 cardinals1 kings1 dukes1 queens1 or for a king's mistress1--he naturally only aimed at influencing these people1 who were well known to him1 and lived in exceptional conditions familiar to him4 ,and this was an easier task1 and the artist was involuntarily drawn to express himself by allusions comprehensible only to the initiated1 and obscure to everyone else4 ,in the first place1 more could be said in this way2 and secondly1 there is 7for the initiated7 even a certain charm in the cloudiness of such a manner of expression4 ,this method1 which showed itself both in euphemism and in mythological and historical allusions1 came more and more into use1 until it has1 apparently1 at last reached its utmost limits in the so-called art of the ,decadents4 ,it has come1 finally1 to this3 that not only is haziness1 mysteriousness1 obscurity1 and exclusiveness 7shutting out the masses7 elevated to the rank of a merit and a condition of poetic art1 but even incorrectness1 indefiniteness1 and lack of eloquence are held in esteem4 ,thophile ,gautier1 in his preface to the celebrated ,fleurs du ,mal1 says that ,baudelaire1 as far as possible1 banished from poetry eloquence1 passion1 and truth too strictly copied 78l'loquence1 la passion1 et la vrit calque trop exactement074 ,and ,baudelaire not only expressed this1 but maintained his thesis in his verses1 and yet more strikingly in the prose of his ,petits ,pomes en ,prose1 the meanings of which have to be guessed like a rebus1 and remain for the most part undiscovered4 ,the poet ,verlaine 7who followed next after ,baudelaire1 and was also esteemed great7 even wrote an 8,art potique10 in which he advises this style of composition3-- ,de la musique avant toute chose1 ,et pour cela prfre l',impair ,plus vague et plus soluble dans l'air1 ,sans rien en lui qui pse ou qui pose4 ,il faut aussi que tu n'ailles point ,choisir tes mots sans quelque mprise3 ,rien de plus cher que la chanson grise ,o l',indcis au ,prcis se joint4 ,and again3-- ,de la musique encore et toujours6 ,que ton vers soit la chose envole ,qu'on sent qui fuit d'une me en alle ,vers d'autres cieux d'autres amours4 ,que ton vers soit la bonne aventure parse au vent crisp du matin1 ,qui va fleurant la menthe et le thym 444 ,et tout le reste est littrature4#fh ,after these two comes ,mallarm1 considered the most important of the young poets1 and he plainly says that the charm of poetry lies in our having to guess its meaning--that in poetry there should always be a puzzle3-- ,je pense qu'il faut qu'il n'y ait qu'allusion1 says he4 ,la contemplation des objets1 l'image s'envolant des rveries suscites par eux1 sont le chant3 les ,parnassiens1 eux1 prennent la chose entirement et la montrent2 par l ils manquent de mystre2 ils retirent aux esprits cette joie dlicieuse de croire qu'ils crent4 ,nommer un objet1 c'est supprimer les trois quarts de la jouissance du pome1 qui est faite du bonheur de deviner peu peu3 le suggrer1 voil le rve4 ,c'est le parfait usage de ce mystre qui constitue le symbole3 voquer petit petit un objet pour montrer un tat d'me1 ou1 inversement1 choisir un objet et en dgager un tat d'me1 par une srie de dchiffrements4 444 ,si un tre d'une intelligence moyenne1 et d'une prparation littraire insuffisante1 ouvre par hasard un livre ainsi fait et prtend en jouir1 il y a malentendu1 il faut remettre les choses leur place4 ,il doit y avoir toujours nigme en posie1 et c'est le but de la littrature1 il n'y en a pas d'autre1--d'voquer les objets4--8,enqute sur l'volution littraire10 ,jules ,huret1 pp4 #fj1 #fa4fi ,thus is obscurity elevated into a dogma among the new poets4 ,as the ,french critic ,doumic 7who has not yet accepted the dogma7 quite correctly says3-- 8,il serait temps aussi d'en finir avec cette fameuse #8thorie de l'obscurit' que la nouvelle cole a leve1 en effet1 la hauteur d'un dogme40--,les ,jeunes1 par ,ren ,doumic4#gj ,but it is not ,french writers only who think thus4 ,the poets of all other countries think and act in the same way3 ,german1 and ,scandinavian1 and ,italian1 and ,russian1 and ,english4 ,so also do the artists of the new period in all branches of art3 in painting1 in sculpture1 and in music4 ,relying on ,nietzsche and ,wagner1 the artists of the new age conclude that it is unnecessary for them to be intelligible to the vulgar crowd2 it is enough for them to evoke poetic emotion in 8the finest nurtured10 to borrow a phrase from an ,english sthetician4 ,in order that what ,i am saying may not seem to be mere assertion1 ,i will quote at least a few examples from the ,french poets who have led this movement4 ,the name of these poets is legion4 ,i have taken ,french writers1 because they1 more decidedly than any others1 indicate the new direction of art1 and are imitated by most ,european writers4 ,besides those whose names are already considered famous1 such as ,baudelaire and ,verlaine1 here are the names of a few of them3 ,jean ,moras1 ,charles ,morice1 ,henri de ,rgnier1 ,charles ,vignier1 ,adrien ,remacle1 ,ren ,ghil1 ,maurice ,maeterlinck1 ,g4 ,albert ,aurier1 ,rmy de ,gourmont1 ,saint-,pol-,roux-le-,magnifique1 ,georges ,rodenbach1 le comte ,robert de ,montesquiou-,fezensac4 ,these are ,symbolists and ,decadents4 ,next we have the 8,magi03 ,josphin ,pladan1 ,paul ,adam1 ,jules ,bois1 ,m4 ,papus1 and others4 ,besides these1 there are yet one hundred and forty-one others1 whom ,doumic mentions in the book referred to above4 ,here are some examples from the work of those of them who are considered to be the best1 beginning with that most celebrated man1 acknowledged to be a great artist worthy of a monument--,baudelaire4 ,this is a poem from his celebrated ,fleurs du ,mal3-- ,no4 ,,xxiv4 ,je t'adore l'gal de la vote nocturne1 ,o vase de tristesse1 grande taciturne1 ,et t'aime d'autant plus1 belle1 que tu me fuis1 ,et que tu me parais1 ornement de mes nuits1 ,plus ironiquement accumuler les lieues ,qui sparent mes bras des immensits bleues4 ,je m'avance l'attaque1 et je grimpe aux assauts1 ,comme aprs un cadavre un chur de vermisseaux1 ,et je chris1 bte implacable et cruelle1 ,jusqu' cette froideur par o tu m'es plus belle6#ga ,and this is another by the same writer3-- ,no4 ,,xxxvi4 ,,duellum4 ,deux guerriers ont couru l'un sur l'autre2 leurs armes ,ont clabouss l'air de lueurs et de sang4 ,ces jeux1 ces cliquetis du fer sont les vacarmes ,d'une jeunesse en proie l'amour vagissant4 ,les glaives sont briss6 comme notre jeunesse1 ,ma chre6 ,mais les dents1 les ongles acrs1 ,vengent bientt l'pe et la dague tratresse4 ,o fureur des curs mrs par l'amour ulcrs6 ,dans le ravin hant des chats-pards et des onces ,nos hros1 s'treignant mchamment1 ont roul1 ,et leur peau fleurira l'aridit des ronces4 ,ce gouffre1 c'est l'enfer1 de nos amis peupl6 ,roulons-y sans remords1 amazone inhumaine1 ,afin d'terniser l'ardeur de notre haine6#gb ,to be exact1 ,i should mention that the collection contains verses less comprehensible than these1 but not one poem which is plain and can be understood without a certain effort--an effort seldom rewarded1 for the feelings which the poet transmits are evil and very low ones4 ,and these feelings are always1 and purposely1 expressed by him with eccentricity and lack of clearness4 ,this premeditated obscurity is especially noticeable in his prose1 where the author could1 if he liked1 speak plainly4 ,take1 for instance1 the first piece from his ,petits ,pomes3-- ,l',,tranger4 ,qui aimes-tu le mieux1 homme nigmatique1 dis8 ton pre1 ta mre1 ta sur1 ou ton frre8 ,je n'ai ni pre1 ni mre1 ni sur1 ni frre4 ,tes amis8 ,vous vous servez l d'une parole dont le sens m'est rest jusqu' ce jour inconnu4 ,ta patrie8 ,j'ignore sous quelle latitude elle est situe4 ,la beaut8 ,je l'aimerais volontiers1 desse et immortelle4 ,l'or8 ,je le hais comme vous hassez ,dieu4 ,et qu 'aimes-tu donc1 extraordinaire tranger8 ,j'aime les nuages 444 les nuages qui passent 444 l bas1 444 les merveilleux nuages6 ,the piece called ,la ,soupe et les ,nuages is probably intended to express the unintelligibility of the poet even to her whom he loves4 ,this is the piece in question3-- ,ma petite folle bien-aime me donnait dner1 et par la fentre ouverte de la salle manger je contemplais les mouvantes architectures que ,dieu fait avec les vapeurs1 les merveilleuses constructions de l'impalpable4 ,et je me disais1 travers ma contemplation3 8,toutes ces fantasmagories sont presque aussi belles que les yeux de ma belle bien-aime1 la petite folle monstrueuse aux yeux verts40 ,et tout coup je reus un violent coup de poing dans le dos1 et j'entendis une voix rauque et charmante1 une voix hystrique et comme enroue par l'eau-de-vie1 la voix de ma chre petite bien-aime1 qui me disait1 8,allez-vous bientt manger votre soupe1 s 444 b 444 de marchand de nuages80#gc ,however artificial these two pieces may be1 it is still possible1 with some effort1 to guess at what the author meant them to express1 but some of the pieces are absolutely incomprehensible--at least to me4 ,le ,galant ,tireur is a piece ,i was quite unable to understand4 ,,le ,,galant ,,tireur4 ,comme la voiture traversait le bois1 il la fit arrter dans le voisinage d'un tir1 disant qu'il lui serait agrable de tirer quelques balles pour tuer le ,temps4 ,tuer ce monstre-l1 n'est-ce pas l'occupation la plus ordinaire et la plus lgitime de chacun8--,et il offrit galamment la main sa chre1 dlicieuse et excrable femme1 cette mystrieuse femme laquelle il doit tant de plaisirs1 tant de douleurs1 et peut-tre aussi une grande partie de son gnie4 ,plusieurs balles frapprent loin du but propos1 l'une d'elles s'enfona mme dans le plafond2 et comme la charmante crature riait follement1 se moquant de la maladresse de son poux1 celui-ci se tourna brusquement vers elle1 et lui dit3 8,observez cette poupe1 l-bas1 droite1 qui porte le nez en l'air et qui a la mine si hautaine4 ,eh bien6 cher ange1 je me figure que c'est vous40 ,et il ferma les yeux et il lcha la dtente4 ,la poupe fut nettement dcapite4 ,alors s' inclinant vers sa chre1 sa dlicieuse1 son excrable femme1 son invitable et impitoyable ,muse1 et lui baisant respectueusement la main1 il ajouta3 8,ah6 mon cher ange1 combien je vous remercie de mon adresse60#gd ,the productions of another celebrity1 ,verlaine1 are not less affected and unintelligible4 ,this1 for instance1 is the first poem in the section called ,ariettes ,oublies4 8,le vent dans la plaine ,suspend son haleine40--,,favart4 ,c'est l'extase langoureuse1 ,c'est la fatigue amoureuse1 ,c'est tous les frissons des bois ,parmi l'treinte des brises1 ,c'est1 vers les ramures grises1 ,le chur des petites voix4 ,o le frle et frais murmure6 ,cela gazouille et susurre1 ,cela ressemble au cri doux ,que l'herbe agite expire 444 ,tu dirais1 sous l'eau qui vire1 ,le roulis sourd des cailloux4 ,cette me qui se lamente ,en cette plainte dormante ,c'est la ntre1 n'est-ce pas8 ,la mienne1 dis1 et la tienne1 ,dont s'exhale l'humble antienne ,par ce tide soir1 tout has8#ge ,what 8chur des petites voix08 and what 8cri doux que l'herbe agite expire08 and what it all means1 remains altogether unintelligible to me4 ,and here is another ,ariette3-- ,,viii4 ,dans l'interminable ,ennui de la plaine1 ,la neige incertaine ,luit comme du sable4 ,le ciel est de cuivre1 ,sans lueur aucune4 ,on croirait voir vivre ,et mourir la lune4 ,comme des nues ,flottent gris les chnes ,des forts prochaines ,parmi les bues4 ,le ciel est de cuivre1 ,sans lueur aucune4 ,on croirait voir vivre ,et mourir la lune4 ,corneille poussive ,et vous1 les loups maigres1 ,par ces bises aigres ,quoi donc vous arrive8 ,dans l'interminable ,ennui de la plaine1 ,la neige incertaine ,luit comme du sable4#gf ,how does the moon seem to live and die in a copper heaven8 ,and how can snow shine like sand8 ,the whole thing is not merely unintelligible1 but1 under pretence of conveying an impression1 it passes off a string of incorrect comparisons and words4 ,besides these artificial and obscure poems1 there are others which are intelligible1 but which make up for it by being altogether bad1 both in form and in subject4 ,such are all the poems under the heading ,la ,sagesse4 ,the chief place in these verses is occupied by a very poor expression of the most commonplace ,roman ,catholic and patriotic sentiments4 ,for instance1 one meets with verses such as this3-- ,je ne veux plus penser qu' ma mre ,marie1 ,sige de la sagesse et source de pardons1 ,mre de ,france aussi de qui nous attendons ,inbranlablement l'honneur de la patrie4#gg ,before citing examples from other poets1 ,i must pause to note the amazing celebrity of these two versifiers1 ,baudelaire and ,verlaine1 who are now accepted as being great poets4 ,how the ,french1 who had ,chnier1 ,musset1 ,lamartine1 and1 above all1 ,hugo1--and among whom quite recently flourished the so-called ,parnassiens3 ,leconte de ,lisle1 ,sully-,prudhomme1 etc41--could attribute such importance to these two versifiers1 who were far from skilful in form and most contemptible and commonplace in subject-matter1 is to me incomprehensible4 ,the conception-of-life of one of them1 ,baudelaire1 consisted in elevating gross egotism into a theory1 and replacing morality by a cloudy conception of beauty1 and especially artificial beauty4 ,baudelaire had a preference1 which he expressed1 for a woman's face painted rather than showing its natural colour1 and for metal trees and a theatrical imitation of water rather than real trees and real water4 ,the life-conception of the other1 ,verlaine1 consisted in weak profligacy1 confession of his moral impotence1 and1 as an antidote to that impotence1 in the grossest ,roman ,catholic idolatry4 ,both1 moreover1 were quite lacking in navet1 sincerity1 and simplicity1 and both overflowed with artificiality1 forced originality1 and self-assurance4 ,so that in their least bad productions one sees more of ,m4 ,baudelaire or ,m4 ,verlaine than of what they were describing4 ,but these two indifferent versifiers form a school1 and lead hundreds of followers after them4 ,there is only one explanation of this fact3 it is that the art of the society in which these versifiers lived is not a serious1 important matter of life1 but is a mere amusement4 ,and all amusements grow wearisome by repetition4 ,and1 in order to make wearisome amusement again tolerable1 it is necessary to find some means to freshen it up4 ,when1 at cards1 ombre grows stale1 whist is introduced2 when whist grows stale1 cart is substituted2 when cart grows stale1 some other novelty is invented1 and so on4 ,the substance of the matter remains the same1 only its form is changed4 ,and so it is with this kind of art4 ,the subject-matter of the art of the upper classes growing continually more and more limited1 it has come at last to this1 that to the artists of these exclusive classes it seems as if everything has already been said1 and that to find anything new to say is impossible4 ,and therefore1 to freshen up this art1 they look out for fresh forms4 ,baudelaire and ,verlaine invent such a new form1 furbish it up1 moreover1 with hitherto unused pornographic details1 and--the critics and the public of the upper classes hail them as great writers4 ,this is the only explanation of the success1 not of ,baudelaire and ,verlaine only1 but of all the ,decadents4 ,for instance1 there are poems by ,mallarm and ,maeterlinck which have no meaning1 and yet for all that1 or perhaps on that very account1 are printed by tens of thousands1 not only in various publications1 but even in collections of the best works of the younger poets4 ,this1 for example1 is a sonnet by ,mallarm3-- ,a la nue accablante tu ,basse de basalte et de laves ,a mme les chos esclaves ,par une trompe sans vertu4 ,quel spulcral naufrage 7tu ,le soir1 cume1 mais y baves7 ,suprme une entre les paves ,abolit le mt dvtu4 ,ou cela que furibond faute ,de quelque perdition haute ,tout l'abme vain ploy ,dans le si blanc cheveu qui trane ,avarement aura noy ,le flanc enfant d'une sirne4#gh 78,pan10 #ahie1 ,no4 #a47 ,this poem is not exceptional in its incomprehensibility4 ,i have read several poems by ,mallarm1 and they also had no meaning whatever4 ,i give a sample of his prose in ,appendix ,i4 ,there is a whole volume of this prose1 called 8,divagations40 ,it is impossible to understand any of it4 ,and that is evidently what the author intended4 ,and here is a song by ,maeterlinck1 another celebrated author of to-day3-- ,quand il est sorti1 7,j'entendis la porte7 ,quand il est sorti ,elle avait souri 444 ,mais quand il entra 7,j'entendis la lampe7 ,mais quand il entra ,une autre tait l 444 ,et j'ai vu la mort1 7,j'entendis son me7 ,et j'ai vu la mort ,qui l'attend encore 444 ,on est venu dire1 7,mon enfant j'ai peur7 ,on est venu dire ,qu'il allait partir 444 ,ma lampe allume1 7,mon enfant j'ai peur7 ,ma lampe allume ,me suis approche 444 ,a la premire porte1 7,mon enfant j'ai peur7 ,a la premire porte1 ,la flamme a trembl 444 ,a la seconde porte1 7,mon enfant j'ai peur7 ,a la seconde porte1 ,la flamme a parl 444 ,a la troisime porte1 7,mon enfant j'ai peur7 ,a la troisime porte1 ,la lumire est morte 444 ,et s'il revenait un jour ,que faut-il lui dire8 ,dites-lui qu'on l'attendit ,jusqu' s'en mourir 444 ,et s'il demande o vous tes ,que faut-il rpondre8 ,donnez-lui mon anneau d'or ,sans rien lui rpondre 444 ,et s'il m'interroge alors ,sur la dernire heure8 ,dites lui que fai souri ,de peur qu'il ne pleure 444 ,et s'il m'interroge encore ,sans me reconnatre8 ,parlez-lui comme une sur1 ,il souffre peut-tre 444 ,et s'il veut savoir pourquoi ,la salle est dserte8 ,montrez lui la lampe teinte ,et la porte ouverte 444#gi 78,pan10 #ahie1 ,no4 #b47 ,who went out8 ,who came in8 ,who is speaking8 ,who died8 ,i beg the reader to be at the pains of reading through the samples ,i cite in ,appendix ,,ii4 of the celebrated and esteemed young poets--,griffin1 ,verhaeren1 ,moras1 and ,montesquiou4 ,it is important to do so in order to form a clear conception of the present position of art1 and not to suppose1 as many do1 that ,decadentism is an accidental and transitory phenomenon4 ,to avoid the reproach of having selected the worst verses1 ,i have copied out of each volume the poem which happened to stand on page #bh4 ,all the other productions of these poets are equally unintelligible1 or can only be understood with great difficulty1 and then not fully4 ,all the productions of those hundreds of poets1 of whom ,i have named a few1 are the same in kind4 ,and among the ,germans1 ,swedes1 ,norwegians1 ,italians1 and us ,russians1 similar verses are printed4 ,and such productions are printed and made up into book form1 if not by the million1 then by the hundred thousand 7some of these works sell in tens of thousands74 ,for type-setting1 paging1 printing1 and binding these books1 millions and millions of working days are spent--not less1 ,i think1 than went to build the great pyramid4 ,and this is not all4 ,the same is going on in all the other arts3 millions and millions of working days are being spent on the production of equally incomprehensible works in painting1 in music1 and in the drama4 ,painting not only does not lag behind poetry in this matter1 but rather outstrips it4 ,here is an extract from the diary of an amateur of art1 written when visiting the ,paris exhibitions in #ahid3-- 8,i was to-day at three exhibitions3 the ,symbolists'1 the ,impressionists'1 and the ,neo-,impressionists'4 ,i looked at the pictures conscientiously and carefully1 but again felt the same stupefaction and ultimate indignation4 ,the first exhibition1 that of ,camille ,pissarro1 was comparatively the most comprehensible1 though the pictures were out of drawing1 had no subject1 and the colourings were most improbable4 ,the drawing was so indefinite that you were sometimes unable to make out which way an arm or a head was turned4 ,the subject was generally1 #8effets'--,effet de brouillard1 ,effet du soir1 ,soleil couchant4 ,there were some pictures with figures1 but without subjects4 8,in the colouring1 bright blue and bright green predominated4 ,and each picture had its special colour1 with which the whole picture was1 as it were1 splashed4 ,for instance in #8,a ,girl guarding ,geese' the special colour is vert de gris1 and dots of it were splashed about everywhere3 on the face1 the hair1 the hands1 and the clothes4 ,in the same gallery--#8,durand ,ruel'--were other pictures1 by ,puvis de ,chavannes1 ,manet1 ,monet1 ,renoir1 ,sisley--who are all ,impressionists4 ,one of them1 whose name ,i could not make out1--it was something like ,redon1--had painted a blue face in profile4 ,on the whole face there is only this blue tone1 with white-of-lead4 ,pissarro has a water-colour all done in dots4 ,in the foreground is a cow entirely painted with various-coloured dots4 ,the general colour cannot be distinguished1 however much one stands back from1 or draws near to1 the picture4 ,from there ,i went to see the ,symbolists4 ,i looked at them long without asking anyone for an explanation1 trying to guess the meaning2 but it is beyond human comprehension4 ,one of the first things to catch my eye was a wooden haut-relief1 wretchedly executed1 representing a woman 7naked7 who with both hands is squeezing from her two breasts streams of blood4 ,the blood flows down1 becoming lilac in colour4 ,her hair first descends and then rises again and turns into trees4 ,the figure is all coloured yellow1 and the hair is brown4 8,next--a picture3 a yellow sea1 on which swims something which is neither a ship nor a heart2 on the horizon is a profile with a halo and yellow hair1 which changes into a sea1 in which it is lost4 ,some of the painters lay on their colours so thickly that the effect is something between painting and sculpture4 ,a third exhibit was even less comprehensible3 a man's profile2 before him a flame and black stripes--leeches1 as ,i was afterwards told4 ,at last ,i asked a gentleman who was there what it meant1 and he explained to me that the haut-relief was a symbol1 and that it represented #8,la ,terre4' ,the heart swimming in a yellow sea was #8,illusion perdue1' and the gentleman with the leeches was #8,le ,mal4' ,there were also some ,impressionist pictures3 elementary profiles1 holding some sort of flowers in their hands3 in monotone1 out of drawing1 and either quite blurred or else marked out with wide black outlines40 ,this was in #ahid2 the same tendency is now even more strongly defined1 and we have ,bcklin1 ,stuck1 ,klinger1 ,sasha ,schneider1 and others4 ,the same thing is taking place in the drama4 ,the play-writers give us an architect who1 for some reason1 has not fulfilled his former high intentions1 and who consequently climbs on to the roof of a house he has erected and tumbles down head foremost2 or an incomprehensible old woman 7who exterminates rats71 and who1 for an unintelligible reason1 takes a poetic child to the sea and there drowns him2 or some blind men1 who1 sitting on the seashore1 for some reason always repeat one and the same thing2 or a bell of some kind1 which flies into a lake and there rings4 ,and the same is happening in music--in that art which1 more than any other1 one would have thought1 should be intelligible to everybody4 ,an acquaintance of yours1 a musician of repute1 sits down to the piano and plays you what he says is a new composition of his own1 or of one of the new composers4 ,you hear the strange1 loud sounds1 and admire the gymnastic exercises performed by his fingers2 and you see that the performer wishes to impress upon you that the sounds he is producing express various poetic strivings of the soul4 ,you see his intention1 but no feeling whatever is transmitted to you except weariness4 ,the execution lasts long1 or at least it seems very long to you1 because you do not receive any clear impression1 and involuntarily you remember the words of ,alphonse ,karr1 8,plus a va vite1 plus a dure longtemps40#hj ,and it occurs to you that perhaps it is all a mystification2 perhaps the performer is trying you--just throwing his hands and fingers wildly about the key-board in the hope that you will fall into the trap and praise him1 and then he will laugh and confess that he only wanted to see if he could hoax you4 ,but when at last the piece does finish1 and the perspiring and agitated musician rises from the piano evidently anticipating praise1 you see that it was all done in earnest4 ,the same thing takes place at all the concerts with pieces by ,liszt1 ,wagner1 ,berlioz1 ,brahms1 and 7newest of all7 ,richard ,strauss1 and the numberless other composers of the new school1 who unceasingly produce opera after opera1 symphony after symphony1 piece after piece4 ,the same is occurring in a domain in which it seemed hard to be unintelligible--in the sphere of novels and short stories4 ,read ,l-,bas by ,huysmans1 or some of ,kipling's short stories1 or ,l'annonciateur by ,villiers de l',isle ,adam in his ,contes ,cruels1 etc41 and you will find them not only 8abscons0 7to use a word adopted by the new writers71 but absolutely unintelligible both in form and in substance4 ,such1 again1 is the work by ,e4 ,morel1 ,terre ,promise1 now appearing in the ,revue ,blanche1 and such are most of the new novels4 ,the style is very high-flown1 the feelings seem to be most elevated1 but you can't make out what is happening1 to whom it is happening1 and where it is happening4 ,and such is the bulk of the young art of our time4 ,people who grew up in the first half of this century1 admiring ,goethe1 ,schiller1 ,musset1 ,hugo1 ,dickens1 ,beethoven1 ,chopin1 ,raphael1 da ,vinci1 ,michael ,angelo1 ,delaroche1 being unable to make head or tail of this new art1 simply attribute its productions to tasteless insanity and wish to ignore them4 ,but such an attitude towards this new art is quite unjustifiable1 because1 in the first place1 that art is spreading more and more1 and has already conquered for itself a firm position in society1 similar to the one occupied by the ,romanticists in the third decade of this century2 and secondly and chiefly1 because1 if it is permissible to judge in this way of the productions of the latest form of art1 called by us ,decadent art1 merely because we do not understand it1 then remember1 there are an enormous number of people1--all the labourers and many of the non-labouring folk1--who1 in just the same way1 do not comprehend those productions of art which we consider admirable3 the verses of our favourite artists--,goethe1 ,schiller1 and ,hugo2 the novels of ,dickens1 the music of ,beethoven and ,chopin1 the pictures of ,raphael1 ,michael ,angelo1 da ,vinci1 etc4 ,if ,i have a right to think that great masses of people do not understand and do not like what ,i consider undoubtedly good because they are not sufficiently developed1 then ,i have no right to deny that perhaps the reason why ,i cannot understand and cannot like the new productions of art1 is merely that ,i am still insufficiently developed to understand them4 ,if ,i have a right to say that ,i1 and the majority of people who are in sympathy1 with me1 do not understand the productions of the new art simply because there is nothing in it to understand and because it is bad art1 then1 with just the same right1 the still larger majority1 the whole labouring mass1 who do not understand what ,i consider admirable art1 can say that what ,i reckon as good art is bad art1 and there is nothing in it to understand4 ,i once saw the injustice of such condemnation of the new art with especial clearness1 when1 in my presence1 a certain poet1 who writes incomprehensible verses1 ridiculed incomprehensible music with gay self-assurance2 and1 shortly afterwards1 a certain musician1 who composes incomprehensible symphonies1 laughed at incomprehensible poetry with equal self-confidence4 ,i have no right1 and no authority1 to condemn the new art on the ground that ,i 7a man educated in the first half of the century7 do not understand it2 ,i can only say that it is incomprehensible to me4 ,the only advantage the art ,i acknowledge has over the ,decadent art1 lies in the fact that the art ,i recognise is comprehensible to a somewhat larger number of people than the present-day art4 ,the fact that ,i am accustomed to a certain exclusive art1 and can understand it1 but am unable to understand another still more exclusive art1 does not give me a right to conclude that my art is the real true art1 and that the other one1 which ,i do not understand1 is an unreal1 a bad art4 ,i can only conclude that art1 becoming ever more and more exclusive1 has become more and more incomprehensible to an ever-increasing number of people1 and that1 in this its progress towards greater and greater incomprehensibility 7on one level of which ,i am standing1 with the art familiar to me71 it has reached a point where it is understood by a very small number of the elect1 and the number of these chosen people is ever becoming smaller and smaller4 ,as soon as ever the art of the upper classes separated itself from universal art1 a conviction arose that art may be art and yet be incomprehensible to the masses4 ,and as soon as this position was admitted1 it had inevitably to be admitted also that art may be intelligible only to the very smallest number of the elect1 and1 eventually1 to two1 or to one1 of our nearest friends1 or to oneself alone4 ,which is practically what is being said by modern artists3--8,i create and understand myself1 and if anyone does not understand me1 so much the worse for him40 ,the assertion that art may be good art1 and at the same time incomprehensible to a great number of people1 is extremely unjust1 and its consequences are ruinous to art itself2 but at the same time it is so common and has so eaten into our conceptions1 that it is impossible sufficiently to elucidate all the absurdity of it4 ,nothing is more common than to hear it said of reputed works of art1 that they are very good but very difficult to understand4 ,we are quite used to such assertions1 and yet to say that a work of art is good1 but incomprehensible to the majority of men1 is the same as saying of some kind of food that it is very good but that most people can't eat it4 ,the majority of men may not like rotten cheese or putrefying grouse--dishes esteemed by people with perverted tastes2 but bread and fruit are only good when they please the majority of men4 ,and it is the same with art4 ,perverted art may not please the majority of men1 but good art always pleases everyone4 ,it is said that the very best works of art are such that they cannot be understood by the mass1 but are accessible only to the elect who are prepared to understand these great works4 ,but if the majority of men do not understand1 the knowledge necessary to enable them to understand should be taught and explained to them4 ,but it turns out that there is no such knowledge1 that the works cannot be explained1 and that those who say the majority do not understand good works of art1 still do not explain those works1 but only tell us that1 in order to understand them1 one must read1 and see1 and hear these same works over and over again4 ,but this is not to explain1 it is only to habituate6 ,and people may habituate themselves to anything1 even to the very worst things4 ,as people may habituate themselves to bad food1 to spirits1 tobacco1 and opium1 just in the same way they may habituate themselves to bad art--and that is exactly what is being done4 ,moreover1 it cannot be said that the majority of people lack the taste to esteem the highest works of art4 ,the majority always have understood1 and still understand1 what we also recognise as being the very best art3 the epic of ,genesis1 the ,gospel parables1 folk-legends1 fairy-tales1 and folk-songs are understood by all4 ,how can it be that the majority has suddenly lost its capacity to understand what is high in our art8 ,of a speech it may be said that it is admirable1 but incomprehensible to those who do not know the language in which it is delivered4 ,a speech delivered in ,chinese may be excellent1 and may yet remain incomprehensible to me if ,i do not know ,chinese2 but what distinguishes a work of art from all other mental activity is just the fact that its language is understood by all1 and that it infects all without distinction4 ,the tears and laughter of a ,chinese infect me just as the laughter and tears of a ,russian2 and it is the same with painting and music and poetry1 when it is translated into a language ,i understand4 ,the songs of a ,kirghiz or of a ,japanese touch me1 though in a lesser degree than they touch a ,kirghiz or a ,japanese4 ,i am also touched by ,japanese painting1 ,indian architecture1 and ,arabian stories4 ,if ,i am but little touched by a ,japanese song and a ,chinese novel1 it is not that ,i do not understand these productions1 but that ,i know and am accustomed to higher works of art4 ,it is not because their art is above me4 ,great works of art are only great because they are accessible and comprehensible to everyone4 ,the story of ,joseph1 translated into the ,chinese language1 touches a ,chinese4 ,the story of ,sakya ,muni touches us4 ,and there are1 and must be1 buildings1 pictures1 statues1 and music of similar power4 ,so that1 if art fails to move men1 it cannot be said that this is due to the spectators' or hearers' lack of understanding2 but the conclusion to be drawn may1 and should be1 that such art is either bad art1 or is not art at all4 ,art is differentiated from activity of the understanding1 which demands preparation and a certain sequence of knowledge 7so that one cannot learn trigonometry before knowing geometry71 by the fact that it acts on people independently of their state of development and education1 that the charm of a picture1 of sounds1 or of forms1 infects any man whatever his plane of development4 ,the business of art lies just in this--to make that understood and felt which1 in the form of an argument1 might be incomprehensible and inaccessible4 ,usually it seems to the recipient of a truly artistic impression that he knew the thing before but had been unable to express it4 ,and such has always been the nature of good1 supreme art2 the ,iliad1 the ,odyssey1 the stories of ,isaac1 ,jacob1 and ,joseph1 the ,hebrew prophets1 the psalms1 the ,gospel parables1 the story of ,sakya ,muni1 and the hymns of the ,vedas3 all transmit very elevated feelings1 and are nevertheless quite comprehensible now to us1 educated or uneducated1 as they were comprehensible to the men of those times1 long ago1 who were even less educated than our labourers4 ,people talk about incomprehensibility2 but if art is the transmission of feelings flowing from man's religious perception1 how can a feeling be incomprehensible which is founded on religion1 i4e4 on man's relation to ,god8 ,such art should be1 and has actually1 always been1 comprehensible to everybody1 because every man's relation to ,god is one and the same4 ,and therefore the churches and the images in them were always comprehensible to everyone4 ,the hindrance to understanding the best and highest feelings 7as is said in the gospel7 does not at all lie in deficiency of development or learning1 but1 on the contrary1 in false development and false learning4 ,a good and lofty work of art may be incomprehensible1 but not to simple1 unperverted peasant labourers 7all that is highest is understood by them7--it may be1 and often is1 unintelligible to erudite1 perverted people destitute of religion4 ,and this continually occurs in our society1 in which the highest feelings are simply not understood4 ,for instance1 ,i know people who consider themselves most refined1 and who say that they do not understand the poetry of love to one's neighbour1 of self-sacrifice1 or of chastity4 ,so that good1 great1 universal1 religious art may be incomprehensible to a small circle of spoilt people1 but certainly not to any large number of plain men4 ,art cannot be incomprehensible to the great masses only because it is very good1--as artists of our day are fond of telling us4 ,rather we are bound to conclude that this art is unintelligible to the great masses only because it is very bad art1 or even is not art at all4 ,so that the favourite argument 7navely accepted by the cultured crowd71 that in order to feel art one has first to understand it 7which really only means habituate oneself to it71 is the truest indication that what we are asked to understand by such a method is either very bad1 exclusive art1 or is not art at all4 ,people say that works of art do not please the people because they are incapable of understanding them4 ,but if the aim of works of art is to infect people with the emotion the artist has experienced1 how can one talk about not understanding8 ,a man of the people reads a book1 sees a picture1 hears a play or a symphony1 and is touched by no feeling4 ,he is told that this is because he cannot understand4 ,people promise to let a man see a certain show2 he enters and sees nothing4 ,he is told that this is because his sight is not prepared for this show4 ,but the man well knows that he sees quite well1 and if he does not see what people promised to show him1 he only concludes 7as is quite just7 that those who undertook to show him the spectacle have not fulfilled their engagement4 ,and it is perfectly just for a man who does feel the influence of some works of art to come to this conclusion concerning artists who do not1 by their works1 evoke feeling in him4 ,to say that the reason a man is not touched by my art is because he is still too stupid1 besides being very self-conceited and also rude1 is to reverse the rles1 and for the sick to send the hale to bed4 ,voltaire said that 8,tous les genres sont bons1 hors le genre ennuyeux02#ha but with even more right one may say of art that ,tous les genres sons bons1 hors celui qu'on ne comprend pas1 or qui ne produit pas son effet1#hb for of what value is an article which fails to do that for which it was intended8 ,mark this above all3 if only it be admitted that art may be art and yet be unintelligible to anyone of sound mind1 there is no reason why any circle of perverted people should not compose works tickling their own perverted feelings and comprehensible to no one but themselves1 and call it 8art10 as is actually being done by the so-called ,decadents4 ,the direction art has taken may be compared to placing on a large circle other circles1 smaller and smaller1 until a cone is formed1 the apex of which is no longer a circle at all4 ,that is what has happened to the art of our times4 ,footnote #fh3 ,music1 music before all things ,the eccentric still prefer1 ,vague in air1 and nothing weighty1 ,soluble4 ,yet do not err1 ,choosing words2 still do it lightly1 ,do it too with some contempt2 ,dearest is the song that's tipsy1 ,clearness1 dimness not exempt4 ,music always1 now and ever ,be thy verse the thing that flies ,from a soul that's gone1 escaping1 ,gone to other loves and skies4 ,gone to other loves and regions1 ,following fortunes that allure1 ,mint and thyme and morning crispness 444 ,all the rest's mere literature4 ,footnote #fi3 ,i think there should be nothing but allusions4 ,the contemplation of objects1 the flying image of reveries evoked by them1 are the song4 ,the ,parnassiens state the thing completely1 and show it1 and thereby lack mystery2 they deprive the mind of that delicious joy of imagining that it creates4 ,to name an object is to take three-quarters from the enjoyment of the poem1 which consists in the happiness of guessing little by little3 to suggest1 that is the dream4 ,it is the perfect use of this mystery that constitutes the symbol3 little by little1 to evoke an object in order to show a state of the soul2 or inversely1 to choose an object1 and from it to disengage a state of the soul by a series of decipherings4 444 ,if a being of mediocre intelligence and insufficient literary preparation chance to open a book made in this way and pretends to enjoy it1 there is a misunderstanding--things must be returned to their places4 ,there should always be an enigma in poetry1 and the aim of literature--it has no other--is to evoke objects4 ,footnote #gj3 ,it were time also to have done with this famous 8theory of obscurity10 which the new school have practically raised to the height of a dogma4 ,footnote #ga3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #gb3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #gc3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #gd3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #ge3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #gf3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #gg3 ,i do not wish to think any more1 except about my mother ,mary1 ,seat of wisdom and source of pardon1 ,also ,mother of ,france1 from whom we ,steadfastly expect the honour of our country4 ,footnote #gh3 ,this sonnet seems too unintelligible for translation4--,trans4 ,footnote #gi3 ,for translation1 see ,appendix ,,iv4 ,footnote #hj3 ,the quicker it goes the longer it lasts4 ,footnote #ha3 ,all styles are good except the wearisome style4 ,footnote #hb3 ,all styles are good except that which is not understood1 or which fails to produce its effect4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,becoming ever poorer and poorer in subject-matter and more and more unintelligible in form1 the art of the upper classes1 in its latest productions1 has even lost all the characteristics of art1 and has been replaced by imitations of art4 ,not only has upper-class art1 in consequence of its separation from universal art1 become poor in subject-matter and bad in form1 i4e4 ever more and more unintelligible1 it has1 in course of time1 ceased even to be art at all1 and has been replaced by counterfeits4 ,this has resulted from the following causes4 ,universal art arises only when some one of the people1 having experienced a strong emotion1 feels the necessity of transmitting it to others4 ,the art of the rich classes1 on the other hand1 arises not from the artist's inner impulse1 but chiefly because people of the upper classes demand amusement and pay well for it4 ,they demand from art the transmission of feelings that please them1 and this demand artists try to meet4 ,but it is a very difficult task1 for people of the wealthy classes1 spending their lives in idleness and luxury1 desire to be continually diverted by art2 and art1 even the lowest1 cannot be produced at will1 but has to generate spontaneously in the artist's inner self4 ,and therefore1 to satisfy the demands of people of the upper classes1 artists have had to devise methods of producing imitations of art4 ,and such methods have been devised4 ,these methods are those of 7#a7 borrowing1 7#b7 imitating1 7#c7 striking 7effects71 and 7#d7 interesting4 ,the first method consists in borrowing whole subjects1 or merely separate features1 from former works recognised by everyone as being poetical1 and in so re-shaping them1 with sundry additions1 that they should have an appearance of novelty4 ,such works1 evoking in people of a certain class memories of artistic feelings formerly experienced1 produce an impression similar to art1 and1 provided only that they conform to other needful conditions1 they pass for art among those who seek for pleasure from art4 ,subjects borrowed from previous works of art are usually called poetical subjects4 ,objects and people thus borrowed are called poetical objects and people4 ,thus1 in our circle1 all sorts of legends1 sagas1 and ancient traditions are considered poetical subjects4 ,among poetical people and objects we reckon maidens1 warriors1 shepherds1 hermits1 angels1 devils of all sorts1 moonlight1 thunder1 mountains1 the sea1 precipices1 flowers1 long hair1 lions1 lambs1 doves1 and nightingales4 ,in general1 all those objects are considered poetical which have been most frequently used by former artists in their productions4 ,some forty years ago a stupid but highly cultured--ayant beaucoup d'acquis--lady 7since deceased7 asked me to listen to a novel written by herself4 ,it began with a heroine who1 in a poetic white dress1 and with poetically flowing hair1 was reading poetry near some water in a poetic wood4 ,the scene was in ,russia1 but suddenly from behind the bushes the hero appears1 wearing a hat with a feather la ,guillaume ,tell 7the book specially mentioned this7 and accompanied by two poetical white dogs4 ,the authoress deemed all this highly poetical1 and it might have passed muster if only it had not been necessary for the hero to speak4 ,but as soon as the gentleman in the hat la ,guillaume ,tell began to converse with the maiden in the white dress1 it became obvious that the authoress had nothing to say1 but had merely been moved by poetic memories of other works1 and imagined that by ringing the changes on those memories she could produce an artistic impression4 ,but an artistic impression1 i4e4 infection1 is only received when an author has1 in the manner peculiar to himself1 experienced the feeling which he transmits1 and not when he passes on another man's feeling previously transmitted to him4 ,such poetry from poetry cannot infect people1 it can only simulate a work of art1 and even that only to people of perverted sthetic taste4 ,the lady in question being very stupid and devoid of talent1 it was at once apparent how the case stood2 but when such borrowing is resorted to by people who are erudite and talented and have cultivated the technique of their art1 we get those borrowings from the ,greek1 the antique1 the ,christian or mythological world which have become so numerous1 and which1 particularly in our day1 continue to increase and multiply1 and are accepted by the public as works of art1 if only the borrowings are well mounted by means of the technique of the particular art to which they belong4 ,as a characteristic example of such counterfeits of art in the realm of poetry1 take ,rostand's ,princesse ,lointaine1 in which there is not a spark of art1 but which seems very poetical to many people1 and probably also to its author4 ,the second method of imparting a semblance of art is that which ,i have called imitating4 ,the essence of this method consists in supplying details accompanying the thing described or depicted4 ,in literary art this method consists in describing1 in the minutest details1 the external appearance1 the faces1 the clothes1 the gestures1 the tones1 and the habitations of the characters represented1 with all the occurrences met with in life4 ,for instance1 in novels and stories1 when one of the characters speaks we are told in what voice he spoke1 and what he was doing at the time4 ,and the things said are not given so that they should have as much sense as possible1 but1 as they are in life1 disconnectedly1 and with interruptions and omissions4 ,in dramatic art1 besides such imitation of real speech1 this method consists in having all the accessories and all the people just like those in real life4 ,in painting this method assimilates painting to photography and destroys the difference between them4 ,and1 strange to say1 this method is used also in music3 music tries to imitate not only by its rhythm but also by its very sounds1 the sounds which in real life accompany the thing it wishes to represent4 ,the third method is by action1 often purely physical1 on the outer senses4 ,work of this kind is said to be 8striking10 8effectful40 ,in all arts these effects consist chiefly in contrasts2 in bringing together the terrible and the tender1 the beautiful and the hideous1 the loud and the soft1 darkness and light1 the most ordinary and the most extraordinary4 ,in verbal art1 besides effects of contrast1 there are also effects consisting in the description of things that have never before been described4 ,these are usually pornographic details evoking sexual desire1 or details of suffering and death evoking feelings of horror1 as1 for instance1 when describing a murder1 to give a detailed medical account of the lacerated tissues1 of the swellings1 of the smell1 quantity and appearance of the blood4 ,it is the same in painting3 besides all kinds of other contrasts1 one is coming into vogue which consists in giving careful finish to one object and being careless about all the rest4 ,the chief and usual effects in painting are effects of light and the depiction of the horrible4 ,in the drama1 the most common effects1 besides contrasts1 are tempests1 thunder1 moonlight1 scenes at sea or by the sea-shore1 changes of costume1 exposure of the female body1 madness1 murders1 and death generally3 the dying person exhibiting in detail all the phases of agony4 ,in music the most usual effects are a crescendo1 passing from the softest and simplest sounds to the loudest and most complex crash of the full orchestra2 a repetition of the same sounds arpeggio in all the octaves and on various instruments2 or that the harmony1 tone1 and rhythm be not at all those naturally flowing from the course of the musical thought1 but such as strike one by their unexpectedness4 ,besides these1 the commonest effects in music are produced in a purely physical manner by strength of sound1 especially in an orchestra4 ,such are some of the most usual effects in the various arts1 but there yet remains one common to them all1 namely1 to convey by means of one art what it would be natural to convey by another3 for instance1 to make music describe 7as is done by the programme music of ,wagner and his followers71 or to make painting1 the drama1 or poetry1 induce a frame of mind 7as is aimed at by all the ,decadent art74 ,the fourth method is that of interesting 7that is1 absorbing the mind7 in connection with works of art4 ,the interest may lie in an intricate plot--a method till quite recently much employed in ,english novels and ,french plays1 but now going out of fashion and being replaced by authenticity1 i4e4 by detailed description of some historical period or some branch of contemporary life4 ,for example1 in a novel1 interestingness may consist in a description of ,egyptian or ,roman life1 the life of miners1 or that of the clerks in a large shop4 ,the reader becomes interested and mistakes this interest for an artistic impression4 ,the interest may also depend on the very method of expression2 a kind of interest that has now come much into use4 ,both verse and prose1 as well as pictures1 plays1 and music1 are constructed so that they must be guessed like riddles1 and this process of guessing again affords pleasure and gives a semblance of the feeling received from art4 ,it is very often said that a work of art is very good because it is poetic1 or realistic1 or striking1 or interesting2 whereas not only can neither the first1 nor the second1 nor the third1 nor the fourth of these attributes supply a standard of excellence in art1 but they have not even anything in common with art4 ,poetic--means borrowed4 ,all borrowing merely recalls to the reader1 spectator1 or listener some dim recollection of artistic impressions they have received from previous works of art1 and does not infect them with feeling which the artist has himself experienced4 ,a work founded on something borrowed1 like ,goethe's ,faust for instance1 may be very well executed and be full of mind and every beauty1 but because it lacks the chief characteristic of a work of art--completeness1 oneness1 the inseparable unity of form and contents expressing the feeling the artist has experienced--it cannot produce a really artistic impression4 ,in availing himself of this method1 the artist only transmits the feeling received by him from a previous work of art2 therefore every borrowing1 whether it be of whole subjects1 or of various scenes1 situations1 or descriptions1 is but a reflection of art1 a simulation of it1 but not art itself4 ,and therefore1 to say that a certain production is good because it is poetic1--i4e4 resembles a work of art1--is like saying of a coin that it is good because it resembles real money4 ,equally little can imitation1 realism1 serve1 as many people think1 as a measure of the quality of art4 ,imitation cannot be such a measure1 for the chief characteristic of art is the infection of others with the feelings the artist has experienced1 and infection with a feeling is not only not identical with description of the accessories of what is transmitted1 but is usually hindered by superfluous details4 ,the attention of the receiver of the artistic impression is diverted by all these well-observed details1 and they hinder the transmission of feeling even when it exists4 ,to value a work of art by the degree of its realism1 by the accuracy of the details reproduced1 is as strange as to judge of the nutritive quality of food by its external appearance4 ,when we appraise a work according to its realism1 we only show that we are talking1 not of a work of art1 but of its counterfeit4 ,neither does the third method of imitating art--by the use of what is striking or effectful--coincide with real art any better than the two former methods1 for in effectfulness--the effects of novelty1 of the unexpected1 of contrasts1 of the horrible--there is no transmission of feeling1 but only an action on the nerves4 ,if an artist were to paint a bloody wound admirably1 the sight of the wound would strike me1 but it would not be art4 ,one prolonged note on a powerful organ will produce a striking impression1 will often even cause tears1 but there is no music in it1 because no feeling is transmitted4 ,yet such physiological effects are constantly mistaken for art by people of our circle1 and this not only in music1 but also in poetry1 painting1 and the drama4 ,it is said that art has become refined4 ,on the contrary1 thanks to the pursuit of effectfulness1 it has become very coarse4 ,a new piece is brought out and accepted all over ,europe1 such1 for instance1 as ,hannele1 in which play the author wishes to transmit to the spectators pity for a persecuted girl4 ,to evoke this feeling in the audience by means of art1 the author should either make one of the characters express this pity in such a way as to infect everyone1 or he should describe the girl's feelings correctly4 ,but he cannot1 or will not1 do this1 and chooses another way1 more complicated in stage management but easier for the author4 ,he makes the girl die on the stage2 and1 still further to increase the physiological effect on the spectators1 he extinguishes the lights in the theatre1 leaving the audience in the dark1 and to the sound of dismal music he shows how the girl is pursued and beaten by her drunken father4 ,the girl shrinks--screams--groans--and falls4 ,angels appear and carry her away4 ,and the audience1 experiencing some excitement while this is going on1 are fully convinced that this is true sthetic feeling4 ,but there is nothing sthetic in such excitement1 for there is no infecting of man by man1 but only a mingled feeling of pity for another1 and of self-congratulation that it is not ,i who am suffering3 it is like what we feel at the sight of an execution1 or what the ,romans felt in their circuses4 ,the substitution of effectfulness for sthetic feeling is particularly noticeable in musical art--that art which by its nature has an immediate physiological action on the nerves4 ,instead of transmitting by means of a melody the feelings he has experienced1 a composer of the new school accumulates and complicates sounds1 and by now strengthening1 now weakening them1 he produces on the audience a physiological effect of a kind that can be measured by an apparatus invented for the purpose4#hc ,and the public mistake this physiological effect for the effect of art4 ,as to the fourth method--that of interesting--it also is frequently confounded with art4 ,one often hears it said1 not only of a poem1 a novel1 or a picture1 but even of a musical work1 that it is interesting4 ,what does this mean8 ,to speak of an interesting work of art means either that we receive from a work of art information new to us1 or that the work is not fully intelligible1 and that little by little1 and with effort1 we arrive at its meaning1 and experience a certain pleasure in this process of guessing it4 ,in neither case has the interest anything in common with artistic impression4 ,art aims at infecting people with feeling experienced by the artist4 ,but the mental effort necessary to enable the spectator1 listener1 or reader to assimilate the new information contained in the work1 or to guess the puzzles propounded1 by distracting him1 hinders the infection4 ,and therefore the interestingness of a work not only has nothing to do with its excellence as a work of art1 but rather hinders than assists artistic impression4 ,we may1 in a work of art1 meet with what is poetic1 and realistic1 and striking1 and interesting1 but these things cannot replace the essential of art--feeling experienced by the artist4 ,latterly1 in upper-class art1 most of the objects given out as being works of art are of the kind which only resemble art1 and are devoid of its essential quality--feeling experienced by the artist4 ,and1 for the diversion of the rich1 such objects are continually being produced in enormous quantities by the artisans of art4 ,many conditions must be fulfilled to enable a man to produce a real work of art4 ,it is necessary that he should stand on the level of the highest life-conception of his time1 that he should experience feeling and have the desire and capacity to transmit it1 and that he should1 moreover1 have a talent for some one of the forms of art4 ,it is very seldom that all these conditions necessary to the production of true art are combined4 ,but in order--aided by the customary methods of borrowing1 imitating1 introducing effects1 and interesting--unceasingly to produce counterfeits of art which pass for art in our society and are well paid for1 it is only necessary to have a talent for some branch of art2 and this is very often to be met with4 ,by talent ,i mean ability3 in literary art1 the ability to express one's thoughts and impressions easily and to notice and remember characteristic details2 in the depictive arts1 to distinguish and remember lines1 forms1 and colours2 in music1 to distinguish the intervals1 and to remember and transmit the sequence of sounds4 ,and a man1 in our times1 if only he possesses such a talent and selects some specialty1 may1 after learning the methods of counterfeiting used in his branch of art1--if he has patience and if his sthetic feeling 7which would render such productions revolting to him7 be atrophied1--unceasingly1 till the end of his life1 turn out works which will pass for art in our society4 ,to produce such counterfeits1 definite rules or recipes exist in each branch of art4 ,so that the talented man1 having assimilated them1 may produce such works froid1 cold drawn1 without any feeling4 ,in order to write poems a man of literary talent needs only these qualifications3 to acquire the knack1 conformably with the requirements of rhyme and rhythm1 of using1 instead of the one really suitable word1 ten others meaning approximately the same2 to learn how to take any phrase which1 to be clear1 has but one natural order of words1 and despite all possible dislocations still to retain some sense in it2 and lastly1 to be able1 guided by the words required for the rhymes1 to devise some semblance of thoughts1 feelings1 or descriptions to suit these words4 ,having acquired these qualifications1 he may unceasingly produce poems--short or long1 religious1 amatory or patriotic1 according to the demand4 ,if a man of literary talent wishes to write a story or novel1 he need only form his style--i4e4 learn how to describe all that he sees--and accustom himself to remember or note down details4 ,when he has accustomed himself to this1 he can1 according to his inclination or the demand1 unceasingly produce novels or stories--historical1 naturalistic1 social1 erotic1 psychological1 or even religious1 for which latter kind a demand and fashion begins to show itself4 ,he can take subjects from books or from the events of life1 and can copy the characters of the people in his book from his acquaintances4 ,and such novels and stories1 if only they are decked out with well observed and carefully noted details1 preferably erotic ones1 will be considered works of art1 even though they may not contain a spark of feeling experienced4 ,to produce art in dramatic form1 a talented man1 in addition to all that is required for novels and stories1 must also learn to furnish his characters with as many smart and witty sentences as possible1 must know how to utilise theatrical effects1 and how to entwine the action of his characters so that there should not be any long conversations1 but as much bustle and movement on the stage as possible4 ,if the writer is able to do this1 he may produce dramatic works one after another without stopping1 selecting his subjects from the reports of the law courts1 or from the latest society topic1 such as hypnotism1 heredity1 etc41 or from deep antiquity1 or even from the realms of fancy4 ,in the sphere of painting and sculpture it is still easier for the talented man to produce imitations of art4 ,he need only learn to draw1 paint1 and model--especially naked bodies4 ,thus equipped he can continue to paint pictures1 or model statues1 one after another1 choosing subjects according to his bent--mythological1 or religious1 or fantastic1 or symbolical2 or he may depict what is written about in the papers--a coronation1 a strike1 the ,turko-,grecian war1 famine scenes2 or1 commonest of all1 he may just copy anything he thinks beautiful--from naked women to copper basins4 ,for the production of musical art the talented man needs still less of what constitutes the essence of art1 i4e4 feeling wherewith to infect others2 but1 on the other hand1 he requires more physical1 gymnastic labour than for any other art1 unless it be dancing4 ,to produce works of musical art1 he must first learn to move his fingers on some instrument as rapidly as those who have reached the highest perfection2 next he must know how in former times polyphonic music was written1 must study what are called counterpoint and fugue2 and furthermore1 he must learn orchestration1 i4e4 how to utilise the effects of the instruments4 ,but once he has learned all this1 the composer may unceasingly produce one work after another2 whether programme-music1 opera1 or song 7devising sounds more or less corresponding to the words71 or chamber music1 i4e4 he may take another man's themes and work them up into definite forms by means of counterpoint and fugue2 or1 what is commonest of all1 he may compose fantastic music1 i4e4 he may take a conjunction of sounds which happens to come to hand1 and pile every sort of complication and ornamentation on to this chance combination4 ,thus1 in all realms of art1 counterfeits of art are manufactured to a ready-made1 prearranged recipe1 and these counterfeits the public of our upper classes accept for real art4 ,and this substitution of counterfeits for real works of art was the third and most important consequence of the separation of the art of the upper classes from universal art4 ,footnote #hc3 ,an apparatus exists by means of which a very sensitive arrow1 in dependence on the tension of a muscle of the arm1 will indicate the physiological action of music on the nerves and muscles4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,in our society three conditions co-operate to cause the production of objects of counterfeit art4 ,they are--7#a7 the considerable remuneration of artists for their productions and the professionalisation of artists which this has produced1 7#b7 art criticism1 and 7#c7 schools of art4 ,while art was as yet undivided1 and only religious art was valued and rewarded while indiscriminate art was left unrewarded1 there were no counterfeits of art1 or1 if any existed1 being exposed to the criticism of the whole people1 they quickly disappeared4 ,but as soon as that division occurred1 and the upper classes acclaimed every kind of art as good if only it afforded them pleasure1 and began to reward such art more highly than any other social activity1 immediately a large number of people devoted themselves to this activity1 and art assumed quite a different character and became a profession4 ,and as soon as this occurred1 the chief and most precious quality of art--its sincerity--was at once greatly weakened and eventually quite destroyed4 ,the professional artist lives by his art1 and has continually to invent subjects for his works1 and does invent them4 ,and it is obvious how great a difference must exist between works of art produced on the one hand by men such as the ,jewish prophets1 the authors of the ,psalms1 ,francis of ,assisi1 the authors of the ,iliad and ,odyssey1 of folk-stories1 legends1 and folk-songs1 many of whom not only received no remuneration for their work1 but did not even attach their names to it2 and1 on the other hand1 works produced by court poets1 dramatists and musicians receiving honours and remuneration2 and later on by professional artists1 who lived by the trade1 receiving remuneration from newspaper editors1 publishers1 impresarios1 and in general from those agents who come between the artists and the town public--the consumers of art4 ,professionalism is the first condition of the diffusion of false1 counterfeit art4 ,the second condition is the growth1 in recent times1 of artistic criticism1 i4e4 the valuation of art not by everybody1 and1 above all1 not by plain men1 but by erudite1 that is1 by perverted and at the same time self-confident individuals4 ,a friend of mine1 speaking of the relation of critics to artists1 half-jokingly defined it thus3 8,critics are the stupid who discuss the wise40 ,however partial1 inexact1 and rude this definition may be1 it is yet partly true1 and is incomparably juster than the definition which considers critics to be men who can explain works of art4 8,critics explain60 ,what do they explain8 ,the artist1 if a real artist1 has by his work transmitted to others the feeling he experienced4 ,what is there1 then1 to explain8 ,if a work be good as art1 then the feeling expressed by the artist--be it moral or immoral--transmits itself to other people4 ,if transmitted to others1 then they feel it1 and all interpretations are superfluous4 ,if the work does not infect people1 no explanation can make it contagious4 ,an artist's work cannot be interpreted4 ,had it been possible to explain in words what he wished to convey1 the artist would have expressed himself in words4 ,he expressed it by his art1 only because the feeling he experienced could not be otherwise transmitted4 ,the interpretation of works of art by words only indicates that the interpreter is himself incapable of feeling the infection of art4 ,and this is actually the case1 for1 however strange it may seem to say so1 critics have always been people less susceptible than other men to the contagion of art4 ,for the most part they are able writers1 educated and clever1 but with their capacity of being infected by art quite perverted or atrophied4 ,and therefore their writings have always largely contributed1 and still contribute1 to the perversion of the taste of that public which reads them and trusts them4 ,artistic criticism did not exist--could not and cannot exist--in societies where art is undivided1 and where1 consequently1 it is appraised by the religious understanding-of-life common to the whole people4 ,art criticism grew1 and could grow1 only on the art of the upper classes1 who did not acknowledge the religious perception of their time4 ,universal art has a definite and indubitable internal criterion--religious perception2 upper-class art lacks this1 and therefore the appreciators of that art are obliged to cling to some external criterion4 ,and they find it in 8the judgments of the finest-nurtured10 as an ,english sthetician has phrased it1 that is1 in the authority of the people who are considered educated1 nor in this alone1 but also in a tradition of such authorities4 ,this tradition is extremely misleading1 both because the opinions of 8the finest-nurtured0 are often mistaken1 and also because judgments which were valid once cease to be so with the lapse of time4 ,but the critics1 having no basis for their judgments1 never cease to repeat their traditions4 ,the classical tragedians were once considered good1 and therefore criticism considers them to be so still4 ,dante was esteemed a great poet1 ,raphael a great painter1 ,bach a great musician--and the critics1 lacking a standard by which to separate good art from bad1 not only consider these artists great1 but regard all their productions as admirable and worthy of imitation4 ,nothing has contributed1 and still contributes1 so much to the perversion of art as these authorities set up by criticism4 ,a man produces a work of art1 like every true artist expressing in his own peculiar manner a feeling he has experienced4 ,most people are infected by the artist's feeling2 and his work becomes known4 ,then criticism1 discussing the artist1 says that the work is not bad1 but all the same the artist is not a ,dante1 nor a ,shakespear1 nor a ,goethe1 nor a ,raphael1 nor what ,beethoven was in his last period4 ,and the young artist sets to work to copy those who are held up for his imitation1 and he produces not only feeble works1 but false works1 counterfeits of art4 ,thus1 for instance1 our ,pushkin writes his short poems1 ,evgeniy ,onegin1 ,the ,gipsies1 and his stories--works all varying in quality1 but all true art4 ,but then1 under the influence of false criticism extolling ,shakespear1 he writes ,boris ,godunoff1 a cold1 brain-spun work1 and this production is lauded by the critics1 set up as a model1 and imitations of it appear3 ,minin by ,ostrovsky1 and ,tsar ,boris by ,alexe ,tolstoy1 and such imitations of imitations as crowd all literatures with insignificant productions4 ,the chief harm done by the critics is this1 that themselves lacking the capacity to be infected by art 7and that is the characteristic of all critics2 for did they not lack this they could not attempt the impossible--the interpretation of works of art71 they pay most attention to1 and eulogise1 brain-spun1 invented works1 and set these up as models worthy of imitation4 ,that is the reason they so confidently extol1 in literature1 the ,greek tragedians1 ,dante1 ,tasso1 ,milton1 ,shakespear1 ,goethe 7almost all he wrote71 and1 among recent writers1 ,zola and ,ibsen2 in music1 ,beethoven's last period1 and ,wagner4 ,to justify their praise of these brain-spun1 invented works1 they devise entire theories 7of which the famous theory of beauty is one72 and not only dull but also talented people compose works in strict deference to these theories2 and often even real artists1 doing violence to their genius1 submit to them4 ,every false work extolled by the critics serves as a door through which the hypocrites of art at once crowd in4 ,it is solely due to the critics1 who in our times still praise rude1 savage1 and1 for us1 often meaningless works of the ancient ,greeks3 ,sophocles1 ,euripides1 schylus1 and especially ,aristophanes2 or1 of modern writers1 ,dante1 ,tasso1 ,milton1 ,shakespear2 in painting1 all of ,raphael1 all of ,michael ,angelo1 including his absurd 8,last ,judgment02 in music1 the whole of ,bach1 and the whole of ,beethoven1 including his last period1--thanks only to them1 have the ,ibsens1 ,maeterlincks1 ,verlaines1 ,mallarms1 ,puvis de ,chavannes1 ,klingers1 ,bcklins1 ,stucks1 ,schneiders2 in music1 the ,wagners1 ,liszts1 ,berliozes1 ,brahmses1 and ,richard ,strausses1 etc41 and all that immense mass of good-for-nothing imitators of these imitators1 become possible in our day4 ,as a good illustration of the harmful influence of criticism1 take its relation to ,beethoven4 ,among his innumerable hasty productions written to order1 there are1 notwithstanding their artificiality of form1 works of true art4 ,but he grows deaf1 cannot hear1 and begins to write invented1 unfinished works1 which are consequently often meaningless and musically unintelligible4 ,i know that musicians can imagine sounds vividly enough1 and can almost hear what they read1 but imaginary sounds can never replace real ones1 and every composer must hear his production in order to perfect it4 ,beethoven1 however1 could not hear1 could not perfect his work1 and consequently published productions which are artistic ravings4 ,but criticism1 having once acknowledged him to be a great composer1 seizes on just these abnormal works with special gusto1 and searches for extraordinary beauties in them4 ,and1 to justify its laudations 7perverting the very meaning of musical art71 it attributed to music the property of describing what it cannot describe4 ,and imitators appear--an innumerable host of imitators of these abnormal attempts at artistic productions which ,beethoven wrote when he was deaf4 ,then ,wagner appears1 who at first in critical articles praises just ,beethoven's last period1 and connects this music with ,schopenhauer's mystical theory that music is the expression of ,will--not of separate manifestations of will objectivised on various planes1 but of its very essence--which is in itself as absurd as this music of ,beethoven4 ,and afterwards he composes music of his own on this theory1 in conjunction with another still more erroneous system of the union of all the arts4 ,after ,wagner yet new imitators appear1 diverging yet further from art3 ,brahms1 ,richard ,strauss1 and others4 ,such are the results of criticism4 ,but the third condition of the perversion of art1 namely1 art schools1 is almost more harmful still4 ,as soon as art became1 not art for the whole people but for a rich class1 it became a profession2 as soon as it became a profession1 methods were devised to teach it2 people who chose this profession of art began to learn these methods1 and thus professional schools sprang up3 classes of rhetoric or literature in the public schools1 academies for painting1 conservatoires for music1 schools for dramatic art4 ,in these schools art is taught6 ,but art is the transmission to others of a special feeling experienced by the artist4 ,how can this be taught in schools8 ,no school can evoke feeling in a man1 and still less can it teach him how to manifest it in the one particular manner natural to him alone4 ,but the essence of art lies in these things4 ,the one thing these schools can teach is how to transmit feelings experienced by other artists in the way those other artists transmitted them4 ,and this is just what the professional schools do teach2 and such instruction not only does not assist the spread of true art1 but1 on the contrary1 by diffusing counterfeits of art1 does more than anything else to deprive people of the capacity to understand true art4 ,in literary art people are taught how1 without having anything they wish to say1 to write a many-paged composition on a theme about which they have never thought1 and1 moreover1 to write it so that it should resemble the work of an author admitted to be celebrated4 ,this is taught in schools4 ,in painting the chief training consists in learning to draw and paint from copies and models1 the naked body chiefly 7the very thing that is never seen1 and which a man occupied with real art hardly ever has to depict71 and to draw and paint as former masters drew and painted4 ,the composition of pictures is taught by giving out themes similar to those which have been treated by former acknowledged celebrities4 ,so also in dramatic schools1 the pupils are taught to recite monologues just as tragedians1 considered celebrated1 declaimed them4 ,it is the same in music4 ,the whole theory of music is nothing but a disconnected repetition of those methods which the acknowledged8 masters of composition made use of4 ,i have elsewhere quoted the profound remark of the ,russian artist ,bruloff on art1 but ,i cannot here refrain from repeating it1 because nothing better illustrates what can and what can not be taught in the schools4 ,once when correcting a pupil's study1 ,bruloff just touched it in a few places1 and the poor dead study immediately became animated4 8,why1 you only touched it a wee bit1 and it is quite another thing60 said one of the pupils4 8,art begins where the wee bit begins10 replied ,bruloff1 indicating by these words just what is most characteristic of art4 ,the remark is true of all the arts1 but its justice is particularly noticeable in the performance of music4 ,that musical execution should be artistic1 should be art1 i4e4 should infect1 three chief conditions must be observed1--there are many others needed for musical perfection2 the transition from one sound to another must be interrupted or continuous2 the sound must increase or diminish steadily2 it must be blended with one and not with another sound2 the sound must have this or that timbre1 and much besides1--but take the three chief conditions3 the pitch1 the time1 and the strength of the sound4 ,musical execution is only then art1 only then infects1 when the sound is neither higher nor lower than it should be1 that is1 when exactly the infinitely small centre of the required note is taken2 when that note is continued exactly as long as is needed2 and when the strength of the sound is neither more nor less than is required4 ,the slightest deviation of pitch in either direction1 the slightest increase or decrease in time1 or the slightest strengthening or weakening of the sound beyond what is needed1 destroys the perfection and1 consequently1 the infectiousness of the work4 ,so that the feeling of infection by the art of music1 which seems so simple and so easily obtained1 is a thing we receive only when the performer finds those infinitely minute degrees which are necessary to perfection in music4 ,it is the same in all arts3 a wee bit lighter1 a wee bit darker1 a wee bit higher1 lower1 to the right or the left--in painting2 a wee bit weaker or stronger in intonation1 or a wee bit sooner or later--in dramatic art2 a wee bit omitted1 over-emphasised1 or exaggerated--in poetry1 and there is no contagion4 ,infection is only obtained when an artist finds those infinitely minute degrees of which a work of art consists1 and only to the extent to which he finds them4 ,and it is quite impossible to teach people by external means to find these minute degrees3 they can only be found when a man yields to his feeling4 ,no instruction can make a dancer catch just the tact of the music1 or a singer or a fiddler take exactly the infinitely minute centre of his note1 or a sketcher draw of all possible lines the only right one1 or a poet find the only meet arrangement of the only suitable words4 ,all this is found only by feeling4 ,and therefore schools may teach what is necessary in order to produce something resembling art1 but not art itself4 ,the teaching of the schools stops there where the wee bit begins--consequently where art begins4 ,accustoming people to something resembling art1 disaccustoms them to the comprehension of real art4 ,and that is how it comes about that none are more dull to art than those who have passed through the professional schools and been most successful in them4 ,professional schools produce an hypocrisy of art precisely akin to that hypocrisy of religion which is produced by theological colleges for training priests1 pastors1 and religious teachers generally4 ,as it is impossible in a school to train a man so as to make a religious teacher of him1 so it is impossible to teach a man how to become an artist4 ,art schools are thus doubly destructive of art3 first1 in that they destroy the capacity to produce real art in those who have the misfortune to enter them and go through a #g or #h years' course2 secondly1 in that they generate enormous quantities of that counterfeit art which perverts the taste of the masses and overflows our world4 ,in order that born artists may know the methods of the various arts elaborated by former artists1 there should exist in all elementary schools such classes for drawing and music 7singing7 that1 after passing through them1 every talented scholar may1 by using existing models accessible to all1 be able to perfect himself in his art independently4 ,these three conditions--the professionalisation of artists1 art criticism1 and art schools--have had this effect that most people in our times are quite unable even to understand what art is1 and accept as art the grossest counterfeits of it4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,to what an extent people of our circle and time have lost the capacity to receive real art1 and have become accustomed to accept as art things that have nothing in common with it1 is best seen from the works of ,richard ,wagner1 which have latterly come to be more and more esteemed1 not only by the ,germans but also by the ,french and the ,english1 as the very highest art1 revealing new horizons to us4 ,the peculiarity of ,wagner's music1 as is known1 consists in this1 that he considered that music should serve poetry1 expressing all the shades of a poetical work4 ,the union of the drama with music1 devised in the fifteenth century in ,italy for the revival of what they imagined to have been the ancient ,greek drama with music1 is an artificial form which had1 and has1 success only among the upper classes1 and that only when gifted composers1 such as ,mozart1 ,weber1 ,rossini1 and others1 drawing inspiration from a dramatic subject1 yielded freely to the inspiration and subordinated the text to the music1 so that in their operas the important thing to the audience was merely the music on a certain text1 and not the text at all1 which latter1 even when it was utterly absurd1 as1 for instance1 in the ,magic ,flute1 still did not prevent the music from producing an artistic impression4 ,wagner wishes to correct the opera by letting music submit to the demands of poetry and unite with it4 ,but each art has its own definite realm1 which is not identical with the realm of other arts1 but merely comes in contact with them2 and therefore1 if the manifestation of1 ,i will not say several1 but even of two arts--the dramatic and the musical--be united in one complete production1 then the demands of the one art will make it impossible to fulfil the demands of the other1 as has always occurred in the ordinary operas1 where the dramatic art has submitted to1 or rather yielded place to1 the musical4 ,wagner wishes that musical art should submit to dramatic art1 and that both should appear in full strength4 ,but this is impossible1 for every work of art1 if it be a true one1 is an expression of intimate feelings of the artist1 which are quite exceptional1 and not like anything else4 ,such is a musical production1 and such is a dramatic work1 if they be true art4 ,and therefore1 in order that a production in the one branch of art should coincide with a production in the other branch1 it is necessary that the impossible should happen3 that two works from different realms of art should be absolutely exceptional1 unlike anything that existed before1 and yet should coincide1 and be exactly alike4 ,and this cannot be1 just as there cannot be two men1 or even two leaves on a tree1 exactly alike4 ,still less can two works from different realms of art1 the musical and the literary1 be absolutely alike4 ,if they coincide1 then either one is a work of art and the other a counterfeit1 or both are counterfeits4 ,two live leaves cannot be exactly alike1 but two artificial leaves may be4 ,and so it is with works of art4 ,they can only coincide completely when neither the one nor the other is art1 but only cunningly devised semblances of it4 ,if poetry and music may be joined1 as occurs in hymns1 songs1 and romances--7though even in these the music does not follow the changes of each verse of the text1 as ,wagner wants to1 but the song and the music merely produce a coincident effect on the mind7--this occurs only because lyrical poetry and music have1 to some extent1 one and the same aim3 to produce a mental condition1 and the conditions produced by lyrical poetry and by music can1 more or less1 coincide4 ,but even in these conjunctions the centre of gravity always lies in one of the two productions1 so that it is one of them that produces the artistic impression while the other remains unregarded4 ,and still less is it possible for such union to exist between epic or dramatic poetry and music4 ,moreover1 one of the chief conditions of artistic creation is the complete freedom of the artist from every kind of preconceived demand4 ,and the necessity of adjusting his musical work to a work from another realm of art is a preconceived demand of such a kind as to destroy all possibility of creative power2 and therefore works of this kind1 adjusted to one another1 are1 and must be1 as has always happened1 not works of art but only imitations of art1 like the music of a melodrama1 signatures to pictures1 illustrations1 and librettos to operas4 ,and such are ,wagner's productions4 ,and a confirmation of this is to be seen in the fact that ,wagner's new music lacks the chief characteristic of every true work of art1 namely1 such entirety and completeness that the smallest alteration in its form would disturb the meaning of the whole work4 ,in a true work of art--poem1 drama1 picture1 song1 or symphony--it is impossible to extract one line1 one scene1 one figure1 or one bar from its place and put it in another1 without infringing the significance of the whole work2 just as it is impossible1 without infringing the life of an organic being1 to extract an organ from one place and insert it in another4 ,but in the music of ,wagner's last period1 with the exception of certain parts of little importance which have an independent musical meaning1 it is possible to make all kinds of transpositions1 putting what was in front behind1 and vice1 vers1 without altering the musical sense4 ,and the reason why these transpositions do not alter the sense of ,wagner's music is because the sense lies in the words and not in the music4 ,the musical score of ,wagner's later operas is like what the result would be should one of those versifiers--of whom there are now many1 with tongues so broken that they can write verses on any theme to any rhymes in any rhythm1 which sound as if they had a meaning--conceive the idea of illustrating by his verses some symphony or sonata of ,beethoven1 or some ballade of ,chopin1 in the following manner4 ,to the first bars1 of one character1 he writes verses corresponding in his opinion to those first bars4 ,next come some bars of a different character1 and he also writes verses corresponding in his opinion to them1 but with no internal connection with the first verses1 and1 moreover1 without rhymes and without rhythm4 ,such a production1 without the music1 would be exactly parallel in poetry to what ,wagner's operas are in music1 if heard without the words4 ,but ,wagner is not only a musician1 he is also a poet1 or both together2 and therefore1 to judge of ,wagner1 one must know his poetry also--that same poetry which the music has to subserve4 ,the chief poetical production of ,wagner is ,the ,nibelung's ,ring4 ,this work has attained such enormous importance in our time1 and has such influence on all that now professes to be art1 that it is necessary for everyone to-day to have some idea of it4 ,i have carefully read through the four booklets which contain this work1 and have drawn up a brief summary of it1 which ,i give in ,appendix ,,iii4 ,i would strongly advise the reader 7if he has not perused the poem itself1 which would be the best thing to do7 at least to read my account of it1 so as to have an idea of this extraordinary work4 ,it is a model work of counterfeit art1 so gross as to be even ridiculous4 ,but we are told that it is impossible to judge of ,wagner's works without seeing them on the stage4 ,the ,second ,day of this drama1 which1 as ,i was told1 is the best part of the whole work1 was given in ,moscow last winter1 and ,i went to see the performance4 ,when ,i arrived the enormous theatre was already filled from top to bottom4 ,there were ,grand-,dukes1 and the flower of the aristocracy1 of the merchant class1 of the learned1 and of the middle-class official public4 ,most of them held the libretto1 fathoming its meaning4 ,musicians--some of them elderly1 grey-haired men--followed the music1 score in hand4 ,evidently the performance of this work was an event of importance4 ,i was rather late1 but ,i was told that the short prelude1 with which the act begins1 was of little importance1 and that it did not matter having missed it4 ,when ,i arrived1 an actor sat on the stage amid decorations intended to represent a cave1 and before something which was meant to represent a smith's forge4 ,he was dressed in trico-tights1 with a cloak of skins1 wore a wig and an artificial beard1 and with white1 weak1 genteel hands 7his easy movements1 and especially the shape of his stomach and his lack of muscle revealed the actor7 beat an impossible sword with an unnatural hammer in a way in which no one ever uses a hammer2 and at the same time1 opening his mouth in a strange way1 he sang something incomprehensible4 ,the music of various instruments accompanied the strange sounds which he emitted4 ,from the libretto one was able to gather that the actor had to represent a powerful gnome1 who lived in the cave1 and who was forging a sword for ,siegfried1 whom he had reared4 ,one could tell he was a gnome by the fact that the actor walked all the time bending the knees of his trico-covered legs4 ,this gnome1 still opening his mouth in the same strange way1 long continued to sing or shout4 ,the music meanwhile runs over something strange1 like beginnings which are not continued and do not get finished4 ,from the libretto one could learn that the gnome is telling himself about a ring which a giant had obtained1 and which the gnome wishes to procure through ,siegfried's aid1 while ,siegfried wants a good sword1 on the forging of which the gnome is occupied4 ,after this conversation or singing to himself has gone on rather a long time1 other sounds are heard in the orchestra1 also like something beginning and not finishing1 and another actor appears1 with a horn slung over his shoulder1 and accompanied by a man running on all fours dressed up as a bear1 whom he sets at the smith-gnome4 ,the latter runs away without unbending the knees of his trico-covered legs4 ,this actor with the horn represented the hero1 ,siegfried4 ,the sounds which were emitted in the orchestra on the entrance of this actor were intended to represent ,siegfried's character and are called ,siegfried's leit-motiv4 ,and these sounds are repeated each time ,siegfried appears4 ,there is one fixed combination of sounds1 or leit-motiv1 for each character1 and this leit-motiv is repeated every time the person whom it represents appears2 and when anyone is mentioned the motiv is heard which relates to that person4 ,moreover1 each article also has its own leit-motiv or chord4 ,there is a motiv of the ring1 a motiv of the helmet1 a motiv of the apple1 a motiv of fire1 spear1 sword1 water1 etc42 and as soon as the ring1 helmet1 or apple is mentioned1 the motiv or chord of the ring1 helmet1 or apple is heard4 ,the actor with the horn opens his mouth as unnaturally as the gnome1 and long continues in a chanting voice to shout some words1 and in a similar chant ,mime 7that is the gnome's name7 answers something or other to him4 ,the meaning of this conversation can only be discovered from the libretto2 and it is that ,siegfried was brought up by the gnome1 and therefore1 for some reason1 hates him and always wishes to kill him4 ,the gnome has forged a sword for ,siegfried1 but ,siegfried is dissatisfied with it4 ,from a ten-page conversation 7by the libretto71 lasting half an hour and conducted with the same strange openings of the mouth and chantings1 it appears that ,siegfried's mother gave birth to him in the wood1 and that concerning his father all that is known is that he had a sword which was broken1 the pieces of which are in ,mime's possession1 and that ,siegfried does not know fear and wishes to go out of the wood4 ,mime1 however1 does not want to let him go4 ,during the conversation the music never omits1 at the mention of father1 sword1 etc41 to sound the motive of these people and things4 ,after these conversations fresh sounds are heard--those of the god ,wotan--and a wanderer appears4 ,this wanderer is the god ,wotan4 ,also dressed up in a wig1 and also in tights1 this god ,wotan1 standing in a stupid pose with a spear1 thinks proper to recount what ,mime must have known before1 but what it is necessary to tell the audience4 ,he does not tell it simply1 but in the form of riddles which he orders himself to guess1 staking his head 7one does not know why7 that he will guess right4 ,moreover1 whenever the wanderer strikes his spear on the ground1 fire comes out of the ground1 and in the orchestra the sounds of spear and of fire are heard4 ,the orchestra accompanies the conversation1 and the motive of the people and things spoken of are always artfully intermingled4 ,besides this the music expresses feelings in the most nave manner3 the terrible by sounds in the bass1 the frivolous by rapid touches in the treble1 etc4 ,the riddles have no meaning except to tell the audience what the nibelungs are1 what the giants are1 what the gods are1 and what has happened before4 ,this conversation also is chanted with strangely opened mouths and continues for eight libretto pages1 and correspondingly long on the stage4 ,after this the wanderer departs1 and ,siegfried returns and talks with ,mime for thirteen pages more4 ,there is not a single melody the whole of this time1 but merely intertwinings of the leit-motive of the people and things mentioned4 ,the conversation tells that ,mime wishes to teach ,siegfried fear1 and that ,siegfried does not know what fear is4 ,having finished this conversation1 ,siegfried seizes one of the pieces of what is meant to represent the broken sword1 saws it up1 puts it on what is meant to represent the forge1 melts it1 and then forges it and sings3 ,heiho6 heiho6 heiho6 ,ho6 ho6 ,aha6 oho6 aha6 ,heiaho6 heiaho6 heiaho6 ,ho6 ho6 ,hahei6 hoho6 hahei6 and ,act ,i4 finishes4 ,as far as the question ,i had come to the theatre to decide was concerned1 my mind was fully made up1 as surely as on the question of the merits of my lady acquaintance's novel when she read me the scene between the loose-haired maiden in the white dress and the hero with two white dogs and a hat with a feather la ,guillaume ,tell4 ,from an author who could compose such spurious scenes1 outraging all sthetic feeling1 as those which ,i had witnessed1 there was nothing to be hoped2 it may safely be decided that all that such an author can write will be bad1 because he evidently does not know what a true work of art is4 ,i wished to leave1 but the friends ,i was with asked me to remain1 declaring that one could not form an opinion by that one act1 and that the second would be better4 ,so ,i stopped for the second act4 ,act ,,ii41 night4 ,afterwards dawn4 ,in general the whole piece is crammed with lights1 clouds1 moonlight1 darkness1 magic fires1 thunder1 etc4 ,the scene represents a wood1 and in the wood there is a cave4 ,at the entrance of the cave sits a third actor in tights1 representing another gnome4 ,it dawns4 ,enter the god ,wotan1 again with a spear1 and again in the guise of a wanderer4 ,again his sounds1 together with fresh sounds of the deepest bass that can be produced4 ,these latter indicate that the dragon is speaking4 ,wotan awakens the dragon4 ,the same bass sounds are repeated1 growing yet deeper and deeper4 ,first the dragon says1 8,i want to sleep10 but afterwards he crawls out of the cave4 ,the dragon is represented by two men2 it is dressed in a green1 scaly skin1 waves a tail at one end1 while at the other it opens a kind of crocodile's jaw that is fastened on1 and from which flames appear4 ,the dragon 7who is meant to be dreadful1 and may appear so to five-year-old children7 speaks some words in a terribly bass voice4 ,this is all so stupid1 so like what is done in a booth at a fair1 that it is surprising that people over seven years of age can witness it seriously2 yet thousands of quasi-cultured people sit and attentively hear and see it1 and are delighted4 ,siegfried1 with his horn1 reappears1 as does ,mime also4 ,in the orchestra the sounds denoting them are emitted1 and they talk about whether ,siegfried does or does not know what fear is4 ,mime goes away1 and a scene commences which is intended to be most poetical4 ,siegfried1 in his tights1 lies down in a would-be beautiful pose1 and alternately keeps silent and talks to himself4 ,he ponders1 listens to the song of birds1 and wishes to imitate them4 ,for this purpose he cuts a reed with his sword and makes a pipe4 ,the dawn grows brighter and brighter2 the birds sing4 ,siegfried tries to imitate the birds4 ,in the orchestra is heard the imitation of birds1 alternating with sounds corresponding to the words he speaks4 ,but ,siegfried does not succeed with his pipe-playing1 so he plays on his horn instead4 ,this scene is unendurable4 ,of music1 i4e4 of art serving as a means to transmit a state of mind experienced by the author1 there is not even a suggestion4 ,there is something that is absolutely unintelligible musically4 ,in a musical sense a hope is continually experienced1 followed by disappointment1 as if a musical thought were commenced only to be broken off4 ,if there are something like musical commencements1 these commencements are so short1 so encumbered with complications of harmony and orchestration and with effects of contrast1 are so obscure and unfinished1 and what is happening on the stage meanwhile is so abominably false1 that it is difficult even to perceive these musical snatches1 let alone to be infected by them4 ,above all1 from the very beginning to the very end1 and in each note1 the author's purpose is so audible and visible1 that one sees and hears neither ,siegfried nor the birds1 but only a limited1 self-opinionated ,german of bad taste and bad style1 who has a most false conception of poetry1 and who1 in the rudest and most primitive manner1 wishes to transmit to me these false and mistaken conceptions of his4 ,everyone knows the feeling of distrust and resistance which is always evoked by an author's evident predetermination4 ,a narrator need only say in advance1 ,prepare to cry or to laugh1 and you are sure neither to cry nor to laugh4 ,but when you see that an author prescribes emotion at what is not touching but only laughable or disgusting1 and when you see1 moreover1 that the author is fully assured that he has captivated you1 a painfully tormenting feeling results1 similar to what one would feel if an old1 deformed woman put on a ball-dress and smilingly coquetted before you1 confident of your approbation4 ,this impression was strengthened by the fact that around me ,i saw a crowd of three thousand people1 who not only patiently witnessed all this absurd nonsense1 but even considered it their duty to be delighted with it4 ,i somehow managed to sit out the next scene also1 in which the monster appears1 to the accompaniment of his bass notes intermingled with the motiv of ,siegfried2 but after the fight with the monster1 and all the roars1 fires1 and sword-wavings1 ,i could stand no more of it1 and escaped from the theatre with a feeling of repulsion which1 even now1 ,i cannot forget4 ,listening to this opera1 ,i involuntarily thought of a respected1 wise1 educated country labourer1--one1 for instance1 of those wise and truly religious men whom ,i know among the peasants1--and ,i pictured to myself the terrible perplexity such a man would be in were he to witness what ,i was seeing that evening4 ,what would he think if he knew of all the labour spent on such a performance1 and saw that audience1 those great ones of the earth1--old1 bald-headed1 grey-bearded men1 whom he had been accustomed to respect1--sit silent and attentive1 listening to and looking at all these stupidities for five hours on end8 ,not to speak of an adult labourer1 one can hardly imagine even a child of over seven occupying himself with such a stupid1 incoherent fairy tale4 ,and yet an enormous audience1 the cream of the cultured upper classes1 sits out five hours of this insane performance1 and goes away imagining that by paying tribute to this nonsense it has acquired a fresh right to esteem itself advanced and enlightened4 ,i speak of the ,moscow public4 ,but what is the ,moscow public8 ,it is but a hundredth part of that public which1 while considering itself most highly enlightened1 esteems it a merit to have so lost the capacity of being infected by art1 that not only can it witness this stupid sham without being revolted1 but can even take delight in it4 ,in ,bayreuth1 where these performances were first given1 people who consider themselves finely cultured assembled from the ends of the earth1 spent1 say #ajj each1 to see this performance1 and for four days running they went to see and hear this nonsensical rubbish1 sitting it out for six hours each day4 ,but why did people go1 and why do they still go to these performances1 and why do they admire them8 ,the question naturally presents itself3 ,how is the success of ,wagner's works to be explained8 ,that success ,i explain to myself in this way3 thanks to his exceptional position in having at his disposal the resources of a king1 ,wagner was able to command all the methods for counterfeiting art which have been developed by long usage1 and1 employing these methods with great ability1 he produced a model work of counterfeit art4 ,the reason why ,i have selected his work for my illustration is1 that in no other counterfeit of art known to me are all the methods by which art is counterfeited--namely1 borrowings1 imitation1 effects1 and interestingness--so ably and powerfully united4 ,from the subject1 borrowed from antiquity1 to the clouds and the risings of the sun and moon1 ,wagner1 in this work1 has made use of all that is considered poetical4 ,we have here the sleeping beauty1 and nymphs1 and subterranean fires1 and gnomes1 and battles1 and swords1 and love1 and incest1 and a monster1 and singing-birds3 the whole arsenal of the poetical is brought into action4 ,moreover1 everything is imitative3 the decorations are imitated and the costumes are imitated4 ,all is just as1 according to the data supplied by archology1 they would have been in antiquity4 ,the very sounds are imitative1 for ,wagner1 who was not destitute of musical talent1 invented just such sounds as imitate the strokes of a hammer1 the hissing of molten iron1 the singing of birds1 etc4 ,furthermore1 in this work everything is in the highest degree striking in its effects and in its peculiarities3 its monsters1 its magic fires1 and its scenes under water2 the darkness in which the audience sit1 the invisibility of the orchestra1 and the hitherto unemployed combinations of harmony4 ,and besides1 it is all interesting4 ,the interest lies not only in the question who will kill whom1 and who will marry whom1 and who is whose son1 and what will happen next8--the interest lies also in the relation of the music to the text4 ,the rolling waves of the ,rhine--now how is that to be expressed in music8 ,an evil gnome appears--how is the music to express an evil gnome8--and how is it to express the sensuality of this gnome8 ,how will bravery1 fire1 or apples be expressed in music8 ,how are the leit-motive of the people speaking to be interwoven with the leit-motive of the people and objects about whom they speak8 ,besides1 the music has a further interest4 ,it diverges from all formerly accepted laws1 and most unexpected and totally new modulations crop up 7as is not only possible but even easy in music having no inner law of its being72 the dissonances are new1 and are allowed in a new way--and this1 too1 is interesting4 ,and it is this poeticality1 imitativeness1 effectfulness1 and interestingness which1 thanks to the peculiarities of ,wagner's talent and to the advantageous position in which he was placed1 are in these productions carried to the highest pitch of perfection1 that so act on the spectator1 hypnotising him as one would be hypnotised who should listen for several consecutive hours to the ravings of a maniac pronounced with great oratorical power4 ,people say1 8,you cannot judge without having seen ,wagner performed at ,bayreuth3 in the dark1 where the orchestra is out of sight concealed under the stage1 and where the performance is brought to the highest perfection40 ,and this just proves that we have here no question of art1 but one of hypnotism4 ,it is just what the spiritualists say4 ,to convince you of the reality of their apparitions1 they usually say1 8,you cannot judge2 you must try it1 be present at several sances10 i4e4 come and sit silent in the dark for hours together in the same room with semi-sane people1 and repeat this some ten times over1 and you shall see all that we see4 ,yes1 naturally6 ,only place yourself in such conditions1 and you may see what you will4 ,but this can be still more quickly attained by getting drunk or smoking opium4 ,it is the same when listening to an opera of ,wagner's4 ,sit in the dark for four days in company with people who are not quite normal1 and1 through the auditory nerves1 subject your brain to the strongest action of the sounds best adapted to excite it1 and you will no doubt be reduced to an abnormal condition and be enchanted by absurdities4 ,but to attain this end you do not even need four days2 the five hours during which one 8day0 is enacted1 as in ,moscow1 are quite enough4 ,nor are five hours needed2 even one hour is enough for people who have no clear conception of what art should be1 and who have come to the conclusion in advance that what they are going to see is excellent1 and that indifference or dissatisfaction with this work will serve as a proof of their inferiority and lack of culture4 ,i observed the audience present at this representation4 ,the people who led the whole audience and gave the tone to it were those who had previously been hypnotised1 and who again succumbed to the hypnotic influence to which they were accustomed4 ,these hypnotised people1 being in an abnormal condition1 were perfectly enraptured4 ,moreover1 all the art critics1 who lack the capacity to be infected by art and therefore always especially prize works like ,wagner's opera where it is all an affair of the intellect1 also1 with much profundity1 expressed their approval of a work affording such ample material for ratiocination4 ,and following these two groups went that large city crowd 7indifferent to art1 with their capacity to be infected by it perverted and partly atrophied71 headed by the princes1 millionaires1 and art patrons1 who1 like sorry harriers1 keep close to those who most loudly and decidedly express their opinion4 8,oh yes1 certainly6 ,what poetry6 ,marvellous6 ,especially the birds60 8,yes1 yes6 ,i am quite vanquished60 exclaim these people1 repeating in various tones what they have just heard from men whose opinion appears to them authoritative4 ,if some people do feel insulted by the absurdity and spuriousness of the whole thing1 they are timidly silent1 as sober men are timid and silent when surrounded by tipsy ones4 ,and thus1 thanks to the masterly skill with which it counterfeits art while having nothing in common with it1 a meaningless1 coarse1 spurious production finds acceptance all over the world1 costs millions of roubles to produce1 and assists more and more to pervert the taste of people of the upper classes and their conception of what is art4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,i know that most men--not only those considered clever1 but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific1 mathematical or philosophic problems--can very seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as to oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed1 perhaps with much difficulty--conclusions of which they are proud1 which they have taught to others1 and on which they have built their lives4 ,and therefore ,i have little hope that what ,i adduce as to the perversion of art and taste in our society will be accepted or even seriously considered4 ,nevertheless1 ,i must state fully the inevitable conclusion to which my investigation into the question of art has brought me4 ,this investigation has brought me to the conviction that almost all that our society considers to be art1 good art1 and the whole of art1 far from being real and good art1 and the whole of art1 is not even art at all1 but only a counterfeit of it4 ,this position1 ,i know1 will seem very strange and paradoxical2 but if we once acknowledge art to be a human activity by means of which some people transmit their feelings to others 7and not a service of ,beauty1 nor a manifestation of the ,idea1 and so forth71 we shall inevitably have to admit this further conclusion also4 ,if it is true that art is an activity by means of which one man having experienced a feeling intentionally transmits it to others1 then we have inevitably to admit further1 that of all that among us is termed the art of the upper classes--of all those novels1 stories1 dramas1 comedies1 pictures1 sculptures1 symphonies1 operas1 operettas1 ballets1 etc41 which profess to be works of art--scarcely one in a hundred thousand proceeds from an emotion felt by its author1 all the rest being but manufactured counterfeits of art in which borrowing1 imitating1 effects1 and interestingness replace the contagion of feeling4 ,that the proportion of real productions of art is to the counterfeits as one to some hundreds of thousands or even more1 may be seen by the following calculation4 ,i have read somewhere that the artist painters in ,paris alone number #cj1jjj2 there will probably be as many in ,england1 as many in ,germany1 and as many in ,russia1 ,italy1 and the smaller states combined4 ,so that in all there will be in ,europe1 say1 #abj1jjj painters2 and there are probably as many musicians and as many literary artists4 ,if these #cfj1jjj individuals produce three works a year each 7and many of them produce ten or more71 then each year yields over a million so-called works of art4 ,how many1 then1 must have been produced in the last ten years1 and how many in the whole time since upper-class art broke off from the art of the whole people8 ,evidently millions4 ,yet who of all the connoisseurs of art has received impressions from all these pseudo works of art8 ,not to mention all the labouring classes who have no conception of these productions1 even people of the upper classes cannot know one in a thousand of them all1 and cannot remember those they have known4 ,these works all appear under the guise of art1 produce no impression on anyone 7except when they serve as pastimes for the idle crowd of rich people71 and vanish utterly4 ,in reply to this it is usually said that without this enormous number of unsuccessful attempts we should not have the real works of art4 ,but such reasoning is as though a baker1 in reply to a reproach that his bread was bad1 were to say that if it were not for the hundreds of spoiled loaves there would not be any well-baked ones4 ,it is true that where there is gold there is also much sand2 but that can not serve as a reason for talking a lot of nonsense in order to say something wise4 ,we are surrounded by productions considered artistic4 ,thousands of verses1 thousands of poems1 thousands of novels1 thousands of dramas1 thousands of pictures1 thousands of musical pieces1 follow one after another4 ,all the verses describe love1 or nature1 or the author's state of mind1 and in all of them rhyme and rhythm are observed4 ,all the dramas and comedies are splendidly mounted and are performed by admirably trained actors4 ,all the novels are divided into chapters2 all of them describe love1 contain effective situations1 and correctly describe the details of life4 ,all the symphonies contain allegro1 andante1 scherzo1 and finale2 all consist of modulations and chords1 and are played by highly-trained musicians4 ,all the pictures1 in gold frames1 saliently depict faces and sundry accessories4 ,but among these productions in the various branches of art there is in each branch one among hundreds of thousands1 not only somewhat better than the rest1 but differing from them as a diamond differs from paste4 ,the one is priceless1 the others not only have no value but are worse than valueless1 for they deceive and pervert taste4 ,and yet1 externally1 they are1 to a man of perverted or atrophied artistic perception1 precisely alike4 ,in our society the difficulty of recognising real works of art is further increased by the fact that the external quality of the work in false productions is not only no worse1 but often better1 than in real ones2 the counterfeit is often more effective than the real1 and its subject more interesting4 ,how is one to discriminate8 ,how is one to find a production in no way distinguished in externals from hundreds of thousands of others intentionally made to imitate it precisely8 ,for a country peasant of unperverted taste this is as easy as it is for an animal of unspoilt scent to follow the trace he needs among a thousand others in wood or forest4 ,the animal unerringly finds what he needs4 ,so also the man1 if only his natural qualities have not been perverted1 will1 without fail1 select from among thousands of objects the real work of art he requires--that infecting him with the feeling experienced by the artist4 ,but it is not so with those whose taste has been perverted by their education and life4 ,the receptive feeling for art of these people is atrophied1 and in valuing artistic productions they must be guided by discussion and study1 which discussion and study completely confuse them4 ,so that most people in our society are quite unable to distinguish a work of art from the grossest counterfeit4 ,people sit for whole hours in concert-rooms and theatres listening to the new composers1 consider it a duty to read the novels of the famous modern novelists and to look at pictures representing either something incomprehensible or just the very things they see much better in real life2 and1 above all1 they consider it incumbent on them to be enraptured by all this1 imagining it all to be art1 while at the same time they will pass real works of art by1 not only without attention1 but even with contempt1 merely because1 in their circle1 these works are not included in the list of works of art4 ,a few days ago ,i was returning home from a walk feeling depressed1 as occurs sometimes4 ,on nearing the house ,i heard the loud singing of a large choir of peasant women4 ,they were welcoming my daughter1 celebrating her return home after her marriage4 ,in this singing1 with its cries and clanging of scythes1 such a definite feeling of joy1 cheerfulness1 and energy was expressed1 that1 without noticing how it infected me1 ,i continued my way towards the house in a better mood1 and reached home smiling and quite in good spirits4 ,that same evening1 a visitor1 an admirable musician1 famed for his execution of classical music1 and particularly of ,beethoven1 played us ,beethoven's sonata1 ,opus #aja4 ,for the benefit of those who might otherwise attribute my judgment of that sonata of ,beethoven to non-comprehension of it1 ,i should mention that whatever other people understand of that sonata and of other productions of ,beethoven's later period1 ,i1 being very susceptible to music1 equally understood4 ,for a long time ,i used to atune myself so as to delight in those shapeless improvisations which form the subject-matter of the works of ,beethoven's later period1 but ,i had only to consider the question of art seriously1 and to compare the impression ,i received from ,beethoven's later works with those pleasant1 clear1 and strong musical impressions which are transmitted1 for instance1 by the melodies of ,bach 7his arias71 ,haydn1 ,mozart1 ,chopin 7when his melodies are not overloaded with complications and ornamention71 and of ,beethoven himself in his earlier period1 and above all1 with the impressions produced by folk-songs1--,italian1 ,norwegian1 or ,russian1--by the ,hungarian tzardas1 and other such simple1 clear1 and powerful music1 and the obscure1 almost unhealthy excitement from ,beethoven's later pieces that ,i had artificially evoked in myself was immediately destroyed4 ,on the completion of the performance 7though it was noticeable that everyone had become dull7 those present1 in the accepted manner1 warmly praised ,beethoven's profound production1 and did not forget to add that formerly they had not been able to understand that last period of his1 but that they now saw that he was really then at his very best4 ,and when ,i ventured to compare the impression made on me by the singing of the peasant women--an impression which had been shared by all who heard it--with the effect of this sonata1 the admirers of ,beethoven only smiled contemptuously1 not considering it necessary to reply to such strange remarks4 ,but1 for all that1 the song of the peasant women was real art1 transmitting a definite and strong feeling2 while the #ajast sonata of ,beethoven was only an unsuccessful attempt at art1 containing no definite feeling and therefore not infectious4 ,for my work on art ,i have this winter read diligently1 though with great effort1 the celebrated novels and stories1 praised by all ,europe1 written by ,zola1 ,bourget1 ,huysmans1 and ,kipling4 ,at the same time ,i chanced on a story in a child's magazine1 and by a quite unknown writer1 which told of the ,easter preparations in a poor widow's family4 ,the story tells how the mother managed with difficulty to obtain some wheat-flour1 which she poured on the table ready to knead4 ,she then went out to procure some yeast1 telling the children not to leave the hut1 and to take care of the flour4 ,when the mother had gone1 some other children ran shouting near the window1 calling those in the hut to come to play4 ,the children forgot their mother's warning1 ran into the street1 and were soon engrossed in the game4 ,the mother1 on her return with the yeast1 finds a hen on the table throwing the last of the flour to her chickens1 who were busily picking it out of the dust of the earthen floor4 ,the mother1 in despair1 scolds the children1 who cry bitterly4 ,and the mother begins to feel pity for them--but the white flour has all gone4 ,so to mend matters she decides to make the ,easter cake with sifted rye-flour1 brushing it over with white of egg and surrounding it with eggs4 8,rye-bread which we bake is akin to any cake10 says the mother1 using a rhyming proverb to console the children for not having an ,easter cake made with white flour4 ,and the children1 quickly passing from despair to rapture1 repeat the proverb and await the ,easter cake more merrily even than before4 ,well6 the reading of the novels and stories by ,zola1 ,bourget1 ,huysmans1 ,kipling1 and others1 handling the most harrowing subjects1 did not touch me for one moment1 and ,i was provoked with the authors all the while1 as one is provoked with a man who considers you so nave that he does not even conceal the trick by which he intends to take you in4 ,from the first lines you see the intention with which the book is written1 and the details all become superfluous1 and one feels dull4 ,above all1 one knows that the author had no other feeling all the time than a desire to write a story or a novel1 and so one receives no artistic impression4 ,on the other hand1 ,i could not tear myself away from the unknown author's tale of the children and the chickens1 because ,i was at once infected by the feeling which the author had evidently experienced1 re-evoked in himself1 and transmitted4 ,vasnetsoff is one of our ,russian painters4 ,he has painted ecclesiastical pictures in ,kieff ,cathedral1 and everyone praises him as the founder of some new1 elevated kind of ,christian art4 ,he worked at those pictures for ten years1 was paid tens of thousands of roubles for them1 and they are all simply bad imitations of imitations of imitations1 destitute of any spark of feeling4 ,and this same ,vasnetsoff drew a picture for ,tourgenieff's story 8,the ,quail0 7in which it is told how1 in his son's presence1 a father killed a quail and felt pity for it71 showing the boy asleep with pouting upper lip1 and above him1 as a dream1 the quail4 ,and this picture is a true work of art4 ,in the ,english ,academy of #ahig two pictures were exhibited together2 one of which1 by ,j4 ,c4 ,dolman1 was the temptation of ,st4 ,anthony4 ,the ,saint is on his knees praying4 ,behind him stands a naked woman and animals of some kind4 ,it is apparent that the naked woman pleased the artist very much1 but that ,anthony did not concern him at all2 and that1 so far from the temptation being terrible to him 7the artist7 it is highly agreeable4 ,and therefore if there be any art in this picture1 it is very nasty and false4 ,next in the same book of academy pictures comes a picture by ,langley1 showing a stray beggar boy1 who has evidently been called in by a woman who has taken pity on him4 ,the boy1 pitifully drawing his bare feet under the bench1 is eating2 the woman is looking on1 probably considering whether he will not want some more2 and a girl of about seven1 leaning on her arm1 is carefully and seriously looking on1 not taking her eyes from the hungry boy1 and evidently understanding for the first time what poverty is1 and what inequality among people is1 and asking herself why she has everything provided for her while this boy goes bare-foot and hungry8 ,she feels sorry and yet pleased4 ,and she loves both the boy and goodness4444 ,and one feels that the artist loved this girl1 and that she too loves4 ,and this picture1 by an artist who1 ,i think1 is not very widely known1 is an admirable and true work of art4 ,i remember seeing a performance of ,hamlet by ,rossi4 ,both the tragedy itself and the performer who took the chief part are considered by our critics to represent the climax of supreme dramatic art4 ,and yet1 both from the subject-matter of the drama and from the performance1 ,i experienced all the time that peculiar suffering which is caused by false imitations of works of art4 ,and ,i lately read of a theatrical performance among the savage tribe the ,voguls4 ,a spectator describes the play4 ,a big ,vogul and a little one1 both dressed in reindeer skins1 represent a reindeer-doe and its young4 ,a third ,vogul1 with a bow1 represents a huntsman on snow-shoes1 and a fourth imitates with his voice a bird that warns the reindeer of their danger4 ,the play is that the huntsman follows the track that the doe with its young one has travelled4 ,the deer run off the scene and again reappear4 7,such performances take place in a small tent-house47 ,the huntsman gains more and more on the pursued4 ,the little deer is tired1 and presses against its mother4 ,the doe stops to draw breath4 ,the hunter comes up with them and draws his bow4 ,but just then the bird sounds its note1 warning the deer of their danger4 ,they escape4 ,again there is a chase1 and again the hunter gains on them1 catches them and lets fly his arrow4 ,the arrow strikes the young deer4 ,unable to run1 the little one presses against its mother4 ,the mother licks its wound4 ,the hunter draws another arrow4 ,the audience1 as the eye-witness describes them1 are paralysed with suspense2 deep groans and even weeping is heard among them4 ,and1 from the mere description1 ,i felt that this was a true work of art4 ,what ,i am saying will be considered irrational paradox1 at which one can only be amazed2 but for all that ,i must say what ,i think1 namely1 that people of our circle1 of whom some compose verses1 stories1 novels1 operas1 symphonies1 and sonatas1 paint all kinds of pictures and make statues1 while others hear and look at these things1 and again others appraise and criticise it all1 discuss1 condemn1 triumph1 and raise monuments to one another generation after generation1--that all these people1 with very few exceptions1 artists1 and public1 and critics1 have never 7except in childhood and earliest youth1 before hearing any discussions on art71 experienced that simple feeling familiar to the plainest man and even to a child1 that sense of infection with another's feeling1--compelling us to joy in another's gladness1 to sorrow at another's grief1 and to mingle souls with another1--which is the very essence of art4 ,and therefore these people not only cannot distinguish true works of art from counterfeits1 but continually mistake for real art the worst and most artificial1 while they do not even perceive works of real art1 because the counterfeits are always more ornate1 while true art is modest4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,art1 in our society1 has been so perverted that not only has bad art come to be considered good1 but even the very perception of what art really is has been lost4 ,in order to be able to speak about the art of our society1 it is1 therefore1 first of all necessary to distinguish art from counterfeit art4 ,there is one indubitable indication distinguishing real art from its counterfeit1 namely1 the infectiousness of art4 ,if a man1 without exercising effort and without altering his standpoint1 on reading1 hearing1 or seeing another man's work1 experiences a mental condition which unites him with that man and with other people who also partake of that work of art1 then the object evoking that condition is a work of art4 ,and however poetical1 realistic1 effectful1 or interesting a work may be1 it is not a work of art if it does not evoke that feeling 7quite distinct from all other feelings7 of joy1 and of spiritual union with another 7the author7 and with others 7those who are also infected by it74 ,it is true that this indication is an internal one1 and that there are people who have forgotten what the action of real art is1 who expect something else from art 7in our society the great majority are in this state71 and that therefore such people may mistake for this sthetic feeling the feeling of divertisement and a certain excitement which they receive from counterfeits of art4 ,but though it is impossible to undeceive these people1 just as it is impossible to convince a man suffering from 8,daltonism0 that green is not red1 yet1 for all that1 this indication remains perfectly definite to those whose feeling for art is neither perverted nor atrophied1 and it clearly distinguishes the feeling produced by art from all other feelings4 ,the chief peculiarity of this feeling is that the receiver of a true artistic impression is so united to the artist that he feels as if the work were his own and not someone else's1--as if what it expresses were just what he had long been wishing to express4 ,a real work of art destroys1 in the consciousness of the receiver1 the separation between himself and the artist1 nor that alone1 but also between himself and all whose minds receive this work of art4 ,in this freeing of our personality from its separation and isolation1 in this uniting of it with others1 lies the chief characteristic and the great attractive force of art4 ,if a man is infected by the author's condition of soul1 if he feels this emotion and this union with others1 then the object which has effected this is art2 but if there be no such infection1 if there be not this union with the author and with others who are moved by the same work--then it is not art4 ,and not only is infection a sure sign of art1 but the degree of infectiousness is also the sole measure of excellence in art4 ,the stronger the infection the better is the art1 as art1 speaking now apart from its subject-matter1 i4e4 not considering the quality of the feelings it transmits4 ,and the degree of the infectiousness of art depends on three conditions3-- 7#a7 ,on the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted2 7#b7 on the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is transmitted2 7#c7 on the sincerity of the artist1 i4e4 on the greater or lesser force with which the artist himself feels the emotion he transmits4 ,the more individual the feeling transmitted the more strongly does it act on the receiver2 the more individual the state of soul into which he is transferred the more pleasure does the receiver obtain1 and therefore the more readily and strongly does he join in it4 ,the clearness of expression assists infection1 because the receiver1 who mingles in consciousness with the author1 is the better satisfied the more clearly the feeling is transmitted1 which1 as it seems to him1 he has long known and felt1 and for which he has only now found expression4 ,but most of all is the degree of infectiousness of art increased by the degree of sincerity in the artist4 ,as soon as the spectator1 hearer1 or reader feels that the artist is infected by his own production1 and writes1 sings1 or plays for himself and not merely to act on others1 this mental condition of the artist infects the receiver2 and1 contrariwise1 as soon as the spectator1 reader1 or hearer feels that the author is not writing1 singing1 or playing for his own satisfaction1--does not himself feel what he wishes to express1--but is doing it for him1 the receiver1 a resistance immediately springs up1 and the most individual and the newest feelings and the cleverest technique not only fail to produce any infection but actually repel4 ,i have mentioned three conditions of contagiousness in art1 but they may all be summed up into one1 the last1 sincerity1 i4e4 that the artist should be impelled by an inner need to express his feeling4 ,that condition includes the first2 for if the artist is sincere he will express the feeling as he experienced it4 ,and as each man is different from everyone else1 his feeling will be individual for everyone else2 and the more individual it is1--the more the artist has drawn it from the depths of his nature1--the more sympathetic and sincere will it be4 ,and this same sincerity will impel the artist to find a clear expression of the feeling which he wishes to transmit4 ,therefore this third condition--sincerity--is the most important of the three4 ,it is always complied with in peasant art1 and this explains why such art always acts so powerfully2 but it is a condition almost entirely absent from our upper-class art1 which is continually produced by artists actuated by personal aims of covetousness or vanity4 ,such are the three conditions which divide art from its counterfeits1 and which also decide the quality of every work of art apart from its subject-matter4 ,the absence of any one of these conditions excludes a work from the category of art and relegates it to that of art's counterfeits4 ,if the work does not transmit the artist's peculiarity of feeling1 and is therefore not individual1 if it is unintelligibly expressed1 or if it has not proceeded from the author's inner need for expression--it is not a work of art4 ,if all these conditions are present1 even in the smallest degree1 then the work1 even if a weak one1 is yet a work of art4 ,the presence in various degrees of these three conditions3 individuality1 clearness1 and sincerity1 decides the merit of a work of art1 as art1 apart from subject-matter4 ,all works of art take rank of merit according to the degree in which they fulfil the first1 the second1 and the third of these conditions4 ,in one the individuality of the feeling transmitted may predominate2 in another1 clearness of expression2 in a third1 sincerity2 while a fourth may have sincerity and individuality but be deficient in clearness2 a fifth1 individuality and clearness1 but less sincerity2 and so forth1 in all possible degrees and combinations4 ,thus is art divided from not art1 and thus is the quality of art1 as art1 decided1 independently of its subject-matter1 i4e4 apart from whether the feelings it transmits are good or bad4 ,but how are we to define good and bad art with reference to its subject-matter8 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,how in art are we to decide what is good and what is bad in subject-matter8 ,art1 like speech1 is a means of communication1 and therefore of progress1 i4e4 of the movement of humanity forward towards perfection4 ,speech renders accessible to men of the latest generations all the knowledge discovered by the experience and reflection1 both of preceding generations and of the best and foremost men of their own times2 art renders accessible to men of the latest generations all the feelings experienced by their predecessors1 and those also which are being felt by their best and foremost contemporaries4 ,and as the evolution of knowledge proceeds by truer and more necessary knowledge dislodging and replacing what is mistaken and unnecessary1 so the evolution of feeling proceeds through art1--feelings less kind and less needful for the well-being of mankind are replaced by others kinder and more needful for that end4 ,that is the purpose of art4 ,and1 speaking now of its subject-matter1 the more art fulfils that purpose the better the art1 and the less it fulfils it the worse the art4 ,and the appraisement of feelings 7i4e4 the acknowledgment of these or those feelings as being more or less good1 more or less necessary for the well-being of mankind7 is made by the religious perception of the age4 ,in every period of history1 and in every human society1 there exists an understanding of the meaning of life which represents the highest level to which men of that society have attained1--an understanding defining the highest good at which that society aims4 ,and this understanding is the religious perception of the given time and society4 ,and this religious perception is always clearly expressed by some advanced men1 and more or less vividly perceived by all the members of the society4 ,such a religious perception and its corresponding expression exists always in every society4 ,if it appears to us that in our society there is no religious perception1 this is not because there really is none1 but only because we do not want to see it4 ,and we often wish not to see it because it exposes the fact that our life is inconsistent with that religious perception4 ,religious perception in a society is like the direction of a flowing river4 ,if the river flows at all1 it must have a direction4 ,if a society lives1 there must be a religious perception indicating the direction in which1 more or less consciously1 all its members tend4 ,and so there always has been1 and there is1 a religious perception in every society4 ,and it is by the standard of this religious perception that the feelings transmitted by art have always been estimated4 ,only on the basis of this religious perception of their age have men always chosen from the endlessly varied spheres of art that art which transmitted feelings making religious perception operative in actual life4 ,and such art has always been highly valued and encouraged2 while art transmitting feelings already outlived1 flowing from the antiquated religious perceptions of a former age1 has always been condemned and despised4 ,all the rest of art1 transmitting those most diverse feelings by means of which people commune together1 was not condemned1 and was tolerated1 if only it did not transmit feelings contrary to religious perception4 ,thus1 for instance1 among the ,greeks1 art transmitting the feeling of beauty1 strength1 and courage 7,hesiod1 ,homer1 ,phidias7 was chosen1 approved1 and encouraged2 while art transmitting feelings of rude sensuality1 despondency1 and effeminacy was condemned and despised4 ,among the ,jews1 art transmitting feelings of devotion and submission to the ,god of the ,hebrews and to ,his will 7the epic of ,genesis1 the prophets1 the ,psalms7 was chosen and encouraged1 while art transmitting feelings of idolatry 7the golden calf7 was condemned and despised4 ,all the rest of art--stories1 songs1 dances1 ornamentation of houses1 of utensils1 and of clothes--which was not contrary to religious perception1 was neither distinguished nor discussed4 ,thus1 in regard to its subject-matter1 has art been appraised always and everywhere1 and thus it should be appraised1 for this attitude towards art proceeds from the fundamental characteristics of human nature1 and those characteristics do not change4 ,i know that according to an opinion current in our times1 religion is a superstition1 which humanity has outgrown1 and that it is therefore assumed that no such thing exists as a religious perception common to us all by which art1 in our time1 can be estimated4 ,i know that this is the opinion current in the pseudo-cultured circles of to-day4 ,people who do not acknowledge ,christianity in its true meaning because it undermines all their social privileges1 and who1 therefore1 invent all kinds of philosophic and sthetic theories to hide from themselves the meaninglessness and wrongness of their lives1 cannot think otherwise4 ,these people intentionally1 or sometimes unintentionally1 confusing the conception of a religious cult with the conception of religious perception1 think that by denying the cult they get rid of religious perception4 ,but even the very attacks on religion1 and the attempts to establish a life-conception contrary to the religious perception of our times1 most clearly demonstrate the existence of a religious perception condemning the lives that are not in harmony with it4 ,if humanity progresses1 i4e4 moves forward1 there must inevitably be a guide to the direction of that movement4 ,and religions have always furnished that guide4 ,all history shows that the progress of humanity is accomplished not otherwise than under the guidance of religion4 ,but if the race cannot progress without the guidance of religion1--and progress is always going on1 and consequently also in our own times1--then there must be a religion of our times4 ,so that1 whether it pleases or displeases the so-called cultured people of to-day1 they must admit the existence of religion--not of a religious cult1 ,catholic1 ,protestant1 or another1 but of religious perception--which1 even in our times1 is the guide always present where there is any progress4 ,and if a religious perception exists amongst us1 then our art should be appraised on the basis of that religious perception2 and1 as has always and everywhere been the case1 art transmitting feelings flowing from the religious perception of our time should be chosen from all the indifferent art1 should be acknowledged1 highly esteemed1 and encouraged2 while art running counter to that perception should be condemned and despised1 and all the remaining indifferent art should neither be distinguished nor encouraged4 ,the religious perception of our time1 in its widest and most practical application1 is the consciousness that our well-being1 both material and spiritual1 individual and collective1 temporal and eternal1 lies in the growth of brotherhood among all men--in their loving harmony with one another4 ,this perception is not only expressed by ,christ and all the best men of past ages1 it is not only repeated in the most varied forms and from most diverse sides by the best men of our own times1 but it already serves as a clue to all the complex labour of humanity1 consisting as this labour does1 on the one hand1 in the destruction of physical and moral obstacles to the union of men1 and1 on the other hand1 in establishing the principles common to all men which can and should unite them into one universal brotherhood4 ,and it is on the basis of this perception that we should appraise all the phenomena of our life1 and1 among the rest1 our art also2 choosing from all its realms whatever transmits feelings flowing from this religious perception1 highly prizing and encouraging such art1 rejecting whatever is contrary to this perception1 and not attributing to the rest of art an importance not properly pertaining to it4 ,the chief mistake made by people of the upper classes of the time of the so-called ,renaissance1--a mistake which we still perpetuate1--was not that they ceased to value and to attach importance to religious art 7people of that period could not attach importance to it1 because1 like our own upper classes1 they could not believe in what the majority considered to be religion71 but their mistake was that they set up in place of religious art which was lacking1 an insignificant art which aimed only at giving pleasure1 i4e4 they began to choose1 to value1 and to encourage1 in place of religious art1 something which1 in any case1 did not deserve such esteem and encouragement4 ,one of the ,fathers of the ,church said that the great evil is not that men do not know ,god1 but that they have set up1 instead of ,god1 that which is not ,god4 ,so also with art4 ,the great misfortune of the people of the upper classes of our time is not so much that they are without a religious art1 as that1 instead of a supreme religious art1 chosen from all the rest as being specially important and valuable1 they have chosen a most insignificant and1 usually1 harmful art1 which aims at pleasing certain people1 and which1 therefore1 if only by its exclusive nature1 stands in contradiction to that ,christian principle of universal union which forms the religious perception of our time4 ,instead of religious art1 an empty and often vicious art is set up1 and this hides from men's notice the need of that true religious art which should be present in life in order to improve it4 ,it is true that art which satisfies the demands of the religious perception of our time is quite unlike former art1 but1 notwithstanding this dissimilarity1 to a man who does not intentionally hide the truth from himself1 it is very clear and definite what does form the religious art of our age4 ,in former times1 when the highest religious perception united only some people 7who1 even if they formed a large society1 were yet but one society surrounded by others--,jews1 or ,athenian or ,roman citizens71 the feelings transmitted by the art of that time flowed from a desire for the might1 greatness1 glory1 and prosperity of that society1 and the heroes of art might be people who contributed to that prosperity by strength1 by craft1 by fraud1 or by cruelty 7,ulysses1 ,jacob1 ,david1 ,samson1 ,hercules1 and all the heroes74 ,but the religious perception of our times does not select any one society of men2 on the contrary1 it demands the union of all--absolutely of all people without exception--and above every other virtue it sets brotherly love to all men4 ,and1 therefore1 the feelings transmitted by the art of our time not only cannot coincide with the feelings transmitted by former art1 but must run counter to them4 ,christian1 truly ,christian1 art has been so long in establishing itself1 and has not yet established itself1 just because the ,christian religious perception was not one of those small steps by which humanity advances regularly2 but was an enormous revolution1 which1 if it has not already altered1 must inevitably alter the entire life-conception of mankind1 and1 consequently1 the whole internal organisation of their life4 ,it is true that the life of humanity1 like that of an individual1 moves regularly2 but in that regular movement come1 as it were1 turning-points1 which sharply divide the preceding from the subsequent life4 ,christianity was such a turning-point2 such1 at least1 it must appear to us who live by the ,christian perception of life4 ,christian perception gave another1 a new direction to all human feelings1 and therefore completely altered both the contents and the significance of art4 ,the ,greeks could make use of ,persian art and the ,romans could use ,greek art1 or1 similarly1 the ,jews could use ,egyptian art1--the fundamental ideals were one and the same4 ,now the ideal was the greatness and prosperity of the ,persians1 now the greatness and prosperity of the ,greeks1 now that of the ,romans4 ,the same art was transferred into other conditions1 and served new nations4 ,but the ,christian ideal changed and reversed everything1 so that1 as the ,gospel puts it1 8,that which was exalted among men has become an abomination in the sight of ,god40 ,the ideal is no longer the greatness of ,pharaoh or of a ,roman emperor1 not the beauty of a ,greek nor the wealth of ,phnicia1 but humility1 purity1 compassion1 love4 ,the hero is no longer ,dives1 but ,lazarus the beggar2 not ,mary ,magdalene in the day of her beauty1 but in the day of her repentance2 not those who acquire wealth1 but those who have abandoned it2 not those who dwell in palaces1 but those who dwell in catacombs and huts2 not those who rule over others1 but those who acknowledge no authority but ,god's4 ,and the greatest work of art is no longer a cathedral of victory#hd with statues of conquerors1 but the representation of a human soul so transformed by love that a man who is tormented and murdered yet pities and loves his persecutors4 ,and the change is so great that men of the ,christian world find it difficult to resist the inertia of the heathen art to which they have been accustomed all their lives4 ,the subject-matter of ,christian religious art is so new to them1 so unlike the subject-matter of former art1 that it seems to them as though ,christian art were a denial of art1 and they cling desperately to the old art4 ,but this old art1 having no longer1 in our day1 any source in religious perception1 has lost its meaning1 and we shall have to abandon it whether we wish to or not4 ,the essence of the ,christian perception consists in the recognition by every man of his sonship to ,god1 and of the consequent union of men with ,god and with one another1 as is said in the ,gospel 7,john xvii4 #bahe74 ,therefore the subject-matter of ,christian art is such feeling as can unite men with ,god and with one another4 ,the expression unite men with ,god and with one another may seem obscure to people accustomed to the misuse of these words which is so customary1 but the words have a perfectly clear meaning nevertheless4 ,they indicate that the ,christian union of man 7in contradiction to the partial1 exclusive union of only some men7 is that which unites all without exception4 ,art1 all art1 has this characteristic1 that it unites people4 ,every art causes those to whom the artist's feeling is transmitted to unite in soul with the artist1 and also with all who receive the same impression4 ,but non-,christian art1 while uniting some people together1 makes that very union a cause of separation between these united people and others2 so that union of this kind is often a source1 not only of division1 but even of enmity towards others4 ,such is all patriotic art1 with its anthems1 poems1 and monuments2 such is all ,church art1 i4e4 the art of certain cults1 with their images1 statues1 processions1 and other local ceremonies4 ,such art is belated and non-,christian art1 uniting the people of one cult only to separate them yet more sharply from the members of other cults1 and even to place them in relations of hostility to each other4 ,christian art is only such as tends to unite all without exception1 either by evoking in them the perception that each man and all men stand in like relation towards ,god and towards their neighbour1 or by evoking in them identical feelings1 which may even be the very simplest provided only that they are not repugnant to ,christianity and are natural to everyone without exception4 ,good ,christian art of our time may be unintelligible to people because of imperfections in its form1 or because men are inattentive to it1 but it must be such that all men can experience the feelings it transmits4 ,it must be the art1 not of some one group of people1 nor of one class1 nor of one nationality1 nor of one religious cult2 that is1 it must not transmit feelings which are accessible only to a man educated in a certain way1 or only to an aristocrat1 or a merchant1 or only to a ,russian1 or a native of ,japan1 or a ,roman ,catholic1 or a ,buddhist1 etc41 but it must transmit feelings accessible to everyone4 ,only art of this kind can be acknowledged in our time to be good art1 worthy of being chosen out from all the rest of art and encouraged4 ,christian art1 i4e4 the art of our time1 should be catholic in the original meaning of the word1 i4e4 universal1 and therefore it should unite all men4 ,and only two kinds of feeling do unite all men3 first1 feelings flowing from the perception of our sonship to ,god and of the brotherhood of man2 and next1 the simple feelings of common life1 accessible to everyone without exception--such as the feeling of merriment1 of pity1 of cheerfulness1 of tranquillity1 etc4 ,only these two kinds of feelings can now supply material for art good in its subject-matter4 ,and the action of these two kinds of art1 apparently so dissimilar1 is one and the same4 ,the feelings flowing from perception of our sonship to ,god and of the brotherhood of man--such as a feeling of sureness in truth1 devotion to the will of ,god1 self-sacrifice1 respect for and love of man--evoked by ,christian religious perception2 and the simplest feelings--such as a softened or a merry mood caused by a song or an amusing jest intelligible to everyone1 or by a touching story1 or a drawing1 or a little doll3 both alike produce one and the same effect--the loving union of man with man4 ,sometimes people who are together are1 if not hostile to one another1 at least estranged in mood and feeling1 till perchance a story1 a performance1 a picture1 or even a building1 but oftenest of all music1 unites them all as by an electric flash1 and1 in place of their former isolation or even enmity1 they are all conscious of union and mutual love4 ,each is glad that another feels what he feels2 glad of the communion established1 not only between him and all present1 but also with all now living who will yet share the same impression2 and more than that1 he feels the mysterious gladness of a communion which1 reaching beyond the grave1 unites us with all men of the past who have been moved by the same feelings1 and with all men of the future who will yet be touched by them4 ,and this effect is produced both by the religious art which transmits feelings of love to ,god and one's neighbour1 and by universal art transmitting the very simplest feelings common to all men4 ,the art of our time should be appraised differently from former art chiefly in this1 that the art of our time1 i4e4 ,christian art 7basing itself on a religious perception which demands the union of man71 excludes from the domain of art good in subject-matter everything transmitting exclusive feelings1 which do not unite but divide men4 ,it relegates such work to the category of art bad in its subject-matter1 while1 on the other hand1 it includes in the category of art good in subject-matter a section not formerly admitted to deserve to be chosen out and respected1 namely1 universal art transmitting even the most trifling and simple feelings if only they are accessible to all men without exception1 and therefore unite them4 ,such art cannot1 in our time1 but be esteemed good1 for it attains the end which the religious perception of our time1 i4e4 ,christianity1 sets before humanity4 ,christian art either evokes in men those feelings which1 through love of ,god and of one's neighbour1 draw them to greater and ever greater union1 and make them ready for and capable of such union2 or evokes in them those feelings which show them that they are already united in the joys and sorrows of life4 ,and therefore the ,christian art of our time can be and is of two kinds3 7#a7 art transmitting feelings flowing from a religious perception of man's position in the world in relation to ,god and to his neighbour--religious art in the limited meaning of the term2 and 7#b7 art transmitting the simplest feelings of common life1 but such1 always1 as are accessible to all men in the whole world--the art of common life--the art of a people--universal art4 ,only these two kinds of art can be considered good art in our time4 ,the first1 religious art1--transmitting both positive feelings of love to ,god and one's neighbour1 and negative feelings of indignation and horror at the violation of love1--manifests itself chiefly in the form of words1 and to some extent also in painting and sculpture3 the second kind 7universal art7 transmitting feelings accessible to all1 manifests itself in words1 in painting1 in sculpture1 in dances1 in architecture1 and1 most of all1 in music4 ,if ,i were asked to give modern examples of each of these kinds of art1 then1 as examples of the highest art1 flowing from love of ,god and man 7both of the higher1 positive1 and of the lower1 negative kind71 in literature ,i should name ,the ,robbers by ,schiller3 ,victor ,hugo's ,les ,pauvres ,gens and ,les ,misrables3 the novels and stories of ,dickens--,the ,tale of ,two ,cities1 ,the ,christmas ,carol1 ,the ,chimes1 and others3 ,uncle ,tom's ,cabin3 ,dostoievsky's works--especially his ,memoirs from the ,house of ,death3 and ,adam ,bede by ,george ,eliot4 ,in modern painting1 strange to say1 works of this kind1 directly transmitting the ,christian feeling of love of ,god and of one's neighbour1 are hardly to be found1 especially among the works of the celebrated painters4 ,there are plenty of pictures treating of the ,gospel stories2 they1 however1 depict historical events with great wealth of detail1 but do not1 and cannot1 transmit religious feeling not possessed by their painters4 ,there are many pictures treating of the personal feelings of various people1 but of pictures representing great deeds of self-sacrifice and of ,christian love there are very few1 and what there are are principally by artists who are not celebrated1 and are1 for the most part1 not pictures but merely sketches4 ,such1 for instance1 is the drawing by ,kramskoy 7worth many of his finished pictures71 showing a drawing-room with a balcony1 past which troops are marching in triumph on their return from the war4 ,on the balcony stands a wet-nurse holding a baby and a boy4 ,they are admiring the procession of the troops1 but the mother1 covering her face with a handkerchief1 has fallen back on the sofa1 sobbing4 ,such also is the picture by ,walter ,langley1 to which ,i have already referred1 and such again is a picture by the ,french artist ,morion1 depicting a lifeboat hastening1 in a heavy storm1 to the relief of a steamer that is being wrecked4 ,approaching these in kind are pictures which represent the hard-working peasant with respect and love4 ,such are the pictures by ,millet1 and1 particularly1 his drawing1 8,the ,man with the ,hoe10 also pictures in this style by ,jules ,breton1 ,l',hermitte1 ,defregger1 and others4 ,as examples of pictures evoking indignation and horror at the violation of love to ,god and man1 ,gay's picture1 8,judgment10 may serve1 and also ,leizen-,mayer's1 8,signing the ,death ,warrant40 ,but there are also very few of this kind4 ,anxiety about the technique and the beauty of the picture for the most part obscures the feeling4 ,for instance1 ,grme's 8,pollice ,verso0 expresses1 not so much horror at what is being perpetrated as attraction by the beauty of the spectacle4#hf ,to give examples1 from the modern art of our upper classes1 of art of the second kind1 good universal art or even of the art of a whole people1 is yet more difficult1 especially in literary art and music4 ,if there are some works which by their inner contents might be assigned to this class 7such as ,don ,quixote1 ,molire's comedies1 ,david ,copperfield and ,the ,pickwick ,papers by ,dickens1 ,gogol's and ,pushkin's tales1 and some things of ,maupassant's71 these works are for the most part--from the exceptional nature of the feelings they transmit1 and the superfluity of special details of time and locality1 and1 above all1 on account of the poverty of their subject-matter in comparison with examples of universal ancient art 7such1 for instance1 as the story of ,joseph7--comprehensible only to people of their own circle4 ,that ,joseph's brethren1 being jealous of his father's affection1 sell him to the merchants2 that ,potiphar's wife wishes to tempt the youth2 that having attained the highest station1 he takes pity on his brothers1 including ,benjamin the favourite1--these and all the rest are feelings accessible alike to a ,russian peasant1 a ,chinese1 an ,african1 a child1 or an old man1 educated or uneducated2 and it is all written with such restraint1 is so free from any superfluous detail1 that the story may be told to any circle and will be equally comprehensible and touching to everyone4 ,but not such are the feelings of ,don ,quixote or of ,molire's heroes 7though ,molire is perhaps the most universal1 and therefore the most excellent1 artist of modern times71 nor of ,pickwick and his friends4 ,these feelings are not common to all men but very exceptional1 and therefore1 to make them infectious1 the authors have surrounded them with abundant details of time and place4 ,and this abundance of detail makes the stories difficult of comprehension to all people not living within reach of the conditions described by the author4 ,the author of the novel of ,joseph did not need to describe in detail1 as would be done nowadays1 the bloodstained coat of ,joseph1 the dwelling and dress of ,jacob1 the pose and attire of ,potiphar's wife1 and how1 adjusting the bracelet on her left arm1 she said1 8,come to me10 and so on1 because the subject-matter of feelings in this novel is so strong that all details1 except the most essential1--such as that ,joseph went out into another room to weep1--are superfluous1 and would only hinder the transmission of feelings4 ,and therefore this novel is accessible to all men1 touches people of all nations and classes1 young and old1 and has lasted to our times1 and will yet last for thousands of years to come4 ,but strip the best novels of our times of their details1 and what will remain8 ,it is therefore impossible in modern literature to indicate works fully satisfying the demands of universality4 ,such works as exist are1 to a great extent1 spoilt by what is usually called 8realism10 but would be better termed 8provincialism10 in art4 ,in music the same occurs as in verbal art1 and for similar reasons4 ,in consequence of the poorness of the feeling they contain1 the melodies of the modern composers are amazingly empty and insignificant4 ,and to strengthen the impression produced by these empty melodies1 the new musicians pile complex modulations on to each trivial melody1 not only in their own national manner1 but also in the way characteristic of their own exclusive circle and particular musical school4 ,melody--every melody--is free1 and may be understood of all men2 but as soon as it is bound up with a particular harmony1 it ceases to be accessible except to people trained to such harmony1 and it becomes strange1 not only to common men of another nationality1 but to all who do not belong to the circle whose members have accustomed themselves to certain forms of harmonisation4 ,so that music1 like poetry1 travels in a vicious circle4 ,trivial and exclusive melodies1 in order to make them attractive1 are laden with harmonic1 rhythmic1 and orchestral complications1 and thus become yet more exclusive1 and far from being universal are not even national1 i4e4 they are not comprehensible to the whole people but only to some people4 ,in music1 besides marches and dances by various composers1 which satisfy the demands of universal art1 one can indicate very few works of this class3 ,bach's famous violin aria1 ,chopin's nocturne in ,e flat major1 and perhaps a dozen bits 7not whole pieces1 but parts7 selected from the works of ,haydn1 ,mozart1 ,schubert1 ,beethoven1 and ,chopin4#hg ,although in painting the same thing is repeated as in poetry and in music1--namely1 that in order to make them more interesting1 works weak in conception are surrounded by minutely studied accessories of time and place1 which give them a temporary and local interest but make them less universal1--still1 in painting1 more than in the other spheres of art1 may be found works satisfying the demands of universal ,christian art2 that is to say1 there are more works expressing feelings in which all men may participate4 ,in the arts of painting and sculpture1 all pictures and statues in so-called genre style1 depictions of animals1 landscapes and caricatures with subjects comprehensible to everyone1 and also all kinds of ornaments1 are universal in subject-matter4 ,such productions in painting and sculpture are very numerous 7e4g4 china dolls71 but for the most part such objects 7for instance1 ornaments of all kinds7 are either not considered to be art or are considered to be art of a low quality4 ,in reality all such objects1 if only they transmit a true feeling experienced by the artist and comprehensible to everyone 7however insignificant it may seem to us to be7 are works of real1 good1 ,christian art4 ,i fear it will here be urged against me that having denied that the conception of beauty can supply a standard for works of art1 ,i contradict myself by acknowledging ornaments to be works of good art4 ,the reproach is unjust1 for the subject-matter of all kinds of ornamentation consists not in the beauty1 but in the feeling 7of admiration of1 and delight in1 the combination of lines and colours7 which the artist has experienced and with which he infects the spectator4 ,art remains what it was and what it must be3 nothing but the infection by one man of another1 or of others1 with the feelings experienced by the infector4 ,among those feelings is the feeling of delight at what pleases the sight4 ,objects pleasing the sight may be such as please a small or a large number of people1 or such as please all men4 ,and ornaments for the most part are of the latter kind4 ,a landscape representing a very unusual view1 or a genre picture of a special subject1 may not please everyone1 but ornaments1 from ,yakutsk ornaments to ,greek ones1 are intelligible to everyone and evoke a similar feeling of admiration in all1 and therefore this despised kind of art should1 in ,christian society1 be esteemed far above exceptional1 pretentious pictures and sculptures4 ,so that there are only two kinds of good ,christian art3 all the rest of art not comprised in these two divisions should be acknowledged to be bad art1 deserving not to be encouraged but to be driven out1 denied and despised1 as being art not uniting but dividing people4 ,such1 in literary art1 are all novels and poems which transmit ,church or patriotic feelings1 and also exclusive feelings pertaining only to the class of the idle rich2 such as aristocratic honour1 satiety1 spleen1 pessimism1 and refined and vicious feelings flowing from sex-love--quite incomprehensible to the great majority of mankind4 ,in painting we must similarly place in the class of bad art all the ,church1 patriotic1 and exclusive pictures2 all the pictures representing the amusements and allurements of a rich and idle life2 all the so-called symbolic pictures1 in which the very meaning of the symbol is comprehensible only to the people of a certain circle2 and1 above all1 pictures with voluptuous subjects--all that odious female nudity which fills all the exhibitions and galleries4 ,and to this class belongs almost all the chamber and opera music of our times1--beginning especially from ,beethoven 7,schumann1 ,berlioz1 ,liszt1 ,wagner71--by its subject-matter devoted to the expression of feelings accessible only to people who have developed in themselves an unhealthy1 nervous irritation evoked by this exclusive1 artificial1 and complex music4 8,what6 the ,ninth ,symphony not a good work of art60 ,i hear exclaimed by indignant voices4 ,and ,i reply3 ,most certainly it is not4 ,all that ,i have written ,i have written with the sole purpose of finding a clear and reasonable criterion by which to judge the merits of works of art4 ,and this criterion1 coinciding with the indications of plain and sane sense1 indubitably shows me that that symphony by ,beethoven is not a good work of art4 ,of course1 to people educated in the adoration of certain productions and of their authors1 to people whose taste has been perverted just by being educated in such adoration1 the acknowledgment that such a celebrated work is bad is amazing and strange4 ,but how are we to escape the indications of reason and of common sense8 ,beethoven's ,ninth ,symphony is considered a great work of art4 ,to verify its claim to be such1 ,i must first ask myself whether this work transmits the highest religious feeling8 ,i reply in the negative1 for music in itself cannot transmit those feelings2 and therefore ,i ask myself next1 ,since this work does not belong to the highest kind of religious art1 has it the other characteristic of the good art of our time1--the quality of uniting all men in one common feeling3 does it rank as ,christian universal art8 ,and again ,i have no option but to reply in the negative2 for not only do ,i not see how the feelings transmitted by this work could unite people not specially trained to submit themselves to its complex hypnotism1 but ,i am unable to imagine to myself a crowd of normal people who could understand anything of this long1 confused1 and artificial production1 except short snatches which are lost in a sea of what is incomprehensible4 ,and therefore1 whether ,i like it or not1 ,i am compelled to conclude that this work belongs to the rank of bad art4 ,it is curious to note in this connection1 that attached to the end of this very symphony is a poem of ,schiller's which 7though somewhat obscurely7 expresses this very thought1 namely1 that feeling 7,schiller speaks only of the feeling of gladness7 unites people and evokes love in them4 ,but though this poem is sung at the end of the symphony1 the music does not accord with the thought expressed in the verses2 for the music is exclusive and does not unite all men1 but unites only a few1 dividing them off from the rest of mankind4 ,and1 just in this same way1 in all branches of art1 many and many works considered great by the upper classes of our society will have to be judged4 ,by this one sure criterion we shall have to judge the celebrated ,divine ,comedy and ,jerusalem ,delivered1 and a great part of ,shakespeare's and ,goethe's works1 and in painting every representation of miracles1 including ,raphael's 8,transfiguration10 etc4 ,whatever the work may be and however it may have been extolled1 we have first to ask whether this work is one of real art or a counterfeit4 ,having acknowledged1 on the basis of the indication of its infectiousness even to a small class of people1 that a certain production belongs to the realm of art1 it is necessary1 on the basis of the indication of its accessibility1 to decide the next question1 ,does this work belong to the category of bad1 exclusive art1 opposed to religious perception1 or to ,christian art1 uniting people8 ,and having acknowledged an article to belong to real ,christian art1 we must then1 according to whether it transmits the feelings flowing from love to ,god and man1 or merely the simple feelings uniting all men1 assign it a place in the ranks of religious art or in those of universal art4 ,only on the basis of such verification shall we find it possible to select from the whole mass of what1 in our society1 claims to be art1 those works which form real1 important1 necessary spiritual food1 and to separate them from all the harmful and useless art1 and from the counterfeits of art which surround us4 ,only on the basis of such verification shall we be able to rid ourselves of the pernicious results of harmful art1 and to avail ourselves of that beneficent action which is the purpose of true and good art1 and which is indispensable for the spiritual life of man and of humanity4 ,footnote #hd3 ,there is in ,moscow a magnificent 8,cathedral of our ,saviour10 erected to commemorate the defeat of the ,french in the war of #ahab4--,trans4 ,footnote #he3 8,that they may be one2 even as thou1 ,father1 art in me1 and ,i in thee1 that they also may be in us40 ,footnote #hf3 ,in this picture the spectators in the ,roman ,amphitheatre are turning down their thumbs to show that they wish the vanquished gladiator to be killed4--,trans4 ,footnote #hg3 ,while offering as examples of art those that seem to me the best1 ,i attach no special importance to my selection2 for1 besides being insufficiently informed in all branches of art1 ,i belong to the class of people whose taste has1 by false training1 been perverted4 ,and therefore my old1 inured habits may cause me to err1 and ,i may mistake for absolute merit the impression a work produced on me in my youth4 ,my only purpose in mentioning examples of works of this or that class is to make my meaning clearer1 and to show how1 with my present views1 ,i understand excellence in art in relation to its subject-matter4 ,i must1 moreover1 mention that ,i consign my own artistic productions to the category of bad art1 excepting the story ,god sees the ,truth1 which seeks a place in the first class1 and ,the ,prisoner of the ,caucasus1 which belongs to the second4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,art is one of two organs of human progress4 ,by words man interchanges thoughts1 by the forms of art he interchanges feelings1 and this with all men1 not only of the present time1 but also of the past and the future4 ,it is natural to human beings to employ both these organs of intercommunication1 and therefore the perversion of either of them must cause evil results to the society in which it occurs4 ,and these results will be of two kinds3 first1 the absence1 in that society1 of the work which should be performed by the organ2 and secondly1 the harmful activity of the perverted organ4 ,and just these results have shown themselves in our society4 ,the organ of art has been perverted1 and therefore the upper classes of society have1 to a great extent1 been deprived of the work that it should have performed4 ,the diffusion in our society of enormous quantities of1 on the one hand1 those counterfeits of art which only serve to amuse and corrupt people1 and1 on the other hand1 of works of insignificant1 exclusive art1 mistaken for the highest art1 have perverted most men's capacity to be infected by true works of art1 and have thus deprived them of the possibility of experiencing the highest feelings to which mankind has attained1 and which can only be transmitted from man to man by art4 ,all the best that has been done in art by man remains strange to people who lack the capacity to be infected by art1 and is replaced either by spurious counterfeits of art or by insignificant art1 which they mistake for real art4 ,people of our time and of our society are delighted with ,baudelaires1 ,verlaines1 ,morases1 ,ibsens1 and ,maeterlincks in poetry2 with ,monets1 ,manets1 ,puvis de ,chavannes1 ,burne-,joneses1 ,stucks1 and ,bcklins in painting2 with ,wagners1 ,listzs1 ,richard ,strausses1 in music2 and they are no longer capable of comprehending either the highest or the simplest art4 ,in the upper classes1 in consequence of this loss of capacity to be infected by works of art1 people grow up1 are educated1 and live1 lacking the fertilising1 improving influence of art1 and therefore not only do not advance towards perfection1 do not become kinder1 but1 on the contrary1 possessing highly-developed external means of civilisation1 they yet tend to become continually more savage1 more coarse1 and more cruel4 ,such is the result of the absence from our society of the activity of that essential organ--art4 ,but the consequences of the perverted activity of that organ are yet more harmful4 ,and they are numerous4 ,the first consequence1 plain for all to see1 is the enormous expenditure of the labour of working people on things which are not only useless1 but which1 for the most part1 are harmful2 and more than that1 the waste of priceless human lives on this unnecessary and harmful business4 ,it is terrible to consider with what intensity1 and amid what privations1 millions of people--who lack time and opportunity to attend to what they and their families urgently require--labour for #aj1 #ab1 or #ad hours on end1 and even at night1 setting the type for pseudo-artistic books which spread vice among mankind1 or working for theatres1 concerts1 exhibitions1 and picture galleries1 which1 for the most part1 also serve vice2 but it is yet more terrible to reflect that lively1 kindly children1 capable of all that is good1 are devoted from their early years to such tasks as these3 that for #f1 #h1 or #aj hours a day1 and for #aj or #ae years1 some of them should play scales and exercises2 others should twist their limbs1 walk on their toes1 and lift their legs above their heads2 a third set should sing solfeggios2 a fourth set1 showing themselves off in all manner of ways1 should pronounce verses2 a fifth set should draw from busts or from nude models and paint studies2 a sixth set should write compositions according to the rules of certain periods2 and that in these occupations1 unworthy of a human being1 which are often continued long after full maturity1 they should waste their physical and mental strength and lose all perception of the meaning of life4 ,it is often said that it is horrible and pitiful to see little acrobats putting their legs over their necks1 but it is not less pitiful to see children of #aj giving concerts1 and it is still worse to see schoolboys of #aj who1 as a preparation for literary work1 have learnt by heart the exceptions to the ,latin grammar4 ,these people not only grow physically and mentally deformed1 but also morally deformed1 and become incapable of doing anything really needed by man4 ,occupying in society the rle of amusers of the rich1 they lose their sense of human dignity1 and develop in themselves such a passion for public applause that they are always a prey to an inflated and unsatisfied vanity which grows in them to diseased dimensions1 and they expend their mental strength in efforts to obtain satisfaction for this passion4 ,and what is most tragic of all is that these people1 who for the sake of art are spoilt for life1 not only do not render service to this art1 but1 on the contrary1 inflict the greatest harm on it4 ,they are taught in academies1 schools1 and conservatoires how to counterfeit art1 and by learning this they so pervert themselves that they quite lose the capacity to produce works of real art1 and become purveyors of that counterfeit1 or trivial1 or depraved art which floods our society4 ,this is the first obvious consequence of the perversion of the organ of art4 ,the second consequence is that the productions of amusement-art1 which are prepared in such terrific quantities by the armies of professional artists1 enable the rich people of our times to live the lives they do1 lives not only unnatural but in contradiction to the humane principles these people themselves profess4 ,to live as do the rich1 idle people1 especially the women1 far from nature and from animals1 in artificial conditions1 with muscles atrophied or misdeveloped by gymnastics1 and with enfeebled vital energy would be impossible were it not for what is called art--for this occupation and amusement which hides from them the meaninglessness of their lives1 and saves them from the dulness that oppresses them4 ,take from all these people the theatres1 concerts1 exhibitions1 piano-playing1 songs1 and novels1 with which they now fill their time in full confidence that occupation with these things is a very refined1 sthetical1 and therefore good occupation2 take from the patrons of art who buy pictures1 assist musicians1 and are acquainted with writers1 their rle of protectors of that important matter art1 and they will not be able to continue such a life1 but will all be eaten up by ennui and spleen1 and will become conscious of the meaninglessness and wrongness of their present mode of life4 ,only occupation with what1 among them1 is considered art1 renders it possible for them to continue to live on1 infringing all natural conditions1 without perceiving the emptiness and cruelty of their lives4 ,and this support afforded to the false manner of life pursued by the rich is the second consequence1 and a serious one1 of the perversion of art4 ,the third consequence of the perversion of art is the perplexity produced in the minds of children and of plain folk4 ,among people not perverted by the false theories of our society1 among workers and children1 there exists a very definite conception of what people may be respected and praised for4 ,in the minds of peasants and children the ground for praise or eulogy can only be either physical strength3 ,hercules1 the heroes and conquerors2 or moral1 spiritual1 strength3 ,sakya ,muni giving up a beautiful wife and a kingdom to save mankind1 ,christ going to the cross for the truth he professed1 and all the martyrs and the saints4 ,both are understood by peasants and children4 ,they understand that physical strength must be respected1 for it compels respect2 and the moral strength of goodness an unperverted man cannot fail to respect1 because all his spiritual being draws him towards it4 ,but these people1 children and peasants1 suddenly perceive that besides those praised1 respected1 and rewarded for physical or moral strength1 there are others who are praised1 extolled1 and rewarded much more than the heroes of strength and virtue1 merely because they sing well1 compose verses1 or dance4 ,they see that singers1 composers1 painters1 ballet-dancers1 earn millions of roubles and receive more honour than the saints do3 and peasants and children are perplexed4 ,when #ej years had elapsed after ,pushkin's death1 and1 simultaneously1 the cheap edition of his works began to circulate among the people and a monument was erected to him in ,moscow1 ,i received more than a dozen letters from different peasants asking why ,pushkin was raised to such dignity8 ,and only the other day a literate#hh man from ,saratoff called on me who had evidently gone out of his mind over this very question4 ,he was on his way to ,moscow to expose the clergy for having taken part in raising a 8monament0 to ,mr4 ,pushkin4 ,indeed one need only imagine to oneself what the state of mind of such a man of the people must be when he learns1 from such rumours and newspapers as reach him1 that the clergy1 the ,government officials1 and all the best people in ,russia are triumphantly unveiling a statue to a great man1 the benefactor1 the pride of ,russia--,pushkin1 of whom till then he had never heard4 ,from all sides he reads or hears about this1 and he naturally supposes that if such honours are rendered to anyone1 then without doubt he must have done something extraordinary--either some feat of strength or of goodness4 ,he tries to learn who ,pushkin was1 and having discovered that ,pushkin was neither a hero nor a general1 but was a private person and a writer1 he comes to the conclusion that ,pushkin must have been a holy man and a teacher of goodness1 and he hastens to read or to hear his life and works4 ,but what must be his perplexity when he learns that ,pushkin was a man of more than easy morals1 who was killed in a duel1 i4e4 when attempting to murder another man1 and that all his service consisted in writing verses about love1 which were often very indecent4 ,that a hero1 or ,alexander the ,great1 or ,genghis ,khan1 or ,napoleon were great1 he understands1 because any one of them could have crushed him and a thousand like him2 that ,buddha1 ,socrates1 and ,christ were great he also understands1 for he knows and feels that he and all men should be such as they were2 but why a man should be great because he wrote verses about the love of women he cannot make out4 ,a similar perplexity must trouble the brain of a ,breton or ,norman peasant who hears that a monument1 8une statue0 7as to the ,madonna71 is being erected to ,baudelaire1 and reads1 or is told1 what the contents of his ,fleurs du ,mal are2 or1 more amazing still1 to ,verlaine1 when he learns the story of that man's wretched1 vicious life1 and reads his verses4 ,and what confusion it must cause in the brains of peasants when they learn that some ,patti or ,taglioni is paid #aj1jjj for a season1 or that a painter gets as much for a picture1 or that authors of novels describing love-scenes have received even more than that4 ,and it is the same with children4 ,i remember how ,i passed through this stage of amazement and stupefaction1 and only reconciled myself to this exaltation of artists to the level of heroes and saints by lowering in my own estimation the importance of moral excellence1 and by attributing a false1 unnatural meaning to works of art4 ,and a similar confusion must occur in the soul of each child and each man of the people when he learns of the strange honours and rewards that are lavished on artists4 ,this is the third consequence of the false relation in which our society stands towards art4 ,the fourth consequence is that people of the upper classes1 more and more frequently encountering the contradictions between beauty and goodness1 put the ideal of beauty first1 thus freeing themselves from the demands of morality4 ,these people1 reversing the rles1 instead of admitting1 as is really the case1 that the art they serve is an antiquated affair1 allege that morality is an antiquated affair1 which can have no importance for people situated on that high plane of development on which they opine that they are situated4 ,this result of the false relation to art showed itself in our society long ago2 but recently1 with its prophet ,nietzsche and his adherents1 and with the decadents and certain ,english sthetes who coincide with him1 it is being expressed with especial impudence4 ,the decadents1 and sthetes of the type at one time represented by ,oscar ,wilde1 select as a theme for their productions the denial of morality and the laudation of vice4 ,this art has partly generated1 and partly coincides with1 a similar philosophic theory4 ,i recently received from ,america a book entitled 8,the ,survival of the ,fittest3 ,philosophy of ,power1 #ahif1 by ,ragnar ,redbeard1 ,chicago40 ,the substance of this book1 as it is expressed in the editor's preface1 is that to measure 8right0 by the false philosophy of the ,hebrew prophets and 8weepful0 ,messiahs is madness4 ,right is not the offspring of doctrine but of power4 ,all laws1 commandments1 or doctrines as to not doing to another what you do not wish done to you1 have no inherent authority whatever1 but receive it only from the club1 the gallows1 and the sword4 ,a man truly free is under no obligation to obey any injunction1 human or divine4 ,obedience is the sign of the degenerate4 ,disobedience is the stamp of the hero4 ,men should not be bound by moral rules invented by their foes4 ,the whole world is a slippery battlefield4 ,ideal justice demands that the vanquished should be exploited1 emasculated1 and scorned4 ,the free and brave may seize the world4 ,and1 therefore1 there should be eternal war for life1 for land1 for love1 for women1 for power1 and for gold4 7,something similar was said a few years ago by the celebrated and refined academician1 ,vog47 ,the earth and its treasures is 8booty for the bold40 ,the author has evidently by himself1 independently of ,nietzsche1 come to the same conclusions which are professed by the new artists4 ,expressed in the form of a doctrine these positions startle us4 ,in reality they are implied in the ideal of art serving beauty4 ,the art of our upper classes has educated people in this ideal of the over-man1#hi--which is1 in reality1 the old ideal of ,nero1 ,stenka ,razin1#ij ,genghis ,khan1 ,robert ,macaire1#ia or ,napoleon1 and all their accomplices1 assistants1 and adulators--and it supports this ideal with all its might4 ,it is this supplanting of the ideal of what is right by the ideal of what is beautiful1 i4e4 of what is pleasant1 that is the fourth consequence1 and a terrible one1 of the perversion of art in our society4 ,it is fearful to think of what would befall humanity were such art to spread among the masses of the people4 ,and it already begins to spread4 ,finally1 the fifth and chief result is1 that the art which flourishes in the upper classes of ,european society has a directly vitiating influence1 infecting people with the worst feelings and with those most harmful to humanity--superstition1 patriotism1 and1 above all1 sensuality4 ,look carefully into the causes of the ignorance of the masses1 and you may see that the chief cause does not at all lie in the lack of schools and libraries1 as we are accustomed to suppose1 but in those superstitions1 both ecclesiastical and patriotic1 with which the people are saturated1 and which are unceasingly generated by all the methods of art4 ,church superstitions are supported and produced by the poetry of prayers1 hymns1 painting1 by the sculpture of images and of statues1 by singing1 by organs1 by music1 by architecture1 and even by dramatic art in religious ceremonies4 ,patriotic superstitions are supported and produced by verses and stories1 which are supplied even in schools1 by music1 by songs1 by triumphal processions1 by royal meetings1 by martial pictures1 and by monuments4 ,were it not for this continual activity in all departments of art1 perpetuating the ecclesiastical and patriotic intoxication and embitterment of the people1 the masses would long ere this have attained to true enlightenment4 ,but it is not only in ,church matters and patriotic matters that art depraves2 it is art in our time that serves as the chief cause of the perversion of people in the most important question of social life--in their sexual relations4 ,we nearly all know by our own experience1 and those who are fathers and mothers know in the case of their grown-up children also1 what fearful mental and physical suffering1 what useless waste of strength1 people suffer merely as a consequence of dissoluteness in sexual desire4 ,since the world began1 since the ,trojan war1 which sprang from that same sexual dissoluteness1 down to and including the suicides and murders of lovers described in almost every newspaper1 a great proportion of the sufferings of the human race have come from this source4 ,and what is art doing8 ,all art1 real and counterfeit1 with very few exceptions1 is devoted to describing1 depicting1 and inflaming sexual love in every shape and form4 ,when one remembers all those novels and their lust-kindling descriptions of love1 from the most refined to the grossest1 with which the literature of our society overflows2 if one only remembers all those pictures and statues representing women's naked bodies1 and all sorts of abominations which are reproduced in illustrations and advertisements2 if one only remembers all the filthy operas and operettas1 songs and romances with which our world teems1 involuntarily it seems as if existing art had but one definite aim--to disseminate vice as widely as possible4 ,such1 though not all1 are the most direct consequences of that perversion of art which has occurred in our society4 ,so that1 what in our society is called art not only does not conduce to the progress of mankind1 but1 more than almost anything else1 hinders the attainment of goodness in our lives4 ,and therefore the question which involuntarily presents itself to every man free from artistic activity and therefore not bound to existing art by self-interest1 the question asked by me at the beginning of this work3 ,is it just that to what we call art1 to a something belonging to but a small section of society1 should be offered up such sacrifices of human labour1 of human lives1 and of goodness as are now being offered up8 receives the natural reply3 ,no2 it is unjust1 and these things should not be6 ,so also replies sound sense and unperverted moral feeling4 ,not only should these things not be1 not only should no sacrifices be offered up to what among us is called art1 but1 on the contrary1 the efforts of those who wish to live rightly should be directed towards the destruction of this art1 for it is one of the most cruel of the evils that harass our section of humanity4 ,so that1 were the question put3 ,would it be preferable for our ,christian world to be deprived of all that is now esteemed to be art1 and1 together with the false1 to lose all that is good in it8 ,i think that every reasonable and moral man would again decide the question as ,plato decided it for his ,republic1 and as all the ,church ,christian and ,mahommedan teachers of mankind decided it1 i4e4 would say1 8,rather let there be no art at all than continue the depraving art1 or simulation of art1 which now exists40 ,happily1 no one has to face this question1 and no one need adopt either solution4 ,all that man can do1 and that we--the so-called educated people1 who are so placed that we have the possibility of understanding the meaning of the phenomena of our life--can and should do1 is to understand the error we are involved in1 and not harden our hearts in it but seek for a way of escape4 ,footnote #hh3 ,in ,russian it is customary to make a distinction between literate and illiterate people1 i4e4 between those who can and those who cannot read4 ,literate in this sense does not imply that the man would speak or write correctly4--,trans4 ,footnote #hi3 ,the over-man 7,uebermensch71 in the ,nietzschean philosophy1 is that superior type of man whom the struggle for existence is to evolve1 and who will seek only his own power and pleasure1 will know nothing of pity1 and will have the right1 because he will possess the power1 to make ordinary people serve him4--,trans4 ,footnote #ij3 ,stenka ,razin was by origin a common ,cossack4 ,his brother was hung for a breach of military discipline1 and to this event ,stenka ,razin's hatred of the governing classes has been attributed4 ,he formed a robber band1 and subsequently headed a formidable rebellion1 declaring himself in favour of freedom for the serfs1 religious toleration1 and the abolition of taxes4 ,like the ,government he opposed1 he relied on force1 and1 though he used it largely in defence of the poor against the rich1 he still held to 8,the good old rule1 the simple plan1 ,that they should take who have the power1 ,and they should keep who can40 ,like ,robin ,hood he is favourably treated in popular legends4--,trans4 ,footnote #ia3 ,robert ,macaire is a modern type of adroit and audacious rascality4 ,he was the hero of a popular play produced in ,paris in #ahcd4--,trans4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,the cause of the lie into which the art of our society has fallen was that people of the upper classes1 having ceased to believe in the ,church teaching 7called ,christian71 did not resolve to accept true ,christian teaching in its real and fundamental principles of sonship to ,god and brotherhood to man1 but continued to live on without any belief1 endeavouring to make up for the absence of belief--some by hypocrisy1 pretending still to believe in the nonsense of the ,church creeds2 others by boldly asserting their disbelief2 others by refined agnosticism2 and others1 again1 by returning to the ,greek worship of beauty1 proclaiming egotism to be right1 and elevating it to the rank of a religious doctrine4 ,the cause of the malady was the non-acceptance of ,christ's teaching in its real1 i4e4 its full1 meaning4 ,and the only cure for the illness lies in acknowledging that teaching in its full meaning4 ,and such acknowledgment in our time is not only possible but inevitable4 ,already to-day a man1 standing on the height of the knowledge of our age1 whether he be nominally a ,catholic or a ,protestant1 cannot say that he really believes in the dogmas of the ,church3 in ,god being a ,trinity1 in ,christ being ,god1 in the scheme of redemption1 and so forth2 nor can he satisfy himself by proclaiming his unbelief or scepticism1 nor by relapsing into the worship of beauty and egotism4 ,above all1 he can no longer say that we do not know the real meaning of ,christ's teaching4 ,that meaning has not only become accessible to all men of our times1 but the whole life of man to-day is permeated by the spirit of that teaching1 and1 consciously or unconsciously1 is guided by it4 ,however differently in form people belonging to our ,christian world may define the destiny of man2 whether they see it in human progress in whatever sense of the words1 in the union of all men in a socialistic realm1 or in the establishment of a commune2 whether they look forward to the union of mankind under the guidance of one universal ,church1 or to the federation of the world1--however various in form their definitions of the destination of human life may be1 all men in our times already admit that the highest well-being attainable by men is to be reached by their union with one another4 ,however people of our upper classes 7feeling that their ascendency can only be maintained as long as they separate themselves--the rich and learned--from the labourers1 the poor1 and the unlearned7 may seek to devise new conceptions of life by which their privileges may be perpetuated1--now the ideal of returning to antiquity1 now mysticism1 now ,hellenism1 now the cult of the superior person 7overman-ism71--they have1 willingly or unwillingly1 to admit the truth which is elucidating itself from all sides1 voluntarily and involuntarily1 namely1 that our welfare lies only in the unification and the brotherhood of man4 ,unconsciously this truth is confirmed by the construction of means of communication1--telegraphs1 telephones1 the press1 and the ever-increasing attainability of material well-being for everyone1--and consciously it is affirmed by the destruction of superstitions which divide men1 by the diffusion of the truths of knowledge1 and by the expression of the ideal of the brotherhood of man in the best works of art of our time4 ,art is a spiritual organ of human life which cannot be destroyed1 and therefore1 notwithstanding all the efforts made by people of the upper classes to conceal the religious ideal by which humanity lives1 that ideal is more and more clearly recognised by man1 and even in our perverted society is more and more often partially expressed by science and by art4 ,during the present century works of the higher kind of religious art have appeared more and more frequently1 both in literature and in painting1 permeated by a truly ,christian spirit1 as also works of the universal art of common life1 accessible to all4 ,so that even art knows the true ideal of our times1 and tends towards it4 ,on the one hand1 the best works of art of our times transmit religious feelings urging towards the union and the brotherhood of man 7such are the works of ,dickens1 ,hugo1 ,dostoievsky2 and in painting1 of ,millet1 ,bastien ,lepage1 ,jules ,breton1 ,l',hermitte1 and others72 on the other hand1 they strive towards the transmission1 not of feelings which are natural to people of the upper classes only1 but of such feelings as may unite everyone without exception4 ,there are as yet few such works1 but the need of them is already acknowledged4 ,in recent times we also meet more and more frequently with attempts at publications1 pictures1 concerts1 and theatres for the people4 ,all this is still very far from accomplishing what should be done1 but already the direction in which good art instinctively presses forward to regain the path natural to it can be discerned4 ,the religious perception of our time--which consists in acknowledging that the aim of life 7both collective and individual7 is the union of mankind--is already so sufficiently distinct that people have now only to reject the false theory of beauty1 according to which enjoyment is considered to be the purpose of art1 and religious perception will naturally takes its place as the guide of the art of our time4 ,and as soon as the religious perception1 which already unconsciously directs the life of man1 is consciously acknowledged1 then immediately and naturally the division of art1 into art for the lower and art for the upper classes1 will disappear4 ,there will be one common1 brotherly1 universal art2 and first1 that art will naturally be rejected which transmits feelings incompatible with the religious perception of our time1--feelings which do not unite1 but divide men1--and then that insignificant1 exclusive art will be rejected to which an importance is now attached to which it has no right4 ,and as soon as this occurs1 art will immediately cease to be1 what it has been in recent times3 a means of making people coarser and more vicious1 and it will become1 what it always used to be and should be1 a means by which humanity progresses towards unity and blessedness2 ,strange as the comparison may sound1 what has happened to the art of our circle and time is what happens to a woman who sells her womanly attractiveness1 intended for maternity1 for the pleasure of those who desire such pleasures4 ,the art of our time and of our circle has become a prostitute4 ,and this comparison holds good even in minute details4 ,like her it is not limited to certain times1 like her it is always adorned1 like her it is always saleable1 and like her it is enticing and ruinous4 ,a real work of art can only arise in the soul of an artist occasionally1 as the fruit of the life he has lived1 just as a child is conceived by its mother4 ,but counterfeit art is produced by artisans and handicraftsmen continually1 if only consumers can be found4 ,real art1 like the wife of an affectionate husband1 needs no ornaments4 ,but counterfeit art1 like a prostitute1 must always be decked out4 ,the cause of the production of real art is the artist's inner need to express a feeling that has accumulated1 just as for a mother the cause of sexual conception is love4 ,the cause of counterfeit art1 as of prostitution1 is gain4 ,the consequence of true art is the introduction of a new feeling into the intercourse of life1 as the consequence of a wife's love is the birth of a new man into life4 ,the consequences of counterfeit art are the perversion of man1 pleasure which never satisfies1 and the weakening of man's spiritual strength4 ,and this is what people of our day and of our circle should understand1 in order to avoid the filthy torrent of depraved and prostituted art with which we are deluged4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,people talk of the art of the future1 meaning by 8art of the future0 some especially refined1 new art1 which1 as they imagine1 will be developed out of that exclusive art of one class which is now considered the highest art4 ,but no such new art of the future can or will be found4 ,our exclusive art1 that of the upper classes of ,christendom1 has found its way into a blind alley4 ,the direction in which it has been going leads nowhere4 ,having once let go of that which is most essential for art 7namely1 the guidance given by religious perception71 that art has become ever more and more exclusive1 and therefore ever more and more perverted1 until1 finally1 it has come to nothing4 ,the art of the future1 that which is really coming1 will not be a development of present-day art1 but will arise on completely other and new foundations1 having nothing in common with those by which our present art of the upper classes is guided4 ,art of the future1 that is to say1 such part of art as will be chosen from among all the art diffused among mankind1 will consist1 not in transmitting feelings accessible only to members of the rich classes1 as is the case to-day1 but in transmitting such feelings as embody the highest religious perception of our times4 ,only those productions will be considered art which transmit feelings drawing men together in brotherly union1 or such universal feelings as can unite all men4 ,only such art will be chosen1 tolerated1 approved1 and diffused4 ,but art transmitting feelings flowing from antiquated1 worn-out religious teaching1--,church art1 patriotic art1 voluptuous art1 transmitting feelings of superstitious fear1 of pride1 of vanity1 of ecstatic admiration of national heroes1--art exciting exclusive love of one's own people1 or sensuality1 will be considered bad1 harmful art1 and will be censured and despised by public opinion4 ,all the rest of art1 transmitting feelings accessible only to a section of people1 will be considered unimportant1 and will be neither blamed nor praised4 ,and the appraisement of art in general will devolve1 not1 as is now the case1 on a separate class of rich people1 but on the whole people2 so that for a work to be esteemed good1 and to be approved of and diffused1 it will have to satisfy the demands1 not of a few people living in identical and often unnatural conditions1 but it will have to satisfy the demands of all those great masses of people who are situated in the natural conditions of laborious life4 ,and the artists producing art will also not be1 as now1 merely a few people selected from a small section of the nation1 members of the upper classes or their hangers-on1 but will consist of all those gifted members of the whole people who prove capable of1 and are inclined towards1 artistic activity4 ,artistic activity will then be accessible to all men4 ,it will become accessible to the whole people1 because1 in the first place1 in the art of the future1 not only will that complex technique1 which deforms the productions of the art of to-day and requires so great an effort and expenditure of time1 not be demanded1 but1 on the contrary1 the demand will be for clearness1 simplicity1 and brevity--conditions mastered not by mechanical exercises but by the education of taste4 ,and secondly1 artistic activity will become accessible to all men of the people because1 instead of the present professional schools which only some can enter1 all will learn music and depictive art 7singing and drawing7 equally with letters in the elementary schools1 and in such a way that every man1 having received the first principles of drawing and music1 and feeling a capacity for1 and a call to1 one or other of the arts1 will be able to perfect himself in it4 ,people think that if there are no special art-schools the technique of art will deteriorate4 ,undoubtedly1 if by technique we understand those complications of art which are now considered an excellence1 it will deteriorate2 but if by technique is understood clearness1 beauty1 simplicity1 and compression in works of art1 then1 even if the elements of drawing and music were not to be taught in the national schools1 the technique will not only not deteriorate1 but1 as is shown by all peasant art1 will be a hundred times better4 ,it will be improved1 because all the artists of genius now hidden among the masses will become producers of art and will give models of excellence1 which 7as has always been the case7 will be the best schools of technique for their successors4 ,for every true artist1 even now1 learns his technique1 chiefly1 not in the schools but in life1 from the examples of the great masters2 then--when the producers of art will be the best artists of the whole nation1 and there will be more such examples1 and they will be more accessible--such part of the school training as the future artist will lose will be a hundredfold compensated for by the training he will receive from the numerous examples of good art diffused in society4 ,such will be one difference between present and future art4 ,another difference will be that art will not be produced by professional artists receiving payment for their work and engaged on nothing else besides their art4 ,the art of the future will be produced by all the members of the community who feel the need of such activity1 but they will occupy themselves with art only when they feel such need4 ,in our society people think that an artist will work better1 and produce more1 if he has a secured maintenance4 ,and this opinion would serve once more to show clearly1 were such demonstration still needed1 that what among us is considered art is not art1 but only its counterfeit4 ,it is quite true that for the production of boots or loaves division of labour is very advantageous1 and that the bootmaker or baker who need not prepare his own dinner or fetch his own fuel will make more boots or loaves than if he had to busy himself about these matters4 ,but art is not a handicraft2 it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced4 ,and sound feeling can only be engendered in a man when he is living on all its sides the life natural and proper to mankind4 ,and therefore security of maintenance is a condition most harmful to an artist's true productiveness1 since it removes him from the condition natural to all men1--that of struggle with nature for the maintenance of both his own life and that of others1--and thus deprives him of opportunity and possibility to experience the most important and natural feelings of man4 ,there is no position more injurious to an artist's productiveness than that position of complete security and luxury in which artists usually live in our society4 ,the artist of the future will live the common life of man1 earning his subsistence by some kind of labour4 ,the fruits of that highest spiritual strength which passes through him he will try to share with the greatest possible number of people1 for in such transmission to others of the feelings that have arisen in him he will find his happiness and his reward4 ,the artist of the future will be unable to understand how an artist1 whose chief delight is in the wide diffusion of his works1 could give them only in exchange for a certain payment4 ,until the dealers are driven out1 the temple of art will not be a temple4 ,but the art of the future will drive them out4 ,and therefore the subject-matter of the art of the future1 as ,i imagine it to myself1 will be totally unlike that of to-day4 ,it will consist1 not in the expression of exclusive feelings3 pride1 spleen1 satiety1 and all possible forms of voluptuousness1 available and interesting only to people who1 by force1 have freed themselves from the labour natural to human beings2 but it will consist in the expression of feelings experienced by a man living the life natural to all men and flowing from the religious perception of our times1 or of such feelings as are open to all men without exception4 ,to people of our circle who do not know1 and cannot or will not understand the feelings which will form the subject-matter of the art of the future1 such subject-matter appears very poor in comparison with those subtleties of exclusive art with which they are now occupied4 8,what is there fresh to be said in the sphere of the ,christian feeling of love of one's fellow-man8 ,the feelings common to everyone are so insignificant and monotonous10 think they4 ,and yet1 in our time1 the really fresh feelings can only be religious1 ,christian feelings1 and such as are open1 accessible1 to all4 ,the feelings flowing from the religious perception of our times1 ,christian feelings1 are infinitely new and varied1 only not in the sense some people imagine1--not that they can be evoked by the depiction of ,christ and of ,gospel episodes1 or by repeating in new forms the ,christian truths of unity1 brotherhood1 equality1 and love1--but in that all the oldest1 commonest1 and most hackneyed phenomena of life evoke the newest1 most unexpected and touching emotions as soon as a man regards them from the ,christian point of view4 ,what can be older than the relations between married couples1 of parents to children1 of children to parents2 the relations of men to their fellow-countrymen and to foreigners1 to an invasion1 to defence1 to property1 to the land1 or to animals8 ,but as soon as a man regards these matters from the ,christian point of view1 endlessly varied1 fresh1 complex1 and strong emotions immediately arise4 ,and1 in the same way1 that realm of subject-matter for the art of the future which relates to the simplest feelings of common life open to all will not be narrowed but widened4 ,in our former art only the expression of feelings natural to people of a certain exceptional position was considered worthy of being transmitted by art1 and even then only on condition that these feelings were transmitted in a most refined manner1 incomprehensible to the majority of men2 all the immense realm of folk-art1 and children's art--jests1 proverbs1 riddles1 songs1 dances1 children's games1 and mimicry--was not esteemed a domain worthy of art4 ,the artist of the future will understand that to compose a fairy-tale1 a little song which will touch1 a lullaby or a riddle which will entertain1 a jest which will amuse1 or to draw a sketch which will delight dozens of generations or millions of children and adults1 is incomparably more important and more fruitful than to compose a novel or a symphony1 or paint a picture which will divert some members of the wealthy classes for a short time1 and then be for ever forgotten4 ,the region of this art of the simple feelings accessible to all is enormous1 and it is as yet almost untouched4 ,the art of the future1 therefore1 will not be poorer1 but infinitely richer in subject-matter4 ,and the form of the art of the future will also not be inferior to the present forms of art1 but infinitely superior to them4 ,superior1 not in the sense of having a refined and complex technique1 but in the sense of the capacity briefly1 simply1 and clearly to transmit1 without any superfluities1 the feeling which the artist has experienced and wishes to transmit4 ,i remember once speaking to a famous astronomer who had given public lectures on the spectrum analysis of the stars of the ,milky ,way1 and saying it would be a good thing if1 with his knowledge and masterly delivery1 he would give a lecture merely on the formation and movements of the earth1 for certainly there were many people at his lecture on the spectrum analysis of the stars of the ,milky ,way1 especially among the women1 who did not well know why night follows day and summer follows winter4 ,the wise astronomer smiled as he answered1 8,yes1 it would be a good thing1 but it would be very difficult4 ,to lecture on the spectrum analysis of the ,milky ,way is far easier40 ,and so it is in art4 ,to write a rhymed poem dealing with the times of ,cleopatra1 or paint a picture of ,nero burning ,rome1 or compose a symphony in the manner of ,brahms or ,richard ,strauss1 or an opera like ,wagner's1 is far easier than to tell a simple story without any unnecessary details1 yet so that it should transmit the feelings of the narrator1 or to draw a pencil-sketch which should touch or amuse the beholder1 or to compose four bars of clear and simple melody1 without any accompaniment1 which should convey an impression and be remembered by those who hear it4 8,it is impossible for us1 with our culture1 to return to a primitive state10 say the artists of our time4 8,it is impossible for us now to write such stories as that of ,joseph or the ,odyssey1 to produce such statues as the ,venus of ,milo1 or to compose such music as the folk-songs40 ,and indeed1 for the artists of our society and day1 it is impossible1 but not for the future artist1 who will be free from all the perversion of technical improvements hiding the absence of subject-matter1 and who1 not being a professional artist and receiving no payment for his activity1 will only produce art when he feels impelled to do so by an irresistible inner impulse4 ,the art of the future will thus be completely distinct1 both in subject-matter and in form1 from what is now called art4 ,the only subject-matter of the art of the future will be either feelings drawing men towards union1 or such as already unite them2 and the forms of art will be such as will be open to everyone4 ,and therefore1 the ideal of excellence in the future will not be the exclusiveness of feeling1 accessible only to some1 but1 on the contrary1 its universality4 ,and not bulkiness1 obscurity1 and complexity of form1 as is now esteemed1 but1 on the contrary1 brevity1 clearness1 and simplicity of expression4 ,only when art has attained to that1 will art neither divert nor deprave men as it does now1 calling on them to expend their best strength on it1 but be what it should be--a vehicle wherewith to transmit religious1 ,christian perception from the realm of reason and intellect into that of feeling1 and really drawing people in actual life nearer to that perfection and unity indicated to them by their religious perception4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,conclusion ,i have accomplished1 to the best of my ability1 this work which has occupied me for #ae years1 on a subject near to me--that of art4 ,by saying that this subject has occupied me for #ae years1 ,i do not mean that ,i have been writing this book #ae years1 but only that ,i began to write on art #ae years ago1 thinking that when once ,i undertook the task ,i should be able to accomplish it without a break4 ,it proved1 however1 that my views on the matter then were so far from clear that ,i could not arrange them in a way that satisfied me4 ,from that time ,i have never ceased to think on the subject1 and ,i have recommenced to write on it #f or #g times2 but each time1 after writing a considerable part of it1 ,i have found myself unable to bring the work to a satisfactory conclusion1 and have had to put it aside4 ,now ,i have finished it2 and however badly ,i may have performed the task1 my hope is that my fundamental thought as to the false direction the art of our society has taken and is following1 as to the reasons of this1 and as to the real destination of art1 is correct1 and that therefore my work will not be without avail4 ,but that this should come to pass1 and that art should really abandon its false path and take the new direction1 it is necessary that another equally important human spiritual activity1--science1--in intimate dependence on which art always rests1 should abandon the false path which it too1 like art1 is following4 ,science and art are as closely bound together as the lungs and the heart1 so that if one organ is vitiated the other cannot act rightly4 ,true science investigates and brings to human perception such truths and such knowledge as the people of a given time and society consider most important4 ,art transmits these truths from the region of perception to the region of emotion4 ,therefore1 if the path chosen by science be false so also will be the path taken by art4 ,science and art are like a certain kind of barge with kedge-anchors which used to ply on our rivers4 ,science1 like the boats which took the anchors up-stream and made them secure1 gives direction to the forward movement2 while art1 like the windlass worked on the barge to draw it towards the anchor1 causes the actual progression4 ,and thus a false activity of science inevitably causes a correspondingly false activity of art4 ,as art in general is the transmission of every kind of feeling1 but in the limited sense of the word we only call that art which transmits feelings acknowledged by us to be important1 so also science in general is the transmission of all possible knowledge2 but in the limited sense of the word we call science that which transmits knowledge acknowledged by us to be important4 ,and the degree of importance1 both of the feelings transmitted by art and of the information transmitted by science1 is decided by the religious perception of the given time and society1 i4e4 by the common understanding of the purpose of their lives possessed by the people of that time or society4 ,that which most of all contributes to the fulfilment of that purpose will be studied most2 that which contributes less will be studied less2 that which does not contribute at all to the fulfilment of the purpose of human life will be entirely neglected1 or1 if studied1 such study will not be accounted science4 ,so it always has been1 and so it should be now2 for such is the nature of human knowledge and of human life4 ,but the science of the upper classes of our time1 which not only does not acknowledge any religion1 but considers every religion to be mere superstition1 could not and cannot make such distinctions4 ,scientists of our day affirm that they study everything impartially2 but as everything is too much 7is in fact an infinite number of objects71 and as it is impossible to study all alike1 this is only said in the theory1 while in practice not everything is studied1 and study is applied far from impartially1 only that being studied which1 on the one hand1 is most wanted by1 and on the other hand1 is pleasantest to those people who occupy themselves with science4 ,and what the people1 belonging to the upper classes1 who are occupying themselves with science most want is the maintenance of the system under which those classes retain their privileges2 and what is pleasantest are such things as satisfy idle curiosity1 do not demand great mental efforts1 and can be practically applied4 ,and therefore one side of science1 including theology and philosophy adapted to the existing order1 as also history and political economy of the same sort1 are chiefly occupied in proving that the existing order is the very one which ought to exist2 that it has come into existence and continues to exist by the operation of immutable laws not amenable to human will1 and that all efforts to change it are therefore harmful and wrong4 ,the other part1 experimental science1--including mathematics1 astronomy1 chemistry1 physics1 botany1 and all the natural sciences1--is exclusively occupied with things that have no direct relation to human life3 with what is curious1 and with things of which practical application advantageous to people of the upper classes can be made4 ,and to justify that selection of objects of study which 7in conformity to their own position7 the men of science of our times have made1 they have devised a theory of science for science's sake1 quite similar to the theory of art for art's sake4 ,as by the theory of art for art's sake it appears that occupation with all those things that please us--is art1 so1 by the theory of science for science's sake1 the study of that which interests us--is science4 ,so that one side of science1 instead of studying how people should live in order to fulfil their mission in life1 demonstrates the righteousness and immutability of the bad and false arrangements of life which exist around us2 while the other part1 experimental science1 occupies itself with questions of simple curiosity or with technical improvements4 ,the first of these divisions of science is harmful1 not only because it confuses people's perceptions and gives false decisions1 but also because it exists1 and occupies the ground which should belong to true science4 ,it does this harm1 that each man1 in order to approach the study of the most important questions of life1 must first refute these erections of lies which have during ages been piled around each of the most essential questions of human life1 and which are propped up by all the strength of human ingenuity4 ,the second division--the one of which modern science is so particularly proud1 and which is considered by many people to be the only real science--is harmful in that it diverts attention from the really important subjects to insignificant subjects1 and is also directly harmful in that1 under the evil system of society which the first division of science justifies and supports1 a great part of the technical gains of science are turned not to the advantage but to the injury of mankind4 ,indeed it is only to those who are devoting their lives to such study that it seems as if all the inventions which are made in the sphere of natural science were very important and useful things4 ,and to these people it seems so only when they do not look around them and do not see what is really important4 ,they only need tear themselves away from the psychological microscope under which they examine the objects of their study1 and look about them1 in order to see how insignificant is all that has afforded them such nave pride1 all that knowledge not only of geometry of n-dimensions1 spectrum analysis of the ,milky ,way1 the form of atoms1 dimensions of human skulls of the ,stone ,age1 and similar trifles1 but even our knowledge of micro-organisms1 ,x-rays1 etc41 in comparison with such knowledge as we have thrown aside and handed over to the perversions of the professors of theology1 jurisprudence1 political economy1 financial science1 etc4 ,we need only look around us to perceive that the activity proper to real science is not the study of whatever happens to interest us1 but the study of how man's life should be established1--the study of those questions of religion1 morality1 and social life1 without the solution of which all our knowledge of nature will be harmful or insignificant4 ,we are highly delighted and very proud that our science renders it possible to utilise the energy of a waterfall and make it work in factories1 or that we have pierced tunnels through mountains1 and so forth4 ,but the pity of it is that we make the force of the waterfall labour1 not for the benefit of the workmen1 but to enrich capitalists who produce articles of luxury or weapons of man-destroying war4 ,the same dynamite with which we blast the mountains to pierce tunnels1 we use for wars1 from which latter we not only do not intend to abstain1 but which we consider inevitable1 and for which we unceasingly prepare4 ,if we are now able to inoculate preventatively with diphtheritic microbes1 to find a needle in a body by means of ,x-rays1 to straighten a hunched-back1 cure syphilis1 and perform wonderful operations1 we should not be proud of these acquisitions either 7even were they all established beyond dispute7 if we fully understood the true purpose of real science4 ,if but one-tenth of the efforts now spent on objects of pure curiosity or of merely practical application were expended on real science organising the life of man1 more than half the people now sick would not have the illnesses from which a small minority of them now get cured in hospitals4 ,there would be no poor-blooded and deformed children growing up in factories1 no death-rates1 as now1 of #ej per cent4 among children1 no deterioration of whole generations1 no prostitution1 no syphilis1 and no murdering of hundreds of thousands in wars1 nor those horrors of folly and of misery which our present science considers a necessary condition of human life4 ,we have so perverted the conception of science that it seems strange to men of our day to allude to sciences which should prevent the mortality of children1 prostitution1 syphilis1 the deterioration of whole generations1 and the wholesale murder of men4 ,it seems to us that science is only then real science when a man in a laboratory pours liquids from one jar into another1 or analyses the spectrum1 or cuts up frogs and porpoises1 or weaves in a specialised1 scientific jargon an obscure network of conventional phrases--theological1 philosophical1 historical1 juridical1 or politico-economical--semi-intelligible to the man himself1 and intended to demonstrate that what now is1 is what should be4 ,but science1 true science1--such science as would really deserve the respect which is now claimed by the followers of one 7the least important7 part of science1--is not at all such as this3 real science lies in knowing what we should and what we should not believe1 in knowing how the associated life of man should and should not be constituted2 how to treat sexual relations1 how to educate children1 how to use the land1 how to cultivate it oneself without oppressing other people1 how to treat foreigners1 how to treat animals1 and much more that is important for the life of man4 ,such has true science ever been and such it should be4 ,and such science is springing up in our times2 but1 on the one hand1 such true science is denied and refuted by all those scientific people who defend the existing order of society1 and1 on the other hand1 it is considered empty1 unnecessary1 unscientific science by those who are engrossed in experimental science4 ,for instance1 books and sermons appear1 demonstrating the antiquatedness and absurdity of ,church dogmas1 as well as the necessity of establishing a reasonable religious perception suitable to our times1 and all the theology that is considered to be real science is only engaged in refuting these works and in exercising human intelligence again and again to find support and justification for superstitions long since out-lived1 and which have now become quite meaningless4 ,or a sermon appears showing that land should not be an object of private possession1 and that the institution of private property in land is a chief cause of the poverty of the masses4 ,apparently science1 real science1 should welcome such a sermon and draw further deductions from this position4 ,but the science of our times does nothing of the kind3 on the contrary1 political economy demonstrates the opposite position1 namely1 that landed property1 like every other form of property1 must be more and more concentrated in the hands of a small number of owners4 ,again1 in the same way1 one would suppose it to be the business of real science to demonstrate the irrationality1 unprofitableness1 and immorality of war and of executions2 or the inhumanity and harmfulness of prostitution2 or the absurdity1 harmfulness1 and immorality of using narcotics or of eating animals2 or the irrationality1 harmfulness1 and antiquatedness of patriotism4 ,and such works exist1 but are all considered unscientific2 while works to prove that all these things ought to continue1 and works intended to satisfy an idle thirst for knowledge lacking any relation to human life1 are considered to be scientific4 ,the deviation of the science of our time from its true purpose is strikingly illustrated by those ideals which are put forward by some scientists1 and are not denied1 but admitted1 by the majority of scientific men4 ,these ideals are expressed not only in stupid1 fashionable books1 describing the world as it will be in #ajjj or #cjjj years' time1 but also by sociologists who consider themselves serious men of science4 ,these ideals are that food instead of being obtained from the land by agriculture1 will be prepared in laboratories by chemical means1 and that human labour will be almost entirely superseded by the utilisation of natural forces4 ,man will not1 as now1 eat an egg laid by a hen he has kept1 or bread grown on his field1 or an apple from a tree he has reared and which has blossomed and matured in his sight2 but he will eat tasty1 nutritious1 food which will be prepared in laboratories by the conjoint labour of many people in which he will take a small part4 ,man will hardly need to labour1 so that all men will be able to yield to idleness as the upper1 ruling classes now yield to it4 ,nothing shows more plainly than these ideals to what a degree the science of our times has deviated from the true path4 ,the great majority of men in our times lack good and sufficient food 7as well as dwellings and clothes and all the first necessaries of life74 ,and this great majority of men is compelled1 to the injury of its well-being1 to labour continually beyond its strength4 ,both these evils can easily be removed by abolishing mutual strife1 luxury1 and the unrighteous distribution of wealth1 in a word by the abolition of a false and harmful order and the establishment of a reasonable1 human manner of life4 ,but science considers the existing order of things to be as immutable as the movements of the planets1 and therefore assumes that the purpose of science is--not to elucidate the falseness of this order and to arrange a new1 reasonable way of life--but1 under the existing order of things1 to feed everybody and enable all to be as idle as the ruling classes1 who live a depraved life1 now are4 ,and1 meanwhile1 it is forgotten that nourishment with corn1 vegetables1 and fruit raised from the soil by one's own labour is the pleasantest1 healthiest1 easiest1 and most natural nourishment1 and that the work of using one's muscles is as necessary a condition of life as is the oxidation of the blood by breathing4 ,to invent means whereby people might1 while continuing our false division of property and labour1 be well nourished by means of chemically-prepared food1 and might make the forces of nature work for them1 is like inventing means to pump oxygen into the lungs of a man kept in a closed chamber the air of which is bad1 when all that is needed is to cease to confine the man in the closed chamber4 ,in the vegetable and animal kingdoms a laboratory for the production of food has been arranged1 such as can be surpassed by no professors1 and to enjoy the fruits of this laboratory1 and to participate in it1 man has only to yield to that ever joyful impulse to labour1 without which man's life is a torment4 ,and lo and behold1 the scientists of our times1 instead of employing all their strength to abolish whatever hinders man from utilising the good things prepared for him1 acknowledge the conditions under which man is deprived of these blessings to be unalterable1 and instead of arranging the life of man so that he might work joyfully and be fed from the soil1 they devise methods which will cause him to become an artificial abortion4 ,it is like not helping a man out of confinement into the fresh air1 but devising means1 instead1 to pump into him the necessary quantity of oxygen and arranging so that he may live in a stifling cellar instead of living at home4 ,such false ideals could not exist if science were not on a false path4 ,and yet the feelings transmitted by art grow up on the bases supplied by science4 ,but what feelings can such misdirected science evoke8 ,one side of this science evokes antiquated feelings1 which humanity has used up1 and which1 in our times1 are bad and exclusive4 ,the other side1 occupied with the study of subjects unrelated to the conduct of human life1 by its very nature cannot serve as a basis for art4 ,so that art in our times1 to be art1 must either open up its own road independently of science1 or must take direction from the unrecognised science which is denounced by the orthodox section of science4 ,and this is what art1 when it even partially fulfils its mission1 is doing4 ,it is to be hoped that the work ,i have tried to perform concerning art will be performed also for science--that the falseness of the theory of science for science's sake will be demonstrated2 that the necessity of acknowledging ,christian teaching in its true meaning will be clearly shown1 that on the basis of that teaching a reappraisement will be made of the knowledge we possess1 and of which we are so proud2 that the secondariness and insignificance of experimental science1 and the primacy and importance of religious1 moral1 and social knowledge will be established2 and that such knowledge will not1 as now1 be left to the guidance of the upper classes only1 but will form a chief interest of all free1 truth-loving men1 such as those who1 not in agreement with the upper classes but in their despite1 have always forwarded the real science of life4 ,astronomical1 physical1 chemical1 and biological science1 as also technical and medical science1 will be studied only in so far as they can help to free mankind from religious1 juridical1 or social deceptions1 or can serve to promote the well-being of all men1 and not of any single class4 ,only then will science cease to be what it is now--on the one hand a system of sophistries1 needed for the maintenance of the existing worn-out order of society1 and1 on the other hand1 a shapeless mass of miscellaneous knowledge1 for the most part good for little or nothing--and become a shapely and organic whole1 having a definite and reasonable purpose comprehensible to all men1 namely1 the purpose of bringing to the consciousness of men the truths that flow from the religious perception of our times4 ,and only then will art1 which is always dependent on science1 be what it might and should be1 an organ coequally important with science for the life and progress of mankind4 ,art is not a pleasure1 a solace1 or an amusement2 art is a great matter4 ,art is an organ of human life1 transmitting man's reasonable perception into feeling4 ,in our age the common religious perception of men is the consciousness of the brotherhood of man--we know that the well-being of man lies in union with his fellow-men4 ,true science should indicate the various methods of applying this consciousness to life4 ,art should transform this perception into feeling4 ,the task of art is enormous4 ,through the influence of real art1 aided by science guided by religion1 that peaceful co-operation of man which is now obtained by external means--by our law-courts1 police1 charitable institutions1 factory inspection1 etc4--should be obtained by man's free and joyous activity4 ,art should cause violence to be set aside4 ,and it is only art that can accomplish this4 ,all that now1 independently of the fear of violence and punishment1 makes the social life of man possible 7and already now this is an enormous part of the order of our lives7--all this has been brought about by art4 ,if by art it has been inculcated how people should treat religious objects1 their parents1 their children1 their wives1 their relations1 strangers1 foreigners2 how to conduct themselves to their elders1 their superiors1 to those who suffer1 to their enemies1 and to animals2 and if this has been obeyed through generations by millions of people1 not only unenforced by any violence1 but so that the force of such customs can be shaken in no way but by means of art3 then1 by the same art1 other customs1 more in accord with the religious perception of our time1 may be evoked4 ,if art has been able to convey the sentiment of reverence for images1 for the eucharist1 and for the king's person2 of shame at betraying a comrade1 devotion to a flag1 the necessity of revenge for an insult1 the need to sacrifice one's labour for the erection and adornment of churches1 the duty of defending one's honour or the glory of one's native land--then that same art can also evoke reverence for the dignity of every man and for the life of every animal2 can make men ashamed of luxury1 of violence1 of revenge1 or of using for their pleasure that of which others are in need2 can compel people freely1 gladly1 and without noticing it1 to sacrifice themselves in the service of man4 ,the task for art to accomplish is to make that feeling of brotherhood and love of one's neighbour1 now attained only by the best members of the society1 the customary feeling and the instinct of all men4 ,by evoking1 under imaginary conditions1 the feeling of brotherhood and love1 religious art will train men to experience those same feelings under similar circumstances in actual life2 it will lay in the souls of men the rails along which the actions of those whom art thus educates will naturally pass4 ,and universal art1 by uniting the most different people in one common feeling1 by destroying separation1 will educate people to union1 will show them1 not by reason but by life itself1 the joy of universal union reaching beyond the bounds set by life4 ,the destiny of art in our time is to transmit from the realm of reason to the realm of feeling the truth that well-being for men consists in being united together1 and to set up1 in place of the existing reign of force1 that kingdom of ,god1 i4e4 of love1 which we all recognise to be the highest aim of human life4 ,possibly1 in the future1 science may reveal to art yet newer and higher ideals1 which art may realise2 but1 in our time1 the destiny of art is clear and definite4 ,the task for ,christian art is to establish brotherly union among men4 ,,appendices ,,appendix ,i4 ,this is the first page of ,mallarm's book ,divagations3-- ,,le ,,ph,,nom,,ne ,,futur4 ,un ciel ple1 sur le monde qui finit de dcrpitude1 va peut-tre partir avec les nuages3 les lambeaux de la pourpre use des couchants dteignent dans une rivire dormant l'horizon submerg de rayons et d'eau4 ,les arbres s'ennuient1 et1 sous leur feuillage blanchi 7de la poussire du temps plutt que celle des chemins7 monte la maison en toile de ,montreur de choses ,passes3 maint rverbre attend le crpuscule et ravive les visages d'une malheureuse foule1 vaincue par la maladie immortelle et le pch des sicles1 d'hommes prs de leurs chtives complices enceintes des fruits misrables avec lesquels prira la terre4 ,dans le silence inquiet de tous les yeux suppliant l-bas le soleil qui1 sous l'eau1 s'enfonce avec le dsespoir d'un cri1 voici le simple boniment3 8,nulle enseigne ne vous rgale du spectacle intrieur1 car il n'est pas maintenant un peintre capable d'en donner une ombre triste4 ,j'apporte1 vivante 7et prserve travers les ans par la science souveraine7 une ,femme d'autrefois4 ,quelque folie1 originelle et nave1 une extase d'or1 je ne sais quoi6 par elle nomm sa chevelure1 se ploie avec la grce des toffes autour d'un visage qu' claire la nudit sanglante de ses lvres4 ,a la place du vtement vain1 elle a un corps2 et les yeux1 semblables aux pierres rares6 ne valent pas ce regard qui sort de sa chair heureuse3 des seins levs comme s'ils taient pleins d'un lait ternel1 la pointe vers le ciel1 les jambes lisses qui gardent le sel de la mer premire40 ,se rappelant leurs pauvres pouses1 chauves1 morbides et pleines d'horreur1 les maris se pressent3 elles aussi par curiosit1 mlancoliques1 veulent voir4 ,quand tous auront contempl la noble crature1 vestige de quelque poque dj maudite1 les uns indiffrents1 car ils n'auront pas eu la force de comprendre1 mais d'autres navrs et la paupire humide de larmes rsignes1 se regarderont2 tandis que les potes de ces temps1 sentant se rallumer leur yeux teints1 s'achemineront vers leur lampe1 le cerveau ivre un instant d'une gloire confuse1 hants du ,rythme et dans l'oubli d'exister une poque qui survit la beaut4 ,,the ,,future ,,phenomenon--by ,mallarm ,a pale sky1 above the world that is ending through decrepitude1 going perhaps to pass away with the clouds3 shreds of worn-out purple of the sunsets wash off their colour in a river sleeping on the horizon1 submerged with rays and water4 ,the trees are weary and1 beneath their foliage1 whitened 7by the dust of time rather than that of the roads71 rises the canvas house of 8,showman of things ,past40 ,many a lamp awaits the gloaming and brightens the faces of a miserable crowd vanquished by the immortal illness and the sin of ages1 of men by the sides of their puny accomplices pregnant with the miserable fruit with which the world will perish4 ,in the anxious silence of all the eyes supplicating the sun there1 which sinks under the water with the desperation of a cry1 this is the plain announcement3 8,no sign-board now regales you with the spectacle that is inside1 for there is no painter now capable of giving even a sad shadow of it4 ,i bring living 7and preserved by sovereign science through the years7 a ,woman of other days4 ,some kind of folly1 nave and original1 an ecstasy of gold1 ,i know not what1 by her called her hair1 clings with the grace of some material round a face brightened by the blood-red nudity of her lips4 ,in place of vain clothing1 she has a body2 and her eyes1 resembling precious stones6 are not worth that look1 which comes from her happy flesh3 breasts raised as if full of eternal milk1 the points towards the sky2 the smooth legs1 that keep the salt of the first sea40 ,remembering their poor spouses1 bald1 morbid1 and full of horrors1 the husbands press forward3 the women too1 from curiosity1 gloomily wish to see4 ,when all shall have contemplated the noble creature1 vestige of some epoch already damned1 some indifferently1 for they will not have had strength to understand1 but others broken-hearted and with eyelids wet with tears of resignation1 will look at each other2 while the poets of those times1 feeling their dim eyes rekindled1 will make their way towards their lamp1 their brain for an instant drunk with confused glory1 haunted by ,rhythm and forgetful that they exist at an epoch which has survived beauty4 ,,appendix ,,ii4#ib ,no4 #a4 ,the following verses are by ,viel-,griffin1 from page #bh of a volume of his ,poems3-- ,,oiseau ,,bleu ,,couleur ,,du ,,temps4 #a4 ,sait-tu l'oubli ,d'un vain doux rve1 ,oiseau moqueur ,de la fort8 ,le jour plit1 ,la nuit se lve1 ,et dans mon cur ,l'ombre a pleur2 #b4 ,o chante-moi ,ta folle gamme1 ,car j'ai dormi ,ce jour durant2 ,le lche emoi ,o fut mon me ,sanglote ennui ,le jour mourant444 #c4 ,sais-tu le chant ,de sa parole ,et de sa voix1 ,toi qui redis ,dans le couchant ,ton air frivole ,comme autrefois ,sous les midis8 #d4 ,o chante alors ,la mlodie ,de son amour1 ,mon fol espoir1 ,parmi les ors ,et l'incendie ,du vain doux jour ,qui meurt ce soir4 ,,francis ,,viel-,,griffin4 ,,blue ,,bird4 #a4 ,canst thou forget1 ,in dreams so vain1 ,oh1 mocking bird ,of forest deep8 ,the day doth set1 ,night comes again1 ,my heart has heard ,the shadows weep2 #b4 ,thy tones let flow ,in maddening scale1 ,for ,i have slept ,the livelong day2 ,emotions low ,in me now wail1 ,my soul they've kept3 ,light dies away 444 #c4 ,that music sweet1 ,ah1 do you know ,her voice and speech8 ,your airs so light ,you who repeat ,in sunset's glow1 ,as you sang1 each1 ,at noonday's height4 #d4 ,of my desire1 ,my hope so bold1 ,her love--up1 sing1 ,sing 'neath this light1 ,this flaming fire1 ,and all the gold ,the eve doth bring ,ere comes the night4 ,no4 #b4 ,and here are some verses by the esteemed young poet ,verhaeren1 which ,i also take from page #bh of his ,works3-- ,,attirances4 ,lointainement1 et si trangement pareils1 ,de grands masques d'argent que la brume recule1 ,vaguent1 au jour tombant1 autour des vieux soleils4 ,les doux lointaines6--et comme1 au fond du crpuscule1 ,ils nous fixent le cur1 immensment le cur1 ,avec les yeux dfunts de leur visage d'me4 ,c'est toujours du silence1 moins1 dans la pleur ,du soir1 un jet de feu soudain1 un cri de flamme1 ,un dpart de lumire inattendu vers ,dieu4 ,on se laisse charmer et troubler de mystre1 ,et l'on dirait des morts qui taisent un adieu ,trop mystique1 pour tre cout par la terre6 ,sont-ils le souvenir matriel et clair ,des phbes chrtiens couchs aux catacombes ,parmi les lys8 ,sont-ils leur regard et leur chair8 ,ou seul1 ce qui survit de merveilleux aux tombes ,de ceux qui sont partis1 vers leurs rves1 un soir1 ,conqurir la folie l'assaut des nues8 ,lointainement1 combien nous les sentons vouloir ,un peu d'amour pour leurs uvres destitues1 ,pour leur errance et leur tristesse aux horizons4 ,toujours6 aux horizons du cur et des penses1 ,alors que les vieux soirs clatent en blasons ,soudains1 pour les gloires noires et angoisses4 ,,mile ,,verhaeren1 ,pomes4 ,,attractions4 ,large masks of silver1 by mists drawn away1 ,so strangely alike1 yet so far apart1 ,float round the old suns when faileth the day4 ,they transfix our heart1 so immensely our heart1 ,those distances mild1 in the twilight deep1 ,looking out of dead faces with their spirit eyes4 ,all around is now silence1 except when there leap ,in the pallor of evening1 with fiery cries1 ,some fountains of flame that ,god-ward do fly4 ,mysterious trouble and charms us enfold4 ,you might think that the dead spoke a silent good-bye1 ,oh6 too mystical far on earth to be told6 ,are they the memories1 material and bright1 ,of the ,christian youths that in catacombs sleep ',mid the lilies8 ,are they their flesh or their sight8 ,or the marvel alone that survives1 in the deep1 ,of those that1 one night1 returned to their dream ,of conquering folly by assaulting the skies8 ,for their destitute works--we feel it seems1 ,for a little love their longing cries ,from horizons far--for their errings and pain4 ,in horizons ever of heart and thought1 ,while the evenings old in bright blaze wane ,suddenly1 for black glories anguish fraught4 ,no4 #c4 ,and the following is a poem by ,moras1 evidently an admirer of ,greek beauty4 ,it is from page #bh of a volume of his ,poems3-- ,,enone ,,au ,,clair ,,visage4 ,enone1 j'avais cru qu'en aimant ta beaut ,o l'me avec le corps trouvent leur unit1 ,j'allais1 m'affermissant et le cur et l'esprit1 ,monter jusqu' cela qui jamais ne prit1 ,n'ayant t cre1 qui n'est froideur ou feu1 ,qui n'est beau quelque part et laid en autre lieu2 ,et me flattais encor' d'une belle harmonie ,que j'eusse compos du meilleur et du pire1 ,ainsi que le chanteur qui chrit ,polimnie1 ,en accordant le grave avec l'aigu1 retire ,un son bien lev sur les nerfs de sa lyre4 ,mais mon courage1 hlas6 se pmant comme mort1 ,m'enseigna que le trait qui m'avait fait amant ,ne fut pas de cet arc que courbe sans effort ,la ,vnus qui naquit du mle seulement1 ,mais que j'avais souffert cette ,vnus dernire1 ,qui a le cur couard1 n d'une faible mre4 ,et pourtant1 ce mauvais garon1 chasseur habile1 ,qui charge son carquois de sagette subtile1 ,qui secoue en riant sa torche1 pour un jour1 ,qui ne pose jamais que sur de tendres fleurs1 ,c'est sur un teint charmant qu'il essuie les pleurs1 ,et c'est encore un ,dieu1 ,enone1 cet ,amour4 ,mais1 laisse1 les oiseaux du printemps sont partis1 ,et je vois les rayons du soleil amortis4 ,enone1 ma douleur1 harmonieux visage1 ,superbe humilit1 doux honnte langage1 ,hier me remirant dans cet tang glac ,qui au bout du jardin se couvre de feuillage1 ,sur ma face je vis que les jours ont pass4 ,,jean ,,mor,,as4 ,,enone4 ,enone1 in loving thy beauty1 ,i thought1 ,where the soul and the body to union are brought1 ,that mounting by steadying my heart and my mind1 ,in that which can't perish1 myself ,i should find4 ,for it ne'er was created1 is not ugly and fair2 ,is not coldness in one part1 while on fire it is there4 ,yes1 ,i flattered myself that a harmony fine ,i'd succeed to compose of the worst and the best1 ,like the bard who adores ,polyhymnia divine1 ,and mingling sounds different from the nerves of his lyre1 ,from the grave and the smart draws melodies higher4 ,but1 alas6 my courage1 so faint and nigh spent1 ,the dart that has struck me proves without fail ,not to be from that bow which is easily bent ,by the ,venus that's born alone of the male4 ,no1 'twas that other ,venus that caused me to smart1 ,born of frail mother with cowardly heart4 ,and yet that naughty lad1 that little hunter bold1 ,who laughs and shakes his flowery torch just for a day1 ,who never rests but upon tender flowers and gay1 ,on sweetest skin who dries the tears his eyes that fill1 ,yet oh1 ,enone mine1 a ,god's that ,cupid still4 ,let it pass2 for the birds of the ,spring are away1 ,and dying ,i see the sun's lingering ray4 ,enone1 my sorrow1 oh1 harmonious face1 ,humility grand1 words of virtue and grace1 ,i looked yestere'en in the pond frozen fast1 ,strewn with leaves at the end of the garden's fair space1 ,and ,i read in my face that those days are now past4 ,no4 #d4 ,and this is also from page #bh of a thick book1 full of similar ,poems1 by ,m4 ,montesquiou4 ,,berceuse ,d',,ombre4 ,des formes1 des formes1 des formes ,blanche1 bleue1 et rose1 et d'or ,descendront du haut des ormes ,sur l'enfant qui se rendort4 ,des formes6 ,des plumes1 des plumes1 des plumes ,pour composer un doux nid4 ,midi sonne3 les enclumes ,cessent2 la rumeur finit 444 ,des plumes6 ,des roses1 des roses1 des roses ,pour embaumer son sommeil1 ,vos ptales sont moroses ,prs du sourire vermeil4 ,o roses6 ,des ailes1 des ailes1 des ailes ,pour bourdonner son front4 ,abeilles et demoiselles1 ,des rythmes qui berceront4 ,des ailes6 ,des branches1 des branches1 des branches ,pour tresser un pavillon1 ,par o des clarts moins franches ,descendront sur l'oisillon4 ,des branches6 ,des songes1 des songes1 des songes ,dans ses pensers entr' ouverts ,glissez un peu de mensonges ,a voir le vie au travers ,des songes6 ,des fes1 des fes1 des fes1 ,pour filer leurs cheveaux ,des mirages1 de bouffes ,dans tous ces petits cerveaux4 ,des fes4 ,des anges1 des anges1 des anges ,pour emporter dans l'ther ,les petits enfants tranges ,qui ne veulent pas rester 444 ,nos anges6 ,,comte ,,robert ,,de ,,montesquiou-,,fezensac1 ,les ,hortensias ,bleus4 ,,the ,,shadow ,,lullaby4 ,oh forms1 oh forms1 oh forms ,white1 blue1 and gold1 and red ,descending from the elm trees1 ,on sleeping baby's head4 ,oh forms6 ,oh feathers1 feathers1 feathers ,to make a cosy nest4 ,twelve striking3 stops the clamour2 ,the anvils are at rest 444 ,oh feathers6 ,oh roses1 roses1 roses ,to scent his sleep awhile1 ,pale are your fragrant petals ,beside his ruby smile4 ,oh roses6 ,oh wings1 oh wings1 oh wings ,of bees and dragon-flies1 ,to hum around his forehead1 ,and lull him with your sighs4 ,oh wings6 ,branches1 branches1 branches ,a shady bower to twine1 ,through which1 oh daylight1 family ,descend on birdie mine4 ,branches6 ,oh dreams1 oh dreams1 oh dreams ,into his opening mind1 ,let in a little falsehood ,with sights of life behind4 ,dreams6 ,oh fairies1 fairies1 fairies1 ,to twine and twist their threads ,with puffs of phantom visions ,into these little heads4 ,fairies6 ,angels1 angels1 angels ,to the ether far away1 ,those children strange to carry ,that here don't wish to stay 444 ,our angels6 ,footnote #ib3 ,the translations in ,appendices ,i41 ,,ii41 and ,,iv41 are by ,louise ,maude4 ,the aim of these renderings has been to keep as close to the originals as the obscurity of meaning allowed4 ,the sense 7or absence of sense7 has therefore been more considered than the form of the verses4 ,,appendix ,,iii4 ,these are the contents of ,the ,nibelung's ,ring3-- ,the first part tells that the nymphs1 the daughters of the ,rhine1 for some reason guard gold in the ,rhine1 and sing3 ,weia1 ,waga1 ,woge du ,welle1 ,walle zur ,wiege1 ,wagalaweia1 ,wallala1 ,weiala1 ,weia1 and so forth4 ,these singing nymphs are pursued by a gnome 7a nibelung7 who desires to seize them4 ,the gnome cannot catch any of them4 ,then the nymphs guarding the gold tell the gnome just what they ought to keep secret1 namely1 that whoever renounces love will be able to steal the gold they are guarding4 ,and the gnome renounces love1 and steals the gold4 ,this ends the first scene4 ,in the second scene a god and a goddess lie in a field in sight of a castle which giants have built for them4 ,presently they wake up and are pleased with the castle1 and they relate that in payment for this work they must give the goddess ,freia to the giants4 ,the giants come for their pay4 ,but the god ,wotan objects to parting with ,freia4 ,the giants get angry4 ,the gods hear that the gnome has stolen the gold1 promise to confiscate it and to pay the giants with it4 ,but the giants won't trust them1 and seize the goddess ,freia in pledge4 ,the third scene takes place under ground4 ,the gnome ,alberich1 who stole the gold1 for some reason beats a gnome1 ,mime1 and takes from him a helmet which has the power both of making people invisible and of turning them into other animals4 ,the gods1 ,wotan and others1 appear and quarrel with one another and with the gnomes1 and wish to take the gold1 but ,alberich won't give it up1 and 7like everybody all through the piece7 behaves in a way to ensure his own ruin4 ,he puts on the helmet1 and becomes first a dragon and then a toad4 ,the gods catch the toad1 take the helmet off it1 and carry ,alberich away with them4 ,scene ,,iv4 ,the gods bring ,alberich to their home1 and order him to command his gnomes to bring them all the gold4 ,the gnomes bring it4 ,alberich gives up the gold1 but keeps a magic ring4 ,the gods take the ring4 ,so ,alberich curses the ring1 and says it is to bring misfortune on anyone who has it4 ,the giants appear2 they bring the goddess ,freia1 and demand her ransom4 ,they stick up staves of ,freia's height1 and gold is poured in between these staves3 this is to be the ransom4 ,there is not enough gold1 so the helmet is thrown in1 and they also demand the ring4 ,wotan refuses to give it up1 but the goddess ,erda appears and commands him to do so1 because it brings misfortune4 ,wotan gives it up4 ,freia is released4 ,the giants1 having received the ring1 fight1 and one of them kills the other4 ,this ends the ,prelude1 and we come to the ,first ,day4 ,the scene shows a house in a tree4 ,siegmund runs in tired1 and lies down4 ,sieglinda1 the mistress of the house 7and wife of ,hunding71 gives him a drugged draught1 and they fall in love with each other4 ,sieglinda's husband comes home1 learns that ,siegmund belongs to a hostile race1 and wishes to fight him next day2 but ,sieglinda drugs her husband1 and comes to ,siegmund4 ,siegmund discovers that ,sieglinda is his sister1 and that his father drove a sword into the tree so that no one can get it out4 ,siegmund pulls the sword out1 and commits incest with his sister4 ,act ,,ii4 ,siegmund is to fight with ,hunding4 ,the gods discuss the question to whom they shall award the victory4 ,wotan1 approving of ,siegmund's incest with his sister1 wishes to spare him1 but1 under pressure from his wife1 ,fricka1 he orders the ,valkyrie ,brnnhilda to kill ,siegmund4 ,siegmund goes to fight2 ,sieglinda faints4 ,brnnhilda appears and wishes to slay ,siegmund4 ,siegmund wishes to kill ,sieglinda also1 but ,brnnhilda does not allow it2 so he fights with ,hunding4 ,brnnhilda defends ,siegmund1 but ,wotan defends ,hunding4 ,siegmund's sword breaks1 and he is killed4 ,sieglinda runs away4 ,act ,,iii4 ,the ,valkyries 7divine ,amazons7 are on the stage4 ,the ,valkyrie ,brnnhilda arrives on horseback1 bringing ,siegmund's body4 ,she is flying from ,wotan1 who is chasing her for her disobedience4 ,wotan catches her1 and as a punishment dismisses her from her post as a ,valkyrie4 ,he casts a spell on her1 so that she has to go to sleep and to continue asleep until a man wakes her4 ,when someone wakes her she will fall in love with him4 ,wotan kisses her2 she falls asleep4 ,he lets off fire1 which surrounds her4 ,we now come to the ,second ,day4 ,the gnome ,mime forges a sword in a wood4 ,siegfried appears4 ,he is a son born from the incest of brother with sister 7,siegmund with ,sieglinda71 and has been brought up in this wood by the gnome4 ,in general the motives of the actions of everybody in this production are quite unintelligible4 ,siegfried learns his own origin1 and that the broken sword was his father's4 ,he orders ,mime to reforge it1 and then goes off4 ,wotan comes in the guise of a wanderer1 and relates what will happen3 that he who has not learnt to fear will forge the sword1 and will defeat everybody4 ,the gnome conjectures that this is ,siegfried1 and wants to poison him4 ,siegfried returns1 forges his father's sword1 and runs off1 shouting1 ,heiho6 heiho6 heiho6 ,ho6 ho6 ,aha6 oho6 aha6 ,heiaho6 heiaho6 heiaho6 ,ho6 ho6 ,hahei6 hoho6 hahei6 ,and we get to ,act ,,ii4 ,alberich sits guarding a giant1 who1 in form of a dragon1 guards the gold he has received4 ,wotan appears1 and for some unknown reason foretells that ,siegfried will come and kill the dragon4 ,alberich wakes the dragon1 and asks him for the ring1 promising to defend him from ,siegfried4 ,the dragon won't give up the ring4 ,exit ,alberich4 ,mime and ,siegfried appear4 ,mime hopes the dragon will teach ,siegfried to fear4 ,but ,siegfried does not fear4 ,he drives ,mime away and kills the dragon1 after which he puts his finger1 smeared with the dragon's blood1 to his lips4 ,this enables him to know men's secret thoughts1 as well as the language of birds4 ,the birds tell him where the treasure and the ring are1 and also that ,mime wishes to poison him4 ,mime returns1 and says out loud that he wishes to poison ,siegfried4 ,this is meant to signify that ,siegfried1 having tasted dragon's blood1 understands people's secret thoughts4 ,siegfried1 having learnt ,mime's intentions1 kills him4 ,the birds tell ,siegfried where ,brnnhilda is1 and he goes to find her4 ,act ,,iii4 ,wotan calls up ,erda4 ,erda prophesies to ,wotan1 and gives him advice4 ,siegfried appears1 quarrels with ,wotan1 and they fight4 ,suddenly ,siegfried's sword breaks ,wotan's spear1 which had been more powerful than anything else4 ,siegfried goes into the fire to ,brnnhilda2 kisses her2 she wakes up1 abandons her divinity1 and throws herself into ,siegfried's arms4 ,third ,day4 ,prelude4 ,three ,norns plait a golden rope1 and talk about the future4 ,they go away4 ,siegfried and ,brnnhilda appear4 ,siegfried takes leave of her1 gives her the ring1 and goes away4 ,act ,i4 ,by the ,rhine4 ,a king wants to get married1 and also to give his sister in marriage4 ,hagen1 the king's wicked brother1 advises him to marry ,brnnhilda1 and to give his sister to ,siegfried4 ,siegfried appears2 they give him a drugged draught1 which makes him forget all the past and fall in love with the king's sister1 ,gutrune4 ,so he rides off with ,gunther1 the king1 to get ,brnnhilda to be the king's bride4 ,the scene changes4 ,brnnhilda sits with the ring4 ,a ,valkyrie comes to her and tells her that ,wotan's spear is broken1 and advises her to give the ring to the ,rhine nymphs4 ,siegfried comes1 and by means of the magic helmet turns himself into ,gunther1 demands the ring from ,brnnhilda1 seizes it1 and drags her off to sleep with him4 ,act ,,ii4 ,by the ,rhine4 ,alberich and ,hagen discuss how to get the ring4 ,siegfried comes1 tells how he has obtained a bride for ,gunther and spent the night with her1 but put a sword between himself and her4 ,brnnhilda rides up1 recognises the ring on ,siegfried's hand1 and declares that it was he1 and not ,gunther1 who was with her4 ,hagen stirs everybody up against ,siegfried1 and decides to kill him next day when hunting4 ,act ,,iii4 ,again the nymphs in the ,rhine relate what has happened4 ,siegfried1 who has lost his way1 appears4 ,the nymphs ask him for the ring1 but he won't give it up4 ,hunters appear4 ,siegfried tells the story of his life4 ,hagen then gives him a draught1 which causes his memory to return to him4 ,siegfried relates how he aroused and obtained ,brnnhilda1 and everyone is astonished4 ,hagen stabs him in the back1 and the scene is changed4 ,gutrune meets the corpse of ,siegfried4 ,gunther and ,hagen quarrel about the ring1 and ,hagen kills ,gunther4 ,brnnhilda cries4 ,hagen wishes to take the ring from ,siegfried's hand1 but the hand of the corpse raises itself threateningly4 ,brnnhilda takes the ring from ,siegfried's hand1 and when ,siegfried's corpse is carried to the pyre she gets on to a horse and leaps into the fire4 ,the ,rhine rises1 and the waves reach the pyre4 ,in the river are three nymphs4 ,hagen throws himself into the fire to get the ring1 but the nymphs seize him and carry him off4 ,one of them holds the ring2 and that is the end of the matter4 ,the impression obtainable from my recapitulation is1 of course1 incomplete4 ,but however incomplete it may be1 it is certainly infinitely more favourable than the impression which results from reading the four booklets in which the work is printed4 ,,appendix ,,iv4 ,translations of ,french poems and prose quoted in ,chapter ,x4 ,,baudelaire',s 8,,flowers ,,of ,,evil40 ,no4 ,,xxiv4 ,i adore thee as much as the vaults of night1 ,o vase full of grief1 taciturnity great1 ,and ,i love thee the more because of thy flight4 ,it seemeth1 my night's beautifier1 that you ,still heap up those leagues--yes6 ironically heap6-- ,that divide from my arms the immensity blue4 ,i advance to attack1 ,i climb to assault1 ,like a choir of young worms at a corpse in the vault2 ,thy coldness1 oh cruel1 implacable beast6 ,yet heightens thy beauty1 on which my eyes feast6 ,,baudelaire',s 8,,flowers ,,of ,,evil40 ,no4 ,,xxxvi4 ,,duellum4 ,two warriors come running1 to fight they begin1 ,with gleaming and blood they bespatter the air2 ,these games1 and this clatter of arms1 is the din ,of youth that's a prey to the surgings of love4 ,the rapiers are broken6 and so is our youth1 ,but the dagger's avenged1 dear6 and so is the sword1 ,by the nail that is steeled and the hardened tooth4 ,oh1 the fury of hearts aged and ulcered by love6 ,in the ditch1 where the ounce and the pard have their lair1 ,our heroes have rolled in an angry embrace2 ,their skin blooms on brambles that erewhile were bare4 ,that ravine is a friend-inhabited hell6 ,then let us roll in1 oh woman inhuman1 ,to immortalise hatred that nothing can quell6 ,,from ,,baudelaire',s ,,prose ,,work ,,entitled 8,,little ,,poems40 ,,the ,,stranger4 ,whom dost thou love best8 say1 enigmatical man--thy father1 thy mother1 thy brother1 or thy sister8 8,i have neither father1 nor mother1 nor sister1 nor brother40 ,thy friends8 8,you there use an expression the meaning of which till now remains unknown to me40 ,thy country8 8,i ignore in what latitude it is situated40 ,beauty8 8,i would gladly love her1 goddess and immortal40 ,gold8 8,i hate it as you hate ,god40 ,then what do you love1 extraordinary stranger8 8,i love the clouds 444 the clouds that pass 444 there 444 the marvellous clouds60 ,,baudelaire',s ,,prose ,,poem1 ,,the ,,soup ,,and ,,the ,,clouds4 ,my beloved little silly was giving me my dinner1 and ,i was contemplating1 through the open window of the dining-room1 those moving architectures which ,god makes out of vapours1 the marvellous constructions of the impalpable4 ,and ,i said to myself1 amid my contemplations1 8,all these phantasmagoria are almost as beautiful as the eyes of my beautiful beloved1 the monstrous little silly with the green eyes40 ,suddenly ,i felt the violent blow of a fist on my back1 and ,i heard a harsh1 charming voice1 an hysterical voice1 as it were hoarse with brandy1 the voice of my dear little well-beloved1 saying1 8,are you going to eat your soup soon1 you d---- b---- of a dealer in clouds80 ,,baudelaire',s ,,prose ,,poem1 ,,the ,,gallant ,,marksman4 ,as the carriage was passing through the forest1 he ordered it to be stopped near a shooting-gallery1 saying that he wished to shoot off a few bullets to kill ,time4 ,to kill this monster1 is it not the most ordinary and the most legitimate occupation of everyone8 ,and he gallantly offered his arm to his dear1 delicious1 and execrable wife--that mysterious woman to whom he owed so much pleasure1 so much pain1 and perhaps also a large part of his genius4 ,several bullets struck far from the intended mark--one even penetrated the ceiling2 and as the charming creature laughed madly1 mocking her husband's awkwardness1 he turned abruptly towards her and said1 8,look at that doll there on the right with the haughty mien and her nose in the air2 well1 dear angel1 ,i imagine to myself that it is you60 ,and he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger4 ,the doll was neatly decapitated4 ,then1 bowing towards his dear one1 his delightful1 execrable wife1 his inevitable1 pitiless muse1 and kissing her hand respectfully1 he added1 8,ah6 my dear angel1 how ,i thank you for my skill60 ,,verlaine',s 8,,forgotten ,,airs40 ,no4 ,i4 8,the wind in the plain ,suspends its breath40--,,favart4 ',tis ecstasy languishing1 ,amorous fatigue1 ,of woods all the shudderings ,embraced by the breeze1 ',tis the choir of small voices ,towards the grey trees4 ,oh the frail and fresh murmuring6 ,the twitter and buzz1 ,the soft cry resembling ,that's expired by the grass 444 ,oh1 the roll of the pebbles ',neath waters that pass6 ,oh1 this soul that is groaning ,in sleepy complaint6 ,in us is it moaning8 ,in me and in you8 ,low anthem exhaling ,while soft falls the dew4 ,,verlaine',s 8,,forgotten ,,airs40 ,no4 ,,viii4 ,in the unending ,dulness of this land1 ,uncertain the snow ,is gleaming like sand4 ,no kind of brightness ,in copper-hued sky1 ,the moon you might see ,now live and now die4 ,grey float the oak trees-- ,cloudlike they seem-- ,of neighbouring forests1 ,the mists in between4 ,wolves hungry and lean1 ,and famishing crow1 ,what happens to you ,when acid winds blow8 ,in the unending ,dulness of this land1 ,uncertain the snow ,is gleaming like sand4 ,,song ,,by ,,maeterlinck4 ,when he went away1 7,then ,i heard the door7 ,when he went away1 ,on her lips a smile there lay 444 ,back he came to her1 7,then ,i heard the lamp7 ,back he came to her1 ,someone else was there 444 ,it was death ,i met1 7,and ,i heard her soul7 ,it was death ,i met1 ,for her he's waiting yet 444 ,someone came to say1 7,child1 ,i am afraid7 ,someone came to say ,that he would go away 444 ,with my lamp alight1 7,child1 ,i am afraid7 ,with my lamp alight1 ,approached ,i in affright 444 ,to one door ,i came1 7,child1 ,i am afraid7 ,to one door ,i came1 ,a shudder shook the flame 444 ,at the second door1 7,child1 ,i am afraid7 ,at the second door ,forth words the flame did pour 444 ,to the third ,i came1 7,child1 ,i am afraid7 ,to the third ,i came1 ,then died the little flame 444 ,should he one day return ,then what shall we say8 ,waiting1 tell him1 one ,and dying for him lay 444 ,if he asks for you1 ,say what answer then8 ,give him my gold ring ,and answer not a thing 444 ,should he question me ,concerning the last hour8 ,say ,i smiled for fear ,that he should shed a tear 444 ,should he question more ,without knowing me8 ,like a sister speak2 ,suffering he may be 444 ,should he question why ,empty is the hall8 ,show the gaping door1 ,the lamp alight no more 444 ,,printed ,,by ,,morrison ,,and ,,gibb ,,limited1 ,,edinburgh ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores 7italics74 ,text that was in bold face is enclosed by equals signs 7bold74 ,footnotes have been moved to follow the chapters in which they are referenced4