Take the infamous Wagner, for instance. A member of the Nazi party, a man committed to the Aryan cause and the the genocide that it entailed, Wagner is perhaps the poster-child of this debate. But how much ever I abhor the man, his actions, and what he stood for, I cannot and will not say that his music does not move me. I will admit that not having personally experienced the holocaust and never having known anyone who has, my reaction to Wagner, while very strong, is not visceral. His music does not immediately bring to mind concentration camps; it brings to mind Valkyries and Saxons! But having said that, I do not feel that knowing his past, I must be compelled to condemn his music along with him.When we create works of art, we bring into the world what is in some measure, the best in us...what is most human in us. And having created art, it is no longer merely of us but of the world. When we create a work of immense beauty, or something that speaks to a certain truth that dwells within humanity, we unwittingly create a being that reflects what we perhaps could have been. Surely, art is bigger than we are, more sublime, and more human than we are? Should it not be judged as such?
3 comments:
Thank you for writing this. I've been arguing this case (under the "author is dead" alias) for years now, against the idiots who can't talk about a book without bringing up the sexual peccadilloes of its author...
Also, I'm reviving this blog. :)
Thanks for the comment! And thanks for reviving this breathless piece of the internet!
OK I see that I was unclear -- I meant I am reviving _my_ blog. Yours is already effervescent!
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