maria’s Reviews > Against Interpretation and Other Essays > Status Update

“art is seduction, not rape.”

“in almost every case, our manner of appearing is our manner of being. the mask is the face.”

“in a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art. even more. it is the revenge of the intellect upon the world. to interpret is to impoverish, to deplete the world - in order to set up a shadow world of “meanings”. it is to turn the world into this world.”

“in some cultural contexts, interpretation is a liberating act. it is a means of revising, of transvaluing, of escaping the dead past. in other cultural contexts, it is reactionary, impertinent, cowardly, stifling.”

“lie or no, art has a certain value according to aristotle because it is a form of therapy. (…) it arouses and purges dangerous emotions.”

“for me, the essays have done their work. i see the world differently, with fresher eyes”

“i have come to disbelieve some of these same ideas again - but from a new perspective, one that incorporates and is nourished by what is true in the argument of the essays. writing criticism has proved to be an act of intellectual disburdenment as much as of intellectual self-expression.”