10 avril 2007

Impure Aesthetics

"War is war, l’art pour l’art, in politics there’s no room for compunction, business is business, — all these signify the same thing, all these appertain to the same aggressive and radical spirit, informed by that uncanny, I might almost say that metaphysical, lack of consideration for consequences, that ruthless logic directed on the object and on the object alone, which looks neither to the right nor to the left; and this, all this, is the style of thinking that characterizes our age."

— Hermann Broch, The Sleepwalkers

via Alex Ross at The Rest is Noise

2 commentaires:

Daniel Kasman a dit…

Have you read this book? I hadn't heard of it until I saw Monica Vitti's character reading it in LA NOTTE, which of course sparked my interest...

David McDougall a dit…

I haven't read it; in fact, I haven't seen LA NOTTE, either (shameful, I know). But all I've read about the book makes it sound like a stunning read, and this quote certainly backs up that suspicion. Perhaps after my The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and Petrolio I will tackle it...