From Milos Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being
"The fact that until recently the word 'shit' appeared in print as s--- has nothing to do with moral considerations. You can't claim that shit is immoral, after all! The objection to shit is a metaphysical one. The daily defection session is daily proof of the unacceptability of Creation. Either/or: either shit is acceptable (in which case don't lock yourself in the bathroom!) or we are created in an unacceptable manner.
"It follows, then, that the aesthetic ideal of the categorical agreement with being is a world in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist. This aesthetic ideal is called *kitsch*.
"'Kitsch' is a German word born in the middle of the sentimental nineteenth century, and from German it entered all Western languages.
Repeated use, however, has obliterated its original metaphysical meaning: kitsch is the absolute denial of shit, in both the literal and the figurative senses of the word; kitsch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence....
"The feeling induced by kitsch must be a kind the multitudes can share. Kitsch may not, therefore, depend on an unusual situation; it must derive from the basic images people have engraved in their memories: the ungrateful daughter, the neglected father, children running on the grass, the motherland betrayed, first love.
"Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see the children running on the grass!
"The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass!
"It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch.
"The brotherhood of man on earth will be possible only on a base of kitsch." ...
"And no one knows this better than politician. Whenever a camera is in the offing, they immediately run to the nearest child, lift it in the
air, kiss it on the cheek. Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements.
"Those of us who live in a society where various political tendencies exist side by side and competing influences cancel or limit one
another can manage more or less to escape the kitsch inquisition: the individual can preserve his individuality; the artist can create
unusual works. But whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch.
"When I say 'totalitarian,' what I mean is that everything that infringes on kitsch must be banished for life: every display of individualism (because deviation from the collective is a spit in the eye of the smiling brotherhood); every doubt (because anyone who starts doubting details will end by doubting life itself); all irony (because in the realm of kitsch everything must be taken quite seriously); and the mother who abandons her family or the man who prefers men to women, thereby calling into question the holy decree 'Be fruitful and multiply.'
"In this light, we can regard the gulag as a septic tank used by totalitarian kitsch to dispose of its refuse..."
"...As soon as kitsch is recognized for the lie it is, it moves into the context of non-kitsch, thus losing its authoritarian power and becoming as touching as any other human weakness. For none among us is superman enough to escape kitsch completely. No matter who we scorn it, kitsch is an integral part of the human condition."
"The fact that until recently the word 'shit' appeared in print as s--- has nothing to do with moral considerations. You can't claim that shit is immoral, after all! The objection to shit is a metaphysical one. The daily defection session is daily proof of the unacceptability of Creation. Either/or: either shit is acceptable (in which case don't lock yourself in the bathroom!) or we are created in an unacceptable manner.
"It follows, then, that the aesthetic ideal of the categorical agreement with being is a world in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist. This aesthetic ideal is called *kitsch*.
"'Kitsch' is a German word born in the middle of the sentimental nineteenth century, and from German it entered all Western languages.
Repeated use, however, has obliterated its original metaphysical meaning: kitsch is the absolute denial of shit, in both the literal and the figurative senses of the word; kitsch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence....
"The feeling induced by kitsch must be a kind the multitudes can share. Kitsch may not, therefore, depend on an unusual situation; it must derive from the basic images people have engraved in their memories: the ungrateful daughter, the neglected father, children running on the grass, the motherland betrayed, first love.
"Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see the children running on the grass!
"The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass!
"It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch.
"The brotherhood of man on earth will be possible only on a base of kitsch." ...
"And no one knows this better than politician. Whenever a camera is in the offing, they immediately run to the nearest child, lift it in the
air, kiss it on the cheek. Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements.
"Those of us who live in a society where various political tendencies exist side by side and competing influences cancel or limit one
another can manage more or less to escape the kitsch inquisition: the individual can preserve his individuality; the artist can create
unusual works. But whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch.
"When I say 'totalitarian,' what I mean is that everything that infringes on kitsch must be banished for life: every display of individualism (because deviation from the collective is a spit in the eye of the smiling brotherhood); every doubt (because anyone who starts doubting details will end by doubting life itself); all irony (because in the realm of kitsch everything must be taken quite seriously); and the mother who abandons her family or the man who prefers men to women, thereby calling into question the holy decree 'Be fruitful and multiply.'
"In this light, we can regard the gulag as a septic tank used by totalitarian kitsch to dispose of its refuse..."
"...As soon as kitsch is recognized for the lie it is, it moves into the context of non-kitsch, thus losing its authoritarian power and becoming as touching as any other human weakness. For none among us is superman enough to escape kitsch completely. No matter who we scorn it, kitsch is an integral part of the human condition."
No comments:
Post a Comment
One of the objects if this blog is to elevate civil discourse. Please do your part by presenting arguments rather than attacks or unfounded accusations.