3.1 In Délie there is a clear sense of the origin and the endpoint when it is reached, but the meaning of the trajectory as such remains in obscurity.
3.2 Scève emancipated the subject matter of the canzoniere from the prevailing narrative.
3.3 The scene of violent transgression and transformation in Saulsaye occurs in mythological time and space.
3.3 With Hammershoi and Kierkegaard we have the phenomenon of the artist creating the space that he is to occupy. The environment simply affords no solace. The quality of their introspection bears the scars of that.
3.4 Rimbaud turned to life as an antidote to art.
3.5 Perhaps the only difference between Laclos and Sade was that one was an artilleryman and the other in the cavalry. Otherwise it is hard to tell their cruelty apart. Laclos would not have been amused by this observation.
3.6 With Li Bai we observe how failure can be great good fortune.
3.7 Beethoven used his (wooden) teeth to hear. Not the only artist to misuse his own body fruitfully.
3.8 Consider the anonymity that Proust inflicted upon himself in order to write. Not one word was literally true. But it was all true at one remove.
3.9 Who but Stendhal knew that the most beautiful women on earth were to be found in Grenoble; and not only the most beautiful, but also the most seductive and the most scandalous. It was a secret that, if true, the Parisians, the Venetians and the Romans would have envied.
3.10 In addition to hating Grenoble, another distinction concerning Stendhal was that he wrote about the Napoleonic Wars having fought in them.
3.11 Marot had the distinction of becoming an adjective before the affectation became popular.
3.12 Montaigne uses the word "chat" (cat) more often than the word "bonheur" (happiness). His cat's name was Madame Vanité.
3.13 Hœlderlin believed that man is uncanny and destined to break out of his own mold.
3.14 "Ein Zeichen sind wir, deutungslos," F.H. Mnemosyne, zweite Fassung.
3.15 Man is incomplete.
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Aphorisms & Reflections
Non-FictionA collection of aphorisms and other short writings on a range of metaphysical and aesthetic topics, with observations about the work of particular artists and writers.
