On beauty and bellyaching
Friday, 6. April 2007, 19:41:45
This great subject of culture [ie. beauty] - and not only European culture - has to be dealt with. People wanted to express something through beauty - it seems, the good. When sacred art existed, it was simple: A temple was built for the glory of God. Now everything has been stifled. I think the subject will be tackled, and in different areas - architecture, good painting, good poetry, which serves man, gives him courage, and says: "Look, we can sing."
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Thanks to him [ie. Rodin, who advised Rilke to go to the Jardin des Plantes and study the animals], fine poems arose. Which is to say, one must go out from oneself to the object. I know it from myself - always whining and bellyaching, but going in that direction, along that road: studying the object, not oneself, contemplating something which is outside of me. That philosophical surprise, that something is, just as I am.
- Zbigniew Herbert, 'The Art of Empathy; A Conversation with Zbigniew Herbert', from: Polish Writers on Writing (2007), edited by Adam Zagajewski, translation Alissa Valles.
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Thanks to him [ie. Rodin, who advised Rilke to go to the Jardin des Plantes and study the animals], fine poems arose. Which is to say, one must go out from oneself to the object. I know it from myself - always whining and bellyaching, but going in that direction, along that road: studying the object, not oneself, contemplating something which is outside of me. That philosophical surprise, that something is, just as I am.
- Zbigniew Herbert, 'The Art of Empathy; A Conversation with Zbigniew Herbert', from: Polish Writers on Writing (2007), edited by Adam Zagajewski, translation Alissa Valles.
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