Quote for Today
Simone Weil: “Literature and morality. Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating. Therefore, ‘imaginative literature’ is either boring or immoral (or a mixture of both). It only escapes from this alternative if in some way it passes over to the side of reality through the power of art – and only genius can do that.”
I agree that imaginary goodness is boring. There is nothing I would rather do than spend a quiet night at home with my lovely wife and loud children, petting the cat, slippers on the grate, fire in the fireplace, television tuned to a black and white movie. One cannot make that scene exciting or dramatic, except by throwing the cat into the fireplace.
Drama is about adventure; adventure is about solving problems, preferably terrible problems that force horrific dilemmas which in turn call upon unexpected reserves of stoic heroism, courage in the face of disaster and death; happiness is about rest and satisfaction. May heaven spare me from adventures!
We cannot imagine heaven because we cannot imagine a perfect contentment or lasting ecstasy that would not either burden us with boredom or burn us up. All false pleasures wear away with time, all things that seem perfect in this world turn out to be false: and yet the hunger for perfection cannot be drowned out from the human heart, no matter in what deep and unlit well of cynicism we try.
I also agree that real life evil is boring. Nazis wore snappy uniforms, it is true, but Maoists wear drab pajamas. Most crime is not committed by James Bond arch-villains but by tattooed yobs and druggies beating girlfriends or committing petty larceny on persons weaker and poorer than themselves. Even more boringly, most crime is poor-on-poor, and there is no change in social conditions that will change it; a matter of a blackened eye or a stolen purse rather than a daring crime involving millions, or a murder cunningly concealed. In real life, most detectives are overweight, and most criminals are turned in by their friends or confess under questioning, or as part of a plea bargain.
Is Simon Weil right? Does portraying evil as it truly is, and goodness as it truly is, without losing the audience, take genius?
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
