COMMENTS
Greenberg's Esthetics
Clement Greenberg's analysis of the nature of art is
especially interesting because it is the work of what might be called an ama–
teur esthetician. Unlike such professional estheticians as Croce, Bergson, and
Dewey, among others, whose writing on esthetics was based on their gener–
al philosophic principles, Greenberg is simply concerned with keeping his
eye on the object. And he stresses the essential point, commonly ignored or
forgotten, that esthetic pleasures differ from sensual ones.
Particularly valuable is Greenberg's linkage of judgment with the
experience of art, which he partially got from Kant. But there is also one
fault in this respect, for Greenberg does not distinguish between the astute
critic of art-and the sophisticated fellow artist-whose judgment enters
into the history of art, and the ignorant onlooker, who is simply describ–
ing himself. Incidentally, it is the same kind of failure to distinguish the
two that marks Emerson's notion of self-reliance, where he also failed to
distinguish between the self-reliance of first-rate minds and that of the
ordinary, uneducated people.
Kafka
Cynthia Ozick has a brilliant discussion of Kafka and his translators
in the January 11, 1999 issue of
The New Yorker.
Ozick clearly has become
one of the best literary critics writing at the present time. She is particu–
larly to be noted for what might be called "creative criticism," for her
writing is to be valued for its language as well as its ideas. She also includes
in her piece a comment on the new translations of
The Trial
and
The Castle,
where she makes the point that perfect translations are ultimately impossi–
ble, and that the translators of Kafka reflect their cultural origins.
I didn't think anything new could be added to Kafka criticism, but in
addition to her remarks on translation, Ozick has ferreted out and put
together the contradictory forces and ideas that went into Kafka's thinking.
Perhaps I should add an observation about Kafka's writing. I have a hunch
that some of his fiction is not only dream-like, but actually contains elements
of dreams that Kafka had in the long nights when he was writing, waking,
and dreaming. Of course, this is difficult to prove, but it is a suggestion.
WP
Across Cultures
When the Jewish philologist Victor Klemperer finally
wanted to escape from Hitler's Germany with his non-Jewish wife, Eva, it
was too late, no country would have them. Confined to his house and
backyard in Dresden, and later on in hiding, he valiantly kept a record of
the hardships in the Nazis' ever-tightening net.
I Shall Bear Witness
is an apt
