11.18.2010

emotion for the sake of emotion/emotion for the sake of action

Gilbert: All art is immoral.

E: All art ?

G: Yes. For emotion for the sake of emotion is the aim of art, and emotion for the sake of action is the aim of life, and of that practical organisation of life that we call society. Society, which is the beginning and basis of morals, exists simply for the concentration of human energy, and in order to ensure its own continuance and healthy stability it demands, and no doubt rightly demands, of each of its citizens that he should contribute some form of productive labour to the common wealth, and toil and travail that the days work may be done. Society often forgives the criminal ; it never forgives the dreamer.
Oscar Wilde: 'The Critic as Artist' (1891)