| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: by a finished execution whose perfect quiet charms superior men. The
life of this essentially thrifty people amply fulfils the conditions
of happiness which the masses desire as the lot of the average
citizen.
A refined materialism is stamped on all the habits of Flemish life.
English comfort is harsh in tone and arid in color; whereas the old-
fashioned Flemish interiors rejoice the eye with their mellow tints,
and the feelings with their genuine heartiness. There, work implies no
weariness, and the pipe is a happy adaptation of Neapolitan "far-
niente." Thence comes the peaceful sentiment in Art (its most
essential condition), patience, and the element which renders its
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: charming women, all ready to begin an artists' spree and waiting only
for him. Sarrasine restrained a feeling of displeasure and put a good
face on the matter. He had hoped for a dimly lighted chamber, his
mistress leaning over a brazier, a jealous rival within two steps,
death and love, confidences exchanged in low tones, heart to heart,
hazardous kisses, and faces so near together that La Zambinella's hair
would have touched caressingly his desire-laden brow, burning with
happiness.
" '/Vive la folie!/' he cried. '/Signori e belle donne/, you will
allow me to postpone my revenge and bear witness to my gratitude for
the welcome you offer a poor sculptor.'
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: and honour for traffic in wool, beetroot-sugar, and potato
spirits.
As the parson has ever gone band in hand with the landlord,
so has Clerical Socialism with Feudal Socialism.
Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist
tinge.
Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against
marriage,
against the State? Has it not preached in the place of these,
charity and
poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life
The Communist Manifesto |
