I'm a critic. I write essays about works of art. It's like being a eunuch in the seraglio, but unrequited love is the sweetest, and I have the proper distance. I can compress the qualities of beauty I've been trained to see, store them up, and bring them out at will, rapid-fire, in the combinations I want.
The quote reflects the perspective of a critic who engages deeply with art yet feels a sense of detachment from it, likening their experience to that of a eunuch in a harem. This metaphor suggests that while critics observe and appreciate beauty, they cannot fully partake in the creation of it. However, the critic finds value in this distance, claiming that unfulfilled admiration allows them to appreciate beauty in a more profound way.
The ability to articulate beauty is portrayed as a skill, with the critic expressing that they can curate and present aesthetic qualities in articulate ways. The critic learns to see and understand art and can evoke emotions and insights about it at any moment, effectively shaping their narrative and observations through learned experience. This encapsulates the complex relationship between artistic creation and critical interpretation.
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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.
Race of Cain, ascend to heaven, And cast God down upon the earth!
