A few excerpts from Rudolf Wittkower‘s important essay “Individualism in Art,” published in Journal of the History of Ideas 22 (1961), 291-302. From guild monopolies to individual entrepreneurism: “It would seem that with the breaking of the guild monopoly in the course of the XVth century the artist’s attitude to his work changed. Instead of […]
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born into a highly musical family. His father was was a skilled violinist and his older sister played the clavier excellently, so from his infancy he was surrounded by music. Yet, as he wrote in a letter to a friend, that was supplemented by deep study. “it is a mistake to
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For those interested in Friedrich Nietzsche and his connections to Thomas Mann, André Gide, D. H. Lawrence, Ayn Rand: Auburn University professor Roderick Long’s course on Nietzsche and Modern Literature is online with a treasure trove of readings, pictures, and musical clips. Related: My table with sources on Nietzsche and Rand: 124 Similarities and Differences.
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On why much art must be destroyed, while some can be allowed to survive: Our purpose is “to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, and that
The political purpose of art — Mao version Read More »
How different are Stephen Hicks’s and Jordan Peterson’s views on the origins of the Enlightenment? Was Christianity essential or a hindrance?
“A difference with Jordan Peterson on Enlightenment foundations” [Five-minute excerpt] Read More »
Link at the UConn site. “Isadore Johnson is a junior economics and political science major at the University of Connecticut. He’s the co-founder of UConn’s chapter of Young Americans For Liberty, is a local coordinator for Students for Liberty, and writes for various news outlets in his spare time when he’s not climbing. “Isadore interviews
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According to his biographer: Karajan seems to have spent the greater part of his like seeking the one thing he believed would make him completely happy: absolute mastery over his own destiny. Richard Osborne, Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music, Northeastern University Press, 1998, p. 33 Related: How other great artists became great:Igor Stravinsky
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