Beauty Will Save the World

Howard Bond (b. 1931)
Window, Pylle, England, 1982
Black and white photograph (gelatin silver)
Brauer Museum of Art

I was just reading Solzhenitsyn, from a little volume of collected essays Larry [Auster] had given me, and in his address to the Nobel Committee on receiving their prize he said this about beauty:

Dostoevsky once let drop an enigmatic remark: ‘Beauty will save the world.’ What is this? For a long time it seemed to me simply a phrase. How could this be possible? When in the bloodthirsty process of history did beauty ever save anyone, and from what? Granted, it ennobled, it elevated—but whom did it ever save?

There is, however, a particular feature in the very essence of beauty—a characteristic trait of art itself: the persuasiveness of a true work of art is completely irrefutable; it prevails even over a resisting heart*. A political speech, an aggressive piece of journalism, a program for the organization of society, a philosophical system, can all be constructed—with apparent smoothness and harmony—on an error or a lie […] But a true work of art carries its verification within itself […] works which have drawn on the truth and which have presented it to us in concentrated and vibrant form seize us, attract us to themselves powerfully, and no one ever—even centuries later—will step forth to deny them.

So perhaps the old trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is not simply the decorous and antiquated formula it seemed to us at the time of our self-confident materialistic youth. It the tops of these three trees do converge, as thinkers used to claim, and if the all too obvious and the overly straight sprouts of truth and goodness have been crushed, cut down, or not permitted to grow, then perhaps the whimsical, unpredictable, and ever surprising shoots of Beauty will force their way through and soar up to that very spot, thereby fulfilling the task of all three.
(*Larry marked this passage in the book)

In searching the web for Solzhenitsyn's quote (so I didn't have to type it from my paperback) I found it, and some additional commentary on the topic that you may find of interest:

- Christien Chany. Beauty and Truth, The Cresset: A Review of Literature, the Arts and Public Affairs. Easter 2009 (Vol LXXIII, No. 4 pp 16 - 20)
- Margaret Perry. Can Beauty Save the World?, Ten Thousand Places January 24, 2008
- Santiago Ramos. Why Kim Jong-Il Should Fear Antonín Dvořák December 27, 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By: Dean Ericson