"All men are somewhat ridiculous and grotesque, just because they are men; and in this respect artists might well be regarded as man multiplied by two. So it is, was, and shall be"
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Schlegel’s jab lands because it flatters the artist while cutting him down in the same breath. Everyone, he insists, is a little absurd simply by being human; the artist is that absurdity with the volume turned up. It’s not just misanthropy. It’s Romantic self-awareness weaponized: a movement obsessed with genius, originality, and the sovereign self admitting that the self is also a walking pratfall.
The line hinges on “just because they are men,” a deliberately blunt reduction that strips away class, virtue, and accomplishment. You don’t become grotesque by failing; you become grotesque by existing in a body and a social role that can never live up to its own ideals. Then comes the twist: artists as “man multiplied by two.” Schlegel is pointing to the profession’s built-in exaggeration. Artists trade in heightened feeling, heightened sensitivity, heightened self-mythology. They are trained to notice their own contradictions and then perform them publicly. That’s the grotesque: the gap between the artist’s grand interior narrative and the stubbornly comic fact of being a creature who eats, ages, envies, and postures.
“So it is, was, and shall be” gives the provocation a mock-biblical cadence, as if he’s pronouncing an eternal law. The subtext is defensive as much as it’s cynical: if art is born from human insufficiency, then the artist’s ridiculousness isn’t disqualifying; it’s the raw material. Schlegel turns embarrassment into ontology, and in doing so, rescues modern creativity from the demand to be noble.
The line hinges on “just because they are men,” a deliberately blunt reduction that strips away class, virtue, and accomplishment. You don’t become grotesque by failing; you become grotesque by existing in a body and a social role that can never live up to its own ideals. Then comes the twist: artists as “man multiplied by two.” Schlegel is pointing to the profession’s built-in exaggeration. Artists trade in heightened feeling, heightened sensitivity, heightened self-mythology. They are trained to notice their own contradictions and then perform them publicly. That’s the grotesque: the gap between the artist’s grand interior narrative and the stubbornly comic fact of being a creature who eats, ages, envies, and postures.
“So it is, was, and shall be” gives the provocation a mock-biblical cadence, as if he’s pronouncing an eternal law. The subtext is defensive as much as it’s cynical: if art is born from human insufficiency, then the artist’s ridiculousness isn’t disqualifying; it’s the raw material. Schlegel turns embarrassment into ontology, and in doing so, rescues modern creativity from the demand to be noble.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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