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Have been thinking about this all morning. I partly agree, but I also wonder whether repulsion is sometimes correct: we often recognize bad writing because it's ugly. Is it also consistently true? Did original audiences find Ovid or Keats, say, ugly? Is beauty always "minor"?
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From Adam Kirsch's 2008 Slate review of Roberto Bolano's 2666:
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I have been thinking about it for quite a while. I agree with Proust's quote, but I think the use of the words "ugly" and "beautiful" isn't exactly right, but I can't come up with better one word descriptors!
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I could not find that quote, so sent an inquiry to Adam Kirsch. I had a wonderful time, however, reading Proust’s “On Reading Ruskin.” Gorgeous.
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