Today is, of course Valentine’s day. This is a day most men dread because it means that they have to blow lots of cash on chocolates and flowers. Women generally seem to like it because 1) they are more romantic than we men and 2) they are the ones getting the gifts. Sane, single guys like me don’t like Valentine’s Day so much as the day after. That’s when all that unsold chocolate goes on sale.
Today in my Aesthetics class I was teaching Tolstoy’s theory of art. Put a bit simply, he has an infection theory of art. A work is art if the creator experiences a emotion and imbues the work with that feeling in such a way that it is passed on to or infects the audience with the same emotion. As such, art works like a disease by infection.
Naturally, after mentioning infection, I could not resist throwing in this remark: “Speaking of infection, it is no coincidence that ‘venereal disease’ and ‘Valentine’s Day’ have the same initials. Something to think about. Now, on to his theory of distinguishing art from counterfeit art.”
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