But that other disinterested malice, which lurks in the sodden sediment
of character, that malice which is disinterested and inactive, and not
only incapable of drawing a dagger but even of writing an anonymous
note, this no writer but Dostoievski has had the penetration to reveal.
He has shown us at the same time mere inert goodness, lying passive in
the soul, without ever serving as a basis for anything.
MUSIC AS A SEDATIVE
Music, the most social of the arts, and that undoubtedly which possesses
the greatest future, presents enormous attractions to the bourgeoisie.
In the first place, it obviates the necessity of conversation; it is not
necessary to know whether your neighbor is a sceptic or a believer, a
materialist or a spiritualist; no possible argument can arise concerning
the meaning and metaphysics of life. Instead of war, there is peace. The
music lover may argue, but his conceptions are entirely circumscribed by
the music, and have no relation whatever either to philosophy or to
politics as such. The wars are small wars, and spill no blood. A
Wagnerite may be a freethinker or a Catholic, an anarchist or a
conservative. Even painting, which is an art of miserable general ideas,
is not so far removed from intelligence as is music.
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