Anyone who regards poetry as an entertainment, as a 'read,' commits an anthropological crime, in the first place against himself.
Interpretation
Poetry should be regarded as a profound experience rather than mere entertainment.
In this quote, Joseph Brodsky suggests that treating poetry solely as a form of entertainment diminishes its value and meaning. He argues that engaging with poetry should be a deep, reflective experience that speaks to the human condition, rather than a superficial activity that one engages in casually. Such an approach not only disrespects the art form but also limits personal growth and understanding.
In practice
In a literary discussion about the importance of engaging with art deeply.
Basically, it's hard for me to assess myself, a hardship not only prompted by the immodesty of the enterprise, but because one is not capable of assessing himself, let alone his work. However, if I were to summarize, my main interest is the nature of time. That's what interests me most of all. What time can do to a man.
One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.
On the whole, infinity is a fairly palpable aspect of this business of publishing, if only because it extends a dead author's existence beyond the limits he envisioned, or provides a living author with a future he cannot measure. In other words, this business deals with the future which we all prefer to regard as unending.
The invention of ethical and political doctrines, which blossomed into our own social sciences, is a product of times when things appeared manageable. The same goes for the criticism of those doctrines, though as a voice from the past, this criticism proved prophetic.
Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those - in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed.
To put it in plain language, Russia is that country where the name of a writer appears not on the cover of his book, but on the door of his prison cell.
Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance.
They've tried to manufacture other Marilyn Monroes and they will undoubtedly keep trying. But it won't work. She was an original.
Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies.
The merit of poetry, in its wildest forms, still consists in its truth-truth conveyed to the understanding, not directly by the words, but circuitously by means of imaginative associations, which serve as its conductors.
Drawing is a kind of hypnotism: one looks in such a way at the model, that he comes and takes a seat on the paper.
Fiction is the truth inside the lie.
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