November 25, 1861.—To understand a
drama requires the same mental operation as to understand an existence, a biography, a man. It is a
putting back of the bird into the egg, of the plant into its seed, a reconstitution of the whole genesis of
the being in question. Art is simply the bringing into relief of the
obscure thought of nature; a
simplification of the lines, a falling into place of groups otherwise
invisible. The
fire of inspiration brings out, as it were, designs
traced beforehand in sympathetic ink. The mysterious grows
clear,
the confused plain; what is complicated becomes simple—what is
accidental, necessary.
In short, art reveals nature by interpreting
its intentions and formulating its desires. Every ideal is the key of
a
long enigma. The great artist is the simplifier.
Every man is a tamer of wild beasts,
and these wild beasts are his passions. To draw their teeth and
claws, to
muzzle and tame them, to turn them into servants and
domestic animals, fuming, perhaps, but submissive—in
this consists
personal education.
Amiel's Journal
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