Although the quotation is quite well known as it is, it appears to be ripped
out of its context, as most (if not all) of the quotations were in Soviet
times.
On the second thought, I am not an expert in Gorky's writings and it might
be that he was quoting his own maxim (sorry for the pun) in his work "On
Anatole France".
The wording is as follows:
The ethics of Anatole France was the aesthetics - the ethics of the future.
He saw in justice above all beauty, wisely divining, that life of people
will be just only when it is saturated by beauty. In my view, he valued
thought so greatly because for him it was one of the most perfect
manifestations of the beauty of human spirit.
Sorry for rough translation; the original is at
http://www.maximgorkiy.narod.ru/about_france.htm.
Note the inverted order - aesthetics is the ethics of the future and not
vice versa.
One might connect this maxim with another widely known quotation: "Beauty
will save the world", which has become a proverb in Russian; it is borrowed
from "Brothers Karamazov" by F.M.Dostoevsky and has also possibly suffered
reformulation. The aforementioned Gorky's context underscores possible
connection.
Hope it was helpful,
Regards,
Alexey
-----Original Message-----
From: Film-Philosophy Salon [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of Verene Lack-Grieshaber
Sent: Mon, August 04, 2003 1:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Ethics and aesthetics, from RFL
This query is tangential to the ethics and film debate, but does anyone know
more precisely where and when Gorky said that:
'Ethics is the aesthetics of the future'.
The phrase is commonly attributed to Lenin (e.g. by Godard) but apparently
Lenin simply borrowed the phrase from his friend: I'd also like to know when
and where Lenin quotes Gorky on this theme.
any help appreciated
Roland-François Lack
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