There's, of course, Lenin's famous remark to Gorky about being wary of the Appassionata's cozening beauty, which threatened to sap him of combative energy. As far as it's possible to tell, he rarely turned off the analysis engine to focus on the pure aesthetics of literature, either, be it with Tolstoy or Goethe.
I have a little sympathy for the "Maoist" list-makers. It's a common streak in the activist approach to art (and life), easily mistaken for puritanism but best described as obsessive urgency, understandable given the monumental size of the task. 'Only what makes money is of value' becomes 'only what advances the cause is of value'. Which... isn't a bad thing, but it demonstrates how closed-off their options for meaningful action are, when all this energy and drive gets channeled into larping, sideways-punching, and pedantry.
There's, of course, Lenin's famous remark to Gorky about being wary of the Appassionata's cozening beauty, which threatened to sap him of combative energy. As far as it's possible to tell, he rarely turned off the analysis engine to focus on the pure aesthetics of literature, either, be it with Tolstoy or Goethe.
I have a little sympathy for the "Maoist" list-makers. It's a common streak in the activist approach to art (and life), easily mistaken for puritanism but best described as obsessive urgency, understandable given the monumental size of the task. 'Only what makes money is of value' becomes 'only what advances the cause is of value'. Which... isn't a bad thing, but it demonstrates how closed-off their options for meaningful action are, when all this energy and drive gets channeled into larping, sideways-punching, and pedantry.
This is a clarifying perspective for me as someone who struggles to grasp how socialism could relate to art. I hope to learn more about it.