An excellent summary! I have my reservations about Grossman's perceptions of Christianity, which I don't think were well informed. And I don't like how coincidentally similar they sound to the narratives of some Neo-Pagans, who view Christianity as a culturally Semitic imposition upon Europe. (Ancient Ireland tosses that hypothesis in the garbage can) But I get his point.
What is valuable about this as a work of art criticism is that it not only recognizes the survival of our souls; but of the Western soul as well. It just needs a shift in perspective that many since 1945 have either been unable to construct, or unwilling to. In this case, the Madonna as a co-survivor of hard times rather than a quaint leftover. I like that.
Indeed. He drew very poignant meaning out of the Judeo-Christian experience (in a universal way) through the Holodomor, Holocaust, and Gulag. I revere his essay as much as I do Raphael's painting.
An excellent summary! I have my reservations about Grossman's perceptions of Christianity, which I don't think were well informed. And I don't like how coincidentally similar they sound to the narratives of some Neo-Pagans, who view Christianity as a culturally Semitic imposition upon Europe. (Ancient Ireland tosses that hypothesis in the garbage can) But I get his point.
What is valuable about this as a work of art criticism is that it not only recognizes the survival of our souls; but of the Western soul as well. It just needs a shift in perspective that many since 1945 have either been unable to construct, or unwilling to. In this case, the Madonna as a co-survivor of hard times rather than a quaint leftover. I like that.
Indeed. He drew very poignant meaning out of the Judeo-Christian experience (in a universal way) through the Holodomor, Holocaust, and Gulag. I revere his essay as much as I do Raphael's painting.