Wagner's "Nibelung's Ring" a type of counterfeit art-Its success, Truths fatal to preconceived views are not readily recognized - PAGR THE QUALITY OF ART, CONSIDERED APART FROM ITS SUBJECT-MATTER whose taste is perverted-Conditions of infection: Individuality; THE QUALITY OF ART, CONSIDERED ACCORDING TO ITS SUBJECT- MATTER - The better the feeling the better the art - The cultured crowd-The religious perception of our age-The new ideals put fresh demands to art-Art unites — Religious Universal art - Both coöperate to one result-The new appraisement of art - Bad art - Examples of art - How to test Results of absence of true art - Results of perversion of art: Labor - The connection between science and art — The mendacious sciences; the trivial sciences - Science should deal with the great prob- TH TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE HE fundamental thought expressed in this book leads inevitably to conclusions so new, so unexpected, and so contrary to what is usually maintained in literary and artistic circles, that although it is clearly and emphatically expressed (and this I hope has not been lost in translation), most readers who wish to possess themselves of it will have to read the work carefully, and to digest it slowly. Especially the introductory Chapters II., III., IV., and V., need careful perusal by any who, having adopted one or other of the current theories on beauty and art, may find it difficult to abandon a preconceived view, and to clear their minds for a fair appreciation of what is new to them. The first four chapters raise the problem, and tell us briefly what has been said by previous writers. Chapter III. gives (in highly condensed form) the substance of the teaching of some sixty philosophers on this subject, and since many of them were extremely confused, the chapter cannot, in the nature of things, be easy reading. I should like to remark, in passing, that though Tolstof in this chapter (presumably for convenience of verification) refers chiefly to the compilations of Schasler, Kralik, and Knight, he has gone behind these authorities to the primary sources. To give a single instance: in the paragraph on Darwin, the foot-note refers us to Knight, but the remark that the origin of the art of music may be traced back to the call of the males to the females in the animal world will be found in Darwin, but will not be found in Knight. In Chapter V. we come to Tolstor's definition of art, |