Cirrus@Austlit

Author's note: "I have long wanted to write an essay on aesthetics, putting forth a conception which would be original ... I have been forced to the conclusion which, however obvious, has not before been reached that a true conception of aesthetics must be itself aesthetic. Consequently I have tried to create a work of art which is as self-contained as a child... Here we find - so it seems to me - a sensuous, passionate, logical, imaginative, and harmonious entity - abstracted and yet concrete - that comprehends those ideas and includes those intuitions of our age which are suggested by the word 'art'." (From the Introduction).