"
Butscha, La Briere, and Madame Latournelle exchanged glances that were
more than half derisive, and drove Modeste to a pitch of irritation
that kept her silent for a moment.
"Mademoiselle, do not mind them," said Canalis, smiling upon her, "we
are neither beaten, nor caught in a contradiction. Every work of art,
let it be in literature, music, painting, sculpture, or architecture,
implies a positive social utility, equal to that of all other
commercial products. Art is pre-eminently commerce; presupposes it, in
short. An author pockets ten thousand francs for his book; the making
of books means the manufactory of paper, a foundry, a printing-office,
a bookseller,--in other words, the employment of thousands of men. The
execution of a symphony of Beethoven or an opera by Rossini requires
human arms and machinery and manufactures. The cost of a monument is
an almost brutal case in point. In short, I may say that the works of
genius have an extremely costly basis and are, necessarily, useful to
the workingman."
Astride of that theme, Canalis spoke for some minutes with a fine
luxury of metaphor, and much inward complacency as to his phrases; but
it happened with him, as with many another great speaker, that he
found himself at last at the point from which the conversation
started, and in full agreement with La Briere without perceiving it.
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