Friday, March 13, 2020
What Is Culture?
Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), The World of Yesterday (1943; rpt. London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1953), p. 14:
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Vienna was, we know, an epicurean city; but what is culture, if not to wheedle from the coarse material of life, by art and love, its finest, its most delicate, its most subtle qualities? Gourmets in culinary matters, much occupied with a good wine, a dry fresh beer, sumptuous pastries and cakes, in this city people were also demanding with regard to more subtle delights. Making music, dancing, the theatre, conversation, proper and urbane deportment, these were cultivated here as particular arts.
