KOSTAS E. TSIROPOULOS
CIVILIZATION
OF THE BODY
* * *
1. ART AND THE END OF THE WORLD
At Delphi, in front of the Charioteer, one autumn morning. The absolute quiet presents me with a rare intuitive faculty. My being is prepared to receive in the most total way the erotic effusion by which it is dominated, with the purpose of knowing, even though it might be struck by that breath of knowledge. Such a breath of freedom, that induces my being to open, allows me to see all that – all my life long – had remained veiled, enigmatic. I must look at the statue as if it represented the tragicalness of my being, that is to say, I must look it in the face as I will do with death when I will have to confront it.
The statue: by means of my sight I can recognize its body, its firm hand, its noble and delicate feet. I behold its face again, its strong lips – virile and beautiful in their purity – beneath its immortal eyes. I can recognize its form as a attestation of the statue’s presence in space, as a mark of beauty made perfect by the absence of mortality. But I do not really know it. Because to really know others means to know their destiny constituted by the consequences of their secret clash against death.
translated from
Greek by Mauro Giachetti
original title:
POLITISMOS TOU SWMATOS
Athens 1981
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