#i mean picturesque in the 18th century art criticism sense not the generic sense | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

guiltyonsundays · 2 years

Text

you know in The Secret History when Donna Tartt said "a morbid longing for the picturesque"? i think she meant the sublime. the SUBLIME not the picturesque. i think she got it wrong and nobody is roasting her for that and i'm here to rectify that.

#to clarify #i mean picturesque in the 18th century art criticism sense not the generic sense #and considering how pretentious donna tartt is i think she did too #the secret history is NOT a novel about the picturesque - the safe and pleasurable experience of beauty #its a novel about sublime terror in the face of beauty so overwhelming and dangerous that it threatens to obliterate you #its about the intense pleasure of that feeling of pain and fear and awe #we simply must roast donna tartt more often #i say this out of love #donna tartt #the secret history #the goldfinch #richard papen #francis abernathy #camilla macaulay #charles macaulay #henry winter #bunny corcoran #dark academia #romanticism #romantic poetry #gothicism

108 notes · View notes