Infinity or eternity? Celebrity or longevity? Unamuno, Life 3.19
Unamuno
thinks we are all anxious to be known. Some seek notoriety in
celebrity, which is available to anyone whose action is lucky, or
extravagant, or criminal enough to draw large attention. But
celebrity is fleeting, Unamuno says. The artist prefers small action
to large; she speaks to a select few, a little group that passes down
reverence for some artwork, thereby ensuring that she lives on in
their society long after old celebrities are forgotten, replaced by
new ones likewise destined to disappear. She goes for longevity
rather than celebrity.
Y
este erostratismo (‡), ¿qué es en el fondo, sino ansia de
inmortalidad, ya que no de sustancia y bulto, al menos de nombre y
sombra?
Y
hay en ello sus grados. El que desprecia el aplauso de la muchedumbre
de hoy, es que busca sobrevivir en renovadas minorías durante
generaciones. «La posteridad es una superposición de minorías»,
decía Gounod. Quiere prolongarse en tiempo más que en espacio. Los
ídolos de las muchedumbres son pronto derribados por ellas mismas, y
su estatua se deshace al pie del pedestal sin que la mire nadie,
mientras que quienes ganan el corazón de los escogidos, recibirán
más largo tiempo fervoroso culto en una capilla siquiera, recogida y
pequeña, pero que salvará las avenidas del olvido. Sacrifica el
artista la extensión de su fama a su duración; ansía más durar
por siempre en un rinconcito, a no brillar un segundo en el universo
todo; quiere más ser átomo eterno y consciente de sí mismo, que
momentánea conciencia del universo todo; sacrifica la infinitud a la
eternidad.
What
is criminal passion for notoriety, in the end, but anxiety about
immortality? If not actual and substantial immortality, then at least
the shadow of immortality offered by renown.
There
are grades and levels in our lust for renown. The man who disdains
applause from today's mobs looks to survive in self-sustaining clubs
of minorities for generations yet to come. "Posterity belongs to
minorities," as Gounod used to say (†). He wants to prolong
his existence in time rather than space. The idols adored by mobs are
soon cast down by their worshippers, smashed to pieces at the
pedestal on which they once stood. Their ruins lie there unnoticed by
anyone, while those who win the heart of a little but chosen band
will receive more sustained and fervent devotion in some chapel,
remote and small, but sufficient to keep their cult from sinking into
oblivion. The artist sacrifices the extension of his fame to its
duration, desiring to persist forever in a little corner rather than
blaze forth throughout the universe for just a moment. He wishes to
be an eternal atom, ever conscious of his minute dimensions, rather
than spend a brief second as the entire universe. He sacrifices
infinity to eternity.
---
(‡)
The word erostratismo,
meaning lust for infamy,
comes from the crime of
Herostratus, who burned down the temple of Artemis in Ephesus in the
year 356 BCE so that folk would remember him. The Ephesians had him
executed and passed a law forbidding mention of his name (Valerius
Maximus 8.14; Cicero, De
divinatione 1.47; Strabo
14.1.22). You will note how
well they succeeded!
(†)
Charles-François Gounod (1818-1893) was a French composer known for
his operas, especially Faust (1859)
and Roméo et Juliette (1867).