When I Was A Work Of Art
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When I Was A Work Of Art
When I Was a Work of Art (''Lorsque j'étais une oeuvre d'art'') is a novel by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, a Belgian dramatist and writer. The novel tells the story of a young man who gives up his humanity to an artist, who transforms the young man into a work of art. The novel was published in 2002 (originally in French) and was Schmitt's fourth novel. The novel is based on Faust by Goethe. Plot Tazio Firelli, a young man, is about to commit suicide when Zeus-Peter Lama, an eccentric well-known artist, offers to make Tazio want to live. Lama then convinces Tazio to give up his humanity to become a living sculpture named ''Adam Bis'', the first of its kind according to Lama. While being a work of art, Tazio becomes depressed, feeling that he has lost his humanity and his freedom. Tazio then meets a blind painter named Carlos Hannibal and his daughter Fiona. The relationship between the three gives Tazio the will to live again. Fiona then organises a lawsuit, for the purpose of getti ...
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Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 28 March 1960) is a Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world. Life Early years Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's parents were teachers of physical education and sport, and his father later became a physiotherapist and masseur in paediatric hospitals. He was also a French boxing champion while his mother was a medal-winning runner. His grandfather was an artisan jeweller. The "Classiques & Contemporains" edition of La Nuit de Valognes (Don Juan on Trial) claims that Schmitt depicts himself as a rebellious teenager who detested received wisdom and was sometimes prone to violent outbursts. According to Schmitt, however, it was philosophy that saved him and taught him to be himself and to feel that he was free. One day, his mother took him to the Théâtre des Célestins to see a performance of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac starring Jean M ...
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Belgian Literature
Because modern Belgium is a multilingual country,Dutch, French and German are legally the three official languages in Belgium, seeBelgium, European Union/ref> Belgian literature is often treated as a branch of French literature or Dutch literature. Some writing also exists in the regional languages of Belgium, with published works in both the Walloon language, closely related to French, and also in various regional Flemish or Dutch-related dialects. German is the third official language in Belgium and is spoken by a small community of about 70,000 German-speakers of the German-speaking Community of Belgium in the border region Eupen-Malmedy. ''See :de:Belgische_Literatur#Die_deutsche_Literatur_in_Belgien. Dutch/Flemish writers *Hendrik Conscience (1812 – 1883), author of ''The Lion of Flanders'' (1838) *Guido Gezelle (1830 – 1899), noted for his use of West Flemish dialect *Cyriel Buysse (1859 – 1932) *Willem Elsschot (pseudonym of Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder, 1882 – ...
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Humanity (virtue)
Humanity is a virtue linked with basic ethics of altruism derived from the human condition. It also symbolises human love and compassion towards each other. Humanity differs from mere justice in that there is a level of altruism towards individuals included in humanity more so than the fairness found in justice. That is, humanity, and the acts of love, altruism, and social intelligence are typically individual strengths while fairness is generally expanded to all. Humanity can be classed as one of six virtues that are consistent across all cultures. The concept goes back to the development of "humane" or "humanist" philosophy during the Renaissance (with predecessors in 13th-century scholasticism stressing a concept of basic human dignity inspired by Aristotelianism) and the concept of humanitarianism in the early modern period, and resulted in modern notions such as "human rights". Historical perspectives Confucian philosophy Confucius said that humanity, or “ Ren”( ...
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Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. "Faust" and the adjective "Faustian" imply sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain. The Faust of early books—as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them—is irrevocably damned because he prefers human knowledge over divine knowledge: "he laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of medicine". Plays and comic puppet theatre loosely based on this legend were popular throughout ...
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Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour. He is widely regarded as the greatest and most influential writer in the German language, his work having a profound and wide-ranging influence on Western literary, political, and philosophical thought from the late 18th century to the present day.. Goethe took up residence in Weimar in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (1774). He was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August, in 1782. Goethe was an early participant in the ''Sturm und Drang'' literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe became a member of the Duke's privy council (1776–1785), sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines ...
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Lawsuit
- A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil action brought by a plaintiff (a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions) requests a legal remedy or equitable remedy from a court. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint. If the plaintiff is successful, judgment is in the plaintiff's favor, and a variety of court orders may be issued to enforce a right, award damages, or impose a temporary or permanent injunction to prevent an act or compel an act. A declaratory judgment may be issued to prevent future legal disputes. A lawsuit may involve dispute resolution of private law issues between individuals, business entities or non-profit organizations. A lawsuit may also enable the state to be treated as if it were a private party ...
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Art Forgery
Art forgery is the creating and selling of works of art which are falsely credited to other, usually more famous artists. Art forgery can be extremely lucrative, but modern dating and analysis techniques have made the identification of forged artwork much simpler. This type of fraud is meant to mislead by creating a false provenance, or origin, of the object in order to enhance its value or prestige at the expense of the buyer. As a legal offense, it is not just the act of imitating a famous artists key characteristics in a piece of art, but the deliberate financial intent by the forger.Lenain, Theirry (2003) "Forgery". Grove Art Online. When caught, some of these forgers attempt to pass off the fakes as jokes or hoaxes on the art experts and dealers they were selling to, or on the art world as a whole. To excel in this type of forgery, the forger must pass themselves off as incredibly trustworthy and charismatic in order to recruit the necessary middlemen such as art dealers, s ...
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Social Commentary
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people's sense of justice. Social commentary can be practiced through all forms of communication, from printed form, to conversations to computerized communication. Two examples of strong and bitter social commentary are the writings of Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift and German priest Martin Luther. Swift decried the appalling conditions faced by Irish Catholics under the rule of the Protestant Ascendancy in ''A Modest Proposal'', while Martin Luther decried corruption in the Catholic Church in his ''Ninety-five Theses. Examples of social commentators from the lower social stratification, social strata are Charles Dickens and Will Rogers. Forms This list is far from exhaustive. Examples of social ...
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