Thank you, Holden. Artaud was convinced that Van Gogh's entire society had blood on their hands; that is, that Van Gogh was
suicided by society. (condemned to suicide by his contemporaries)
It is about time I explored that novel.
What I am studying now is helping me strive for equanimity. I have a temper which others may rile up purposely to get me into confrontations, into trouble with authorities, or simply out of some sadistic pleasure - as though I were an animal in a cage to be poked with a stick and taunted.
I am studying
All Too Human: Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Nineteenth-Century PhilosophyThere is mention of Schopenhauer throughout. The final goal of all human striving as "developing a sense of humor," and with this equanimity. It is suggested that many of those theorizing about humor in the 19th century, including Schopenhauer, were influenced by
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.
Schopenhauer called Tristram Shandy one of "the four immortal romances."
I suppose Van Gogh loved "disadvantaged" real women, and looked at women "from his brother's class" as unapproachable. I get that.
Schopenhauer, on the other hand, may have been able to mingle with high society ladies, but I sense he was too much for them to handle --- and so Art visited women of the night during his trips to Italy.
Presently I am feeling spied upon and gazed at, unremittingly. Hence, my recent investigation of
Living Under the Bell Jar: Surveillance and Resistance in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We and the Panopticon.