CYCLE FIFTEEN

1. Just as, of all writers, the poet is the one who should be most concerned with doing, and hence the ugliness and/or beauty of things, so the dramatist is the writer whose principal concern should be with giving, and hence the weakness and/or strength of things.

2. Just as, of all writers, the novelist is the one who should be most concerned with taking, and hence the ignorance and/or knowledge of things, so the philosopher is the writer whose principal concern should be with being, and hence the falsity and/or truth of things.

3. Although literature is a feminine art form overall on account of its fluidal basis, it is subdivisible, as we have shown, into quasi-diabolic, feminine, quasi-masculine, and quasi-divine genres, according to whether doing, giving, taking, or being is the principal concern.

4. As the quasi-diabolic mode of literature, poetry approximates to art in its concern, through fiery appearances, with doing.

5. As the feminine mode of literature par excellence, drama is the per se manifestation of literature in its concern, through watery quantities, with giving.

6. As the quasi-masculine mode of literature, fiction approximates to sculpture in its concern, through vegetative qualities, with taking.

7. As the quasi-divine mode of literature, philosophy approximates to music in its concern, through airy essences, with being.

8. The association of doing with evil is not as marked in poetry as in art, given the properly metachemical status of the latter in relation to what, in poetry, would be merely quasi-metachemical from a chemical, or watery, basis.

9. The association of giving with good is more marked in drama than in any other art form, given the properly chemical status of drama in relation to what, in for instance water-colour art, would be quasi-chemical from a metachemical, or fiery, basis.

10. The association of taking with folly is not as marked in fiction as in sculpture, given the properly physical status of the latter in relation to what, in fiction, would be merely quasi-physical from a chemical, or watery, basis.

11. The association of being with wisdom is not as marked in philosophy as in music, given the properly metaphysical status of the latter in relation to what, in philosophy, would be merely quasi-metaphysical from a chemical, or watery, basis.

12. Hence just as the poet is only quasi-evil in relation to the painterly artist, the metachemical artist par excellence, so the water-colour artist is only quasi-good in relation to the dramatist, the chemical writer par excellence.

13. For evil, remember, is absolutist in its noumenal objectivity, whereas good(ness) is merely relativistic in what amounts, by comparison, to a phenomenally objective per se.

14. Now just as the fiction-writer, or novelist, is only quasi-foolish in relation to the figurative sculptor, the physical sculptor par excellence, so the philosopher is only quasi-wise in relation to the musician, the metaphysical 'artist' par excellence.

15. For wisdom, remember, is absolutist in its noumenal subjectivity, whereas folly is merely relativistic in what amounts, by comparison, to a phenomenally subjective per se.

16. Nevertheless, the philosopher is the writer whose principal concern is or should be with being, and hence wisdom.

17. For wisdom is only possible in relation to being, just as folly is only possible in relation to taking, goodness only possible in relation to giving, and evil only possible in relation to doing.

18. Hence the philosopher, the lover (philo) of wisdom (sophia), is the 'wise writer' or 'wise literary artist' ... to the extent that he bends what is fundamentally a chemical, or fluidal, medium to the service of airy metaphysics.

19. Yet 'the writer', conceived in general terms, is really less wise and/or foolish than good, since the utilization of fluidal means (ink) to whatever end is rather more feminine (civilized) than either divine (cultural), masculine (natural), or diabolic (barbarous).

20. At least that must be so of the 'classical writer', whose utilization of fluidal means ties-in with the existence of a civilized age and/or society, not of the writer who exists in some other age and/or society as an effective 'bovaryization' of writing vis-à-vis the hegemony of either fire, vegetation, or air, as the case may be, and whose preferred medium of literary presentation will reflect this fact both generically and technologically.

21. Thus while the dramatist will be the most representative writer of an age and/or society in which water is the governing element, in due civilized fashion, an age ruled by fire will encourage the poetic mode of literary 'bovaryization', an age represented by vegetation (earth) will encourage the novelistic mode of literary 'bovaryization', and an age led by air will encourage the philosophical mode of literary 'bovaryization'.

22. Within a civilized age, writing will generally proceed via pen, whether in relation to quill pens, fountain-pens, felt-tip pens, or biros ... as the most likely fluidal parallels to fire, water, vegetation, and air respectively, whereas within a natural age, the procedure of writing will generally be conducted via typewriters and/or word processors in due vegetative vein.

23. Within a barbarous age, writing will generally proceed via such fiery means as paints, coloured inks, crayons, and pencils, whereas within a cultural age, the procedure of writing will generally be conducted via such airy means as personal computers.

24. It is probably fair to maintain that computers offer a vegetative base, on hard disc, from which the dissemination of written information via the Internet can proceed in due quasi-metaphysical vein, in keeping with its universal essence.

25. Needless to say, the only mode of writing which is truly commensurate with Internet universalization is the quasi-metaphysical 'bovaryization' of literature called philosophy.

26. Philosophy should be freely available on the Internet, and not made the subversive subject of capital gain.

27. For capitalism, as an economic pursuit, is more suited to the folly of vegetative naturalism than to the wisdom of airy idealism, wherein religious considerations take over.