Anti-Climacus

A rather less favorable review of that book on cruelty and art, which I will read nevertheless:

The Art of Cruelty is a disappointment, and a sometimes frustrating one. And yet I hope that critics, and aspiring critics, and those who are interested in the relationship between art and ethics, read it. The questions that Nelson raises about what it means for artists—and audiences—to delve into cruelty need to be addressed, thought about, discussed, debated. Nelson’s analyses often fall short, but she is right to reject easy, definitive answers. In doing so, she forces us to think for ourselves—which, as Margaret Fuller knew, is often the critic’s greatest gift.

"Cruelty" is a word that pops up with surprising frequency in Grotius' work, and I've often considered that it might be worth the effort to exploring where and when the concept first gains traction in political thought (surely someone has already written this book, perhaps to flesh out the historical argument of Judith Shklar's Ordinary Vices?). And, come to think of it, this might make for an interesting organizing conceit--or at least a vein--in an intro or modern political thought class.