nor in Zola. By their tragic descriptions,
they provoke disgust and sadness in the reader, rather than
sensuality. It is otherwise with the illustrations which de
Maupassant's publisher has added to his works and which are frankly
pornographic. These are not fair to the author.

Another comparison shows, perhaps, still better the uncertainty of the
line of demarcation between pornography and art. If we compare Heine
with de Maupassant, I think we must admit that, in spite of the
refinement of his art, the pornographic trait is incomparably stronger
in the former, because Heine continually loses the thread of moral
sense which impregnates most of the works of de Maupassant. The latter
author emphasizes evil and injustice in the sexual question.

The refined art of the Greeks contains much eroticism and much nudity,
but there is nothing whatever immoral in either. Innocence and beauty
are so apparent that no one can think of evil. When we look at the
antique statues of the Greek sculptors; when we read Homer, especially
the story of Ares and Aphrodite; when we read the bucolic idyll of
Daphnis and Chloe, we can no longer have any doubt on the point. It is
not nudity, it is not the natural description of sexual life, but the
obscene intention of the artist, his improper and often venal object,
which has a demoralizing effect.

Finally, I repeat that the purest artistic creation may serve as a
pornographic theme for every individual who is accustomed to introduce
into his parodies his own depravity, immorality and obscene
sentiments. I do not deny that in antiquity, especially at the time of
the decadence of Rome, pornography and cynical coarseness often ruled
in the sexual domain. History and the ruins of Pompeii give abundant
evidence of it. But such phenomena occurred at the periods of
decadence. Who then can decide where art ends and pornography begins,
or how far eroticism may without danger be expressed in art? This
question is so difficult and delicate that I am unable to answer it
with sufficient competence. I think that when the reign of capitalism
and alcohol has come to an end, the danger of pornography will be
reduced enormously. I believe we ought to avoid extremes in both
directions. Wherever pornography manifests itself in a purely cynical
way, denuded of all art, society can and should suppress it. When it
appears under an artistic mantle, it should be possible in each
particular case to weigh the artisti