--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In a culture whose already classical…" description: "\"In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/susan-sontag-332_art_in-a-culture-whose-already-classical-dil_2845726.jpg" --- # In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the… ![“In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/susan-sontag-332_art_in-a-culture-whose-already-classical-dil_2845726.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/susan-sontag-332_art_in-a-culture-whose-already-classical-dil_2845726.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/susan-sontag-332_art_in-a-culture-whose-already-classical-dil_2845726.jpg) > “In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Intellectual excess can dominate art, turning interpretation into a power play of the mind over the senses. **In simple terms:** Intellect can overpower art. Key Takeaway Balance intellect and sensation. Themes art intellect interpretation power sensuality Mood critical analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - museum curation - art education Key Concepts aesthetic theory cultural criticism Questions to Reflect On - How does intellectual dominance affect artistic meaning? - Can art be both intellectual and sensual? A Different Perspective May undervalue emotional experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Capability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capability/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Culture Classical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture-classical-2967613/) [Dilemma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dilemma/) [Dilemma Hypertrophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dilemma-hypertrophy-3757593/) [Energy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/energy/) [Expenses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expenses/) [Hypertrophy Intellect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypertrophy-intellect-3757592/) [Intellect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellect/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Interpretation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interpretation/) [Interpretation Revenge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interpretation-revenge-955943/) [Revenge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revenge/) [Revenge Intellect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revenge-intellect-3757591/) [Sensual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensual/) ## Related quotes > [Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art. Even more. It is the revenge of the intellect upon the world. To interpret is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/interpretation-is-the-revenge-of-the-intellect-upon-art-even-more-it/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Today is such a time, when the project of interpretation is largely reactionary, stifling. Like the fumes of the automobile and of heavy industry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/today-is-such-a-time-when-the-project-of-interpretation-is-largely-2/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Today is such a time, when the project of interpretation is largely reactionary, stifling. 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They do not respond to nervous breakdowns and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-moonves/i-understand-why-creative-people-like-dark-but-american-audiences/) [Leslie Moonves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-moonves/) > [The person who is ignorant enough to believe that his nourishment depends on meat is in a horrible dilemma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-person-who-is-ignorant-enough-to-believe-that-his-nourishment/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Anyone who will look at my life from the outside won't see the struggles inside. Sometimes, things are not always as we see or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chanda-kaushik/anyone-who-will-look-at-my-life-from-the-outside-won-t-see-the/) [Chanda Kaushik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chanda-kaushik/) > [“When in dilemma, pause.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sravani-saha-nakhro/when-in-dilemma-pause/) [Sravani Saha Nakhro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sravani-saha-nakhro/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. 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The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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