France
One particularly specific use of metaphor in the novel that is not directly related to the narrative reveals the way that such figurative imagery enters into the historical record. The reference here is not original to the author. He is using to offer a little telescoping into the mindset of the character spouting it:
“And France, the land of cathedrals, whose head was the All-Christian King.”
Little Schwerdtfeger
A physical description of a character is a very popular use simile. The natural comparison to something familiar facilitates the ease of making an unfamiliar character more vivid. This example is compelling evidence it is a powerful literary tool:
“My God, little Schwerdtfeger! His facial structure had something of the pug about it, his voce was guttural, he was more like a boy than a man”
The Price of Greatness
In this particular version of the Faust legend, the bargain struck with the devil is intended to guarantee the exchange of a soul for the spark of creative greatness. A metaphorical image makes a sharp point about the link between such lofty spheres of creativity and the darkness that must be paid for it:
“Genius is a form of the life force that is deeply versed in illness, that both draws creatively from it and creates through it.”
The Opposite of Creativity
What is the opposite of creativity? It is not making something that lacks greatness for the making of anything requires some creativity. The opposite of creativity is merely the lack of creation and the lack of creation among great artistic geniuses very often is rooted not in a lack of ideas, but a restless rejection of those ideas as worthy of pursuit. The most persistent serial killer of creative is disinterest:
“boredom is the coldest thing in the world.”
The Mass Murderer of Creativity
Boredom is the killer lurking within the mind of the artist. But art is stalked by other killers from outside who would enact vengeance upon the greater creative mind. One character frames this concept not in terms of envy or jealousy such as Salieri trying to kill off his rival Mozart, but a more broadly philosophical attack against genius:
“To allow only the kind of art that the average man understands is the worst small-mindedness and the murder of mind and spirit.”
