Amoral art
Sir: With reference to Charles Moore's Diary (10 February) in which he quotes the Muslim critic of Salman Rushdie, Tariq Modood, 'We should not succumb to libertarianism. which sees the artist as the Nietzschean Ubermensch, towering above conventional morality with perfect liberty to publish imaginative explorations regard- less of social consequences.'
This sounds very thoughtful and reason- able and, with its semantic flourish, it obviously seduced the gullible part of Mr Moore, whereas closer examination of this shallow credo would reveal a recommenda- tion of censorship and the respect of convention. It is precisely the role of the artist to tower over conventional morality and to use his God-given intuition to shake those hallowed institutions where conven- tion has replaced investigation. Accepted and handed-down religious dogma, plus the devotion of myths and legends as facts, are the repressive legacy of convention. Yes, the artist is at perfect liberty to write as he wishes with no respect to and regardless of social consequences. And thank God for that, for if it were not so I would hate to be part of that society. The artist merely echoes the dreams and thoughts of all of us and, as Oscar Wilde said over a hundred years ago when he had offended the bigots of his time by towering above their petty and mealy-mouthed morality, 'There is only good and bad art. There is no such thing as an immoral work of art.' That is a brave thing to say and, like many paradoxes, contains too much truth to be maligned — even if the odd deviate 'I call it the House of Fraser because I can't really afford it.' slips through the net. But since art is art and not fact it is hard to demonstrate an immoral work of art.
Yes, it is arrogant for artists to claim to be above the society in which they live, but woe betide a society which curbs, restrains or tampers with an artist's freedom of expression. We have seen the penalties for this in other countries and in other decades and they have been cruel and murderous. And for that matter we are witnessing it now. Let the artist fly. He has wings and may tell us of sights we can barely imagine. We do not wish him to view life through the bleary eyes of conventional morality. Steven Berkoff
East Productions Ltd, 18 Narrow Street, London E14
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