The Reality of the Unreal - The city as metaphor in Henry James and his contemporaries [antikvár]

1. INTRODUCTION - ASPECTS OF CIVILISATION Civilization is not in itself morality, but it helps our moral sense to function at its highest possible level, even demonstrates that such a level exists and that it is admirable. (Berland, 13) Civilisation requires confidence, Kenneth Clark writes, "confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, and confidence in one's own mental powers. [. . .] People sometimes think that civilisation consists in fine sensibilities and good conversation and all that. These can be among the agreeable results of civilisation, but they are not what make a civilisation, and a society can have these amenities and yet be dead and rigid" (Clark, 4). Judging by Kenneth Clark's intricate interpretation, the unambiguously precise definition of civilisation seems perplexingly elusive, but by adopting an etymological approach, we can obtain its essential constituents. The stem "civil", from Latin "civilis" derived from "civis", which means "citizen", has undergone a series of changes as regards its meaning, which sheds light on how the concept is broadening as time passes. The original sixteenth-century meaning "of or belonging to citizens" comes to stand for "orderly, well-governed" but also "sober, decent, grave" as well as "humane, gentle" in the seventeenth century, to be further enriched with "educated, refined" in the eighteenth century (disregarding other legal meanings), according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED, 342/ The verb "to civilize" means "to bring out of a state of barbarism, to instruct in the arts of life; to enlighten and refine"; and finally, the noun "civilization/civilisation" stands for "the action or process of civilizing or of being civilized" and, more usually, for "civilized condition or state". The range of meanings clearly indicates the complexity of civilisation, both as a word and as a concept. But one thing seems to be unquestionable: the root is to be found in "citizen", consequently, in "city". Long before the city comes into existence giving the sense of permanence, people tend to retum to certain places partly because it may offer natural resources, like water, and partly to meet others there with whom they can exchange information. Thus even the germ of the city is characterised by communication, which becomes more and more varied and sophisticated with the passing of time. Writing about the state, Aristotle maintains that "a state is not merely the sharing of a common locality for the purpose of preventing mutual injury and exchanging goods" but a partnership whose object is "a fiill and independent life" (Aristotle, 217). What he says of the state is equally true of the modem city which can be similarly regarded as the same "partnership of families". That is why his later statement that "all men aim at the good life" (Aristode, 597) on coming together to live in the city carries such a loaded message. We may start wondering whether what seemed natural in the good old days stands the test of time. Having said that, we might mention that Aristotle himself adds: "it is manifestly possible to be a good