ABSTRACT
It has often been said that modern artists and thinkers aredifficult. Picasso is harder to understand, indeed to love, than Poussin or Chardin; the same is said of Giraudoux or
Malraux, as opposed to Marivaux or Stendhal. Some, such as
Julien Benda, have even drawn the conclusion that modern
writers are ‘byzantine’, are difficult simply because they have
nothing to say and peddle subtlety in place of art.1 Nothing
could be further from the truth. If modern thought is difficult
and runs counter to common sense, this is because it is con-
cerned with truth; experience no longer allows it to settle for
the clear and straightforward notions which common sense
cherishes because they bring peace of mind.
