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Frigidity and Turgidity

Frigidity as one of the Vices towards achieving Sublimity 



 Frigidity is a characteristic that Longinus sees as an enemy of sublime literature. Writers achieve frigidity when, while they "aim at the uncommon and elaborate and most of all at the attractive, they drift unawares into the tawdry and affected." In Section IV of this treatise, Longinus goes into great detail about Timaeus, who was a writer who, in the opinion of Longinus, is a great example of a writer whose work is characterised by frigidity. Timaeus goes as far as to take the examples of frigidity of other classical writers, such as Xenophon, and "clutches it as though it were hid treasure." This expression is based on the following description of Timaeus:
               "Who could have done this had he not had wantons, in place of maidens, in his eyes?" 

 Longinus argues this is a perfect example of frigidity because it states that the eyes are the only way of discerning whether or not an individual is good. In the view of Longinus, such description descends into the banal, and is viewed as an "unseemly exhibition of trviality." Frigidity then occurs when authors try too hard to achieve sublimity and stray unawares into descriptions that create nothing more than banality or ridiculous descriptions rather than the elevating impact that sublime texts should achieve.

Turgidity as one of the vices towards achieving Sublimity
Longinus distinguishes the true Sublime from the False Sublime, and says that the vices of the Sublime emerge out of two things—"lack of passion and sincerity, and inadequacy of communication caused by faulty technique.” He has repeatedly warned the readers “against bombast, puerility on affectation, and conceits of frigidity.” Longinus discusses those vices of style, which constitute contemporary oratory, which Longinus calls a 'false sublime'. Then he points out several defects of style, which tends to spoil the loftiness of language. The first such fault is "Turgidity" when the artist or the poet aims too high and, instead of achieving ecstasy, merely lapses into folly, producing effects, which are overblown or bombastic. Turgidity seems to be one of the most difficult faults to avoid, for those who aim at greatness try to escape the charge of feeble aridity and are somehow led into turgidity, believing it “a noble error to fail in great things.” As in the body, so in writing, hollow and artificial swellings are bad and somehow turn into their opposite as, they say, nothing is "drier than dropsy."


Notes : 1. Longinus, Lang Andrew, Havell Herbert Lord 
2.The Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant, Robert Doran. 
3.enotes study materials. 

Edited by© Sarbadaman Gop

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