First published in French as Le Pouvoir de l’art © Editions Saint-Simon, 2018 This English edition © Polity Press, 2020

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      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4098-3

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Gabriel, Markus, 1980- author.

      Title: The power of art / Markus Gabriel.

      Other titles: Pouvoir de l’art. English

      Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA, USA : Polity, 2020. | “First published in French as Le Pouvoir de l’art (c) Editions Saint-Simon, 2018”--T.p. verso. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “The rising star of German philosophy provides a compelling defence of the autonomous power of art”-- Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2020003008 (print) | LCCN 2020003009 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509540969 | ISBN 9781509540976 (pb) | ISBN 9781509540983 (epub) lassification: LCC BH39 .G24613 2020 (print) | LCC BH39 (ebook) | DDC 701/.17--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020003008 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020003009

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      Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the orders of Angels? and even if one should suddenly hold me to his heart I would fade back, touching his intenser existence. For beauty is nothing but the beginning edge of the dread we may barely endure, object of our awe because it serenely disdains to annihilate us. Every Angel is dread.

      And so, curbing myself, I choke back the dark sobbed call to them. Ah, whom to summon here, to our need? Not Angels, not men; and the animals canny, are well aware we are not reliably one with the interpreted world.

      Rainer Maria Rilke, The First Elegy¹