literature best reads

[cacian]

why not post your BEST READ of the day here.
it could be anything from a passage from book to an article magazine to a poem to a newspaper headline.
why not post it and share it for discussions.

look forward to reading:)

[cacian]

so to kick off:

this is a passage from a book I am reading'' The Observer Book of Art''

it talks about Realism and I quote:
''the essence of realism is its negation of the ideal!''

and goes on to suggest that, I quote:
''realism is activist. it choses the represent the real world as it is even if it shatters acceptable conventions. French realist pictures in particular were considered shockingly immoral in their day because the subject matter: people and places that were neither pretty nor morally uplifiting.
realism is assumed to be a reaction to romanticism, but in fact drew heavily upon romanticism's stock of emotions while rejecting the idea of the artist in the frozen garret painting the world of his feelings. realist are socially conscious against the bourgeois taste and in favour of people although there are exceptions to every -ism-. Manet for instance is no ideoloque and his style is anything but rough, yet he is always praised for his realism.''
end of quote.

so my thoughts are as follow:

I am not sure art is for art sake meaning there has to a reaction to every action. art should be for the benefit or other arts and not against but for it.

and secondly:
how would you define your style of writing?
realist? romantic? idealist? reactionist? or an amalgamation of styles?