It’s the two most incongruous words in that passage that point us toward Petronius’ chief insight into pleasure and abundance: “accomplished voluptuary.” How can anyone be accomplished at taking pleasure? Isn’t that something anyone can do? Yes, under most circumstances. But under decadent circumstances, such as Trimalchio’s feast or Nero’s court, pleasure becomes cheap. It must, at first, be exhilarating to find exquisite versions of the things we most want—food, sleep, sex—right at hand. But then comes the revelation that even with unlimited means, our capacity to take pleasure is itself limited. The usual enjoyments become repetitious and dull, until we can barely taste them at all, or remember how they once tasted. And it’s at that point that Trimalchio and Petronius part ways: One flails to enjoy himself while the other becomes a scientist of pleasure. Under decadent circumstances, Petronius devises ever-more-original varieties of hedonism.
And there’s the key to understanding the often anesthetic effect of the Internet. Decadence doesn’t demand great wealth: Decadence is a useful way to understand any situation in which an existing pleasure becomes cheap, and it takes the ingenuity of a Petronius to fight off the boredom.
Link to the full article here.
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January 25, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Zeppo Manx
Interesting article, but I need to study it a bit to wrap my head around what he is saying. Not so much the analogy of unleashed hedonism to information overload but what he is saying about pleasure itself as viewed by Petronious and Trimaclchios.
…But the talent of taking pleasure in excess, and inventing new pleasures out of excess, is still a rare one: For every Petronius, there are many more Trimalchios who end up bloated, exhausted, wearing a false face of enjoyment.
It seems he is saying Petronious and Trimaclchios are both chasing the same goal of “pleasure”. But from an offhand observation it seems like it is a conceptualized pleasure. Instead of knowing your self and responding appropriately in whatever pleasurable situation you somehow experience , you have to quantify it and rate it against other activities. Or something like that.
January 27, 2012 at 2:21 pm
skepticalwalrus
I’m not sure that Petronious and Trimalchio are chasing the same goal. “Pleasure” on some level is involved in both cases but the difference seems to be in the attitude and framing.
Petronious approached his job as Nero’s arbiter of elegance as a conductor would a symphony. The music, pleasure in this case, can always be freshly interpreted and there is always possibility for higher experiences with even the most widely played pieces.
Our poor Trimalchio, on the other hand, simply wallows in excess as unselfconscious as a pig in a mud hole. I would argue that it is not even pleasure that he seeks, at least not in the food and drink at his party, but rather praise and validation from members of his community.
January 28, 2012 at 1:06 am
Zeppo Manx
I should probably think about it some more but spouting off the cuff is so much easier.
I guess I am hung up on the one hand of Petronious as an arbiter and interpreter and the other, Trimalchio deciding what excesses to indulge in. They both seem to be into rating things (in order to talk about) rather than just relax and enjoy them.
Again I really should look into the two more than just on google search, but there is so much TV to watch and Websites to visit and wine to drink.
January 28, 2012 at 1:13 am
Zeppo Manx
One more thing, now that I’m thinking it is the notion that to truly enjoy something you have to insert self consciousness.
The unconsciousness when actually enjoying something is really the purest pleasure since there is no separation between the experience. So if Petronious separates himself from the act with a consciousness but Trimalchio embraces the moment, then Mr T is closer to the moment and the act.
At least in theory from the few paragraphs I’ve read.
January 29, 2012 at 10:48 pm
skepticalwalrus
With regard to seeking pleasure through hospitality, though consuming and sharing food and wine, is Trimalchio really embracing the moment? Or is he using the abundance of food and drink in that era as a vehicle to gather people around to stroke his ego? I think the mock funeral shows his real motives.
In an era of decadence and abundance, if the Petronious’s of the world do their job, then the true pleasure seekers can experience higher levels of pleasure in situations previously visited. Perhaps it boils down to finding one’s own inner Petronious to keep things interesting, whether it’s on a conscious or unconscious level.