Sublime Failure

Abstract:The motif of "failure/flaw" (hamartēma) is prominent in On the Sublime, particularly Longinus's intriguing suggestion that "the failed Colossus" might surpass Polyclitus's Doryphorus. While Longinus's references to failure have generally been interpreted as emphasizing the importance of risk-taking, I argue that failure's relationship with the sublime is more complex than a straightforward polarity. The ekstasis of sublime experience disrupts the subjective, blurring distinctions between success and failure. Ekstasis is entwined with sublimity's transgression of traditional standards of aesthetic and moral propriety, as illustrated by the Colossus and passages from Demosthenes, Sappho, and Homer.