I came up with this idea for my 2009 Lorca book that I should be attentive to my own aesthetic reactions with a specific purpose in mind. This does not mean that my personal taste is the final word, but that the reaction to something contains information of value, if analyzed. So I find myself reacting to something as pretentious, kitschy, sentimental, that this also tells me something about the ethical stance of the artist toward the material. For example, sentimentality, as an aesthetic flaw, is linked to an ethical failure to see Spanish culture in its individuality: it is a way of using the stencil of Spanish culture and imposing it on the material.
Not being able to be attentive to one's reactions would be like not being able to feel physical pain, or like being a chef unable to taste food.
Where this gets me into trouble, of course, is when I then take that reaction as definitive.
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