Contrast this with Nabokov: Even if he did claim that «
aesthetic bliss» was his only
goal, he was a great writer precisely
because he was able to convey all the ambivalence and guilt humans usually feel when they do something morally questionable.
It can be overwhelming, especially
because sometimes it seems like your very life — or at least the life your six - pack, hard - earned muscle mass, or other
aesthetic goal — is at stake.