Value of Art (die Kunst) in Goethe's "Faust"

WAGNER: Ach, Gott! die Kunst ist lang;

und kurtz ist unser Leben.
Mir wird, bei meinem kritischen Bestreben,
doch oft in Kopf und Busen bang.
Wie schwer Sind nicht die Mittel zu erwerben,
durch die man zu den Quellen steigt!
Und eh' man nur den halben Weg erreicht,
muss wohl ein armer Teufel sterben.


English translation by Bayard Taylor.

WAGNER: The rhetor's art is long,
and life, alas! is fleeting.
Yet, often, when my critic-duties meeting,
in head and heart I know something's wrong.
How hard it is to compass the assistance
whereby one rises to the source!
And yet, before they've travelled half the course,
must most poor fellows quit existence.

Farcical Tennis Matches in Classic Films

In Jacques Tati's Classic Comedy "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" (1953), Monsieur Hulot buys a tennis racket & the saleswoman shows some whimsical moves with it. Armed with it, Monsieur Hulot starts to play with women & dumbfounds them with his unique serve, which is unreturnable (like Pete Sampras' who was unique in serving aces even on his second serve.) Frustrated, the women retire & men arrive to play him. They are also flummoxed by his unimaginable serve!

In Michaelangelo Antonioni's first English (1966) film "Blow Up", at the end of the film, the photographer hero of the film comes upon some people who are miming playing a tennis match, without a ball! After watching them sometime, he is also drawn into their surreal world by running after & retrieving an imaginary ball hit out of court!

Mr. Dombey & Mr. Soames Forsyte - A Study in Contrasts

In Dickens' "Dombey & Son", the rich Mr. Dombey wants his son to inherit his business & carry on the name. But the boy dies early. His sister, Florence, loves her father, but is rebuffed by him. After the death of his wife, Mr.Dombey marries again but his wife elopes. He also loses his wealth. But Florence, married to Walter, socially inferior, traces out her father & looks after him lovingly.

In Galsworthy's "The Forsyte Saga", the rich Soames marries Irene, but treats her as his property & wants a son from her. Irene leaves him & marries his cousin Jolyon. Soames marries again & has an only daughter Fluer. But when Fluer grows up, she falls in love (unknowingly) with Irene's son Jon. Because of the family feud & following Jon's unwillingness to hurt his mother, Fleur marries Michael Mont, without passion. 

So in Dickens' book, Mr. Dombey realises his daughter Florence's love for him & lives happily with her. But Soames' daughter Fleur has to give up her true love Jon, just because he is Irene's son, whose mother left Soames.