"Vulgarity is born when we strive to be what we are not. Nobody, not anything, is vulgar when he contents himself with being what he is. Vulgarity is a phenomenon of those societies where the instability of social classes favors confusion, where--since nobody occupies a secure position--anyone can make himself master of a feigned situation...Vulgarity is the proper characteristic of every bourgeois age."
The original Spanish is:
ReplyDeleteLa vulgaridad consiste en pretender ser lo que no somos.
Cf. Notas, pp. 221-222:
ReplyDelete"Vulgarity is born when we strive to be what we are not. Nobody, not anything, is vulgar when he contents himself with being what he is. Vulgarity is a phenomenon of those societies where the instability of social classes favors confusion, where--since nobody occupies a secure position--anyone can make himself master of a feigned situation...Vulgarity is the proper characteristic of every bourgeois age."