How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
'Howard—' he said to me, 'future civilizations—better civilizations than this one, are going to judge all men by the extent to which they've been artists. You and I, if some future archaeologist finds our works miraculously preserved in some city dump, will be judged by the quality of our creations. Nothing else about us will matter.' (12.9)
Kraft is espousing a popular belief that some people hold about civilization. For one thing, a lot of the time, all we have left of the past is art and artifacts. But if you ask Kraft, we tend to romanticize being human, because if all we are amounts to eating, sleeping, and pooping, then what's the point? Why are we even here? Why can we talk and sing and paint? We need meaning. History gives us meaning, and art gives us meaning, so we're going to go for those things, argues Kraft. That doesn't mean there actually is no meaning; it just means that we're susceptible to lots of kinds of meaning, good and bad, true and false.
Quote #5
And he was, at the very same time, doing a portrait of me that surely showed more sympathetic insight into me, more intuitive affection than could ever have been produced by a wish to fool a boob. (14.7)
Talk about wry and bitter humor. Campbell is sitting for a portrait—like one of the greats of history—and he's desperately trying to convince himself that this means that Kraft really knows him. Like really knows him in his heart of hearts. Everyone wants to be known, and Campbell's having a rough time over his friend being a spy. He's adamant, then, that Kraft's skill at painting him means that Kraft's affection is real.
Quote #6
On and on Helga spun her yarn, weaving a biography on the crazy loom of modern history. (16.20)
At first glance, Helga is telling us what happened to her after she was captured, and Campbell is weaving imagery around to make this small moment a part of "modern history." But this is fake history that Resi is telling. That makes Resi ("Helga") both a woman weaving fate and a liar "spinning a yarn" to beguile her listeners. But her loom is "modern history"—is that concept a lie, too? Mayhaps.