a mass of wickedness

[Peter Jiong]

[FONT=&quot]Perhaps, in two or three hundred years, when everything is done by electricity and every one is equal, when we are all happy socialists, with good educations and better morals, Beethoven’s complexity will be like a mass of wickedness, and only the plain, honest homeliness of the comic song will appeal to our simple feelings.

From Mrs. Craddock [/FONT](set in the late 19th century) by W Somerset Maugham.

What does “a mass of wickedness” mean？[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Perhaps, in two or three hundred years, when everything is done by electricity and every one is equal, when we are all happy socialists, with good educations and better morals, Beethoven’s complexity will be like a mass of wickedness, and only the plain, honest homeliness of the comic song will appeal to our simple feelings.

From Mrs. Craddock (set in the late 19th century) by W Somerset Maugham.

What does “a mass of wickedness” mean？

I love that!

He 's saying that maybe in simple, wholesome times, the complex will seem evil.

And I say: So let's get there already!

 

[Peter Jiong]

Why is it evil？

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

If simplicity is valued, complexity can appear evil.

And that is what Maugham is saying.

 

[tedmc]

Probably things that are complicated and cannot be appreciated are perceived as evil.