Though I suppose there is a kind of artist, especially of the postmodern variety, that might take issue with this claim, insofar as the deconstruction of narrative, and a drawing of the audience’s attention to the artifice of the work, and the instability of language (all of which belongs to the postmodern concern), have more to do with intellectual ‘play’ than with pathos, and the touching of an audience’s emotions. Perhaps one might even maintain that such play is not gratuitous, but results in a heightening of the consciousness, insofar as the consciousness is stimulated through it. Which most works of art would be happy to be able to do.