Now, here you raise an interesting point, Terrence.
I am sure that you would agree that a beautiful piece of prose showcasing the Nazi philosophy would be reprehensible.
Some people would argue that the virtues of its style can be separated from the vices of its content. It's not an argument that I would make, though.
I would be more inclined to entertain a totally different (and probably equally controversial) argument, which is, that it would be impossible for a piece of prose "showcasing the Nazi philosophy" to be "beautiful."
To my mind, for a piece of expository prose (I am not talking fiction here) to qualify as "good," let alone "beautiful," it must be, above all, lucid. In other words, the path its reasoning follows must be absolutely clear. Now, if the thinking that underlies the prose is muddled, the prose will be muddled, too. In short, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
For that matter, can anyone think of any good expository prose produced by Nazi writers?
However, I can't go along with this conclusion:
It is, in the end, the idea that counts.
It still has to be expressed well, in my opinion. More good ideas have been ruined by bad prose than I care to remember.
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