Aesthetics and Ideology in Contemporary Literature and Drama
Aesthetics and Ideology in Contemporary Literature and Drama

Author: René Agostini

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2015-09-10

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1443882313

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The conviction that the development and promotion of the arts, humanities and culture through the study of literature and the aesthetic are the fundamental constituents of any progress in society is at the heart of this volume. The essays gathered here explore the role of the imagination and aesthetic awareness in an age when the corporatization of knowledge is in the process of transforming literary studies, and political commitment is in danger of disappearing behind a supposedly post-ideological late-capitalist consensus. The main focus of the volume is the mutual implication of aesthetics and ideology and the status and value of different types of art within the political arena. Challenging issues in contemporary aesthetics are examined within the wider framework of current debates on the disappearance of the real, the crisis in representation, and the use of new media. The wide range of examples collected here, stretching from experimental poetry in post-war Germany, political commitment in twentieth-century French theatre, and countercultural Rumanian theatre under Ceaușescu, to Neo-Victorian fiction, Verbatim theatre in the UK, and political theatre for the masses in Estonia, vouchsafe unique insights into the intersection of aesthetics and ideology and the practical consequences thereof. As such, the volume opens up a space for a meaningful engagement with authentic forms of art from inside and outside the Anglosphere, and, ultimately, uses these examples as a platform from which to imagine some form of “aesthethics”, representing an ideal union of aesthetics and ideology. This concept, first coined by the French philosopher Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, will prove to be relevant both within the parameters of the examples discussed here, but also beyond, for the contributors to this volume are unanimous in refusing to believe that aesthetics and ideology can exist one without the other, and in recognizing the centrality of ethics in any discussion of these notions.

Aesthetics and Politics
Aesthetics and Politics

Author: Theodor Adorno

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-10-13

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1788738586

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An intense and lively debate on literature and art between thinkers who became some of the great figures of twentieth-century philosophy and literature. With an afterword by Fredric Jameson No other country and no other period has produced a tradition of major aesthetic debate to compare with that which unfolded in German culture from the 1930s to the 1950s. In Aesthetics and Politics the key texts of the great Marxist controversies over literature and art during these years are assembled in a single volume. They do not form a disparate collection but a continuous, interlinked debate between thinkers who have become giants of twentieth-century intellectual history.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature

Author: Richard Bradford

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-09-03

Total Pages: 911

ISBN-13: 1119653061

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THE WILEY BLACKWELL COMPANION TO CONTEMPORARY BRITISH AND IRISH LITERATURE An insightful guide to the exploration of modern British and Irish literature The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature is a must-have guide for anyone hoping to navigate the world of new British and Irish writing. Including modern authors and poets from the 1960s through to the 21st century, the Companion provides a thorough overview of contemporary poetry, fiction, and drama by some of the most prominent and noteworthy writers. Seventy-three comprehensive chapters focus on individual authors as well as such topics as Englishness and identity, contemporary Science Fiction, Black writing in Britain, crime fiction, and the influence of globalization on British and Irish Literature. Written in four parts, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature includes comprehensive examinations of individual authors, as well as a variety of themes that have come to define the contemporary period: ethnicity, gender, nationality, and more. A thorough guide to the main figures and concepts in contemporary literature from Britain and Ireland, this two-volume set: Includes studies of notable figures such as Seamus Heaney and Angela Carter, as well as more recently influential writers such as Zadie Smith and Sarah Waters. Covers topics such as LGBT fiction, androgyny in contemporary British Literature, and post-Troubles Northern Irish Fiction Features a broad range of writers and topics covered by distinguished academics Includes an analysis of the interplay between individual authors and the major themes of the day, and whether an examination of the latter enables us to appreciate the former. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature provides essential reading for students as well as academics seeking to learn more about the history and future direction of contemporary British and Irish Literature.

A Companion to Literary Evaluation
A Companion to Literary Evaluation

Author: Richard Bradford

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2024-03-21

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1119409896

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The first critical survey of its kind devoted solely to literary evaluation Companion to Literary Evaluation bridges the gap between the non-academic literary world, where evaluation is deeply ingrained, and the world of academia, where evaluation is rarely considered. Encouraging readers to formulate and articulate arguments that balance instinctive judgment and reasoned assessment, this unique volume addresses key issues regarding literary values from the perspective of analytical aesthetics and the philosophy of literature. Bringing together a diverse panel of contributors, the Companion explores competing theories of literary evaluation, the reasons for evaluating theater and lyric poetry in performance, the question of value in literary theory, debates over Modernism's negative impact on literature, the possibility of evaluating aesthetic beauty through scientific and formalist methods, the nature and status of literary evaluation as a branch of criticism, aesthetics in applied and community theater, evaluation outside academia, the perils of extreme relativism and subjectivism in literary evaluation, evaluation in schools and much more. Contributors question and reassess the reputations of authors across the canon, from Shakespeare and James Shirley to T S Eliot, Kathleen Raine, Virginia Woolf, Joyce and Beckett amongst others. The Companion: Illustrates how seemingly divergent perspectives on the artistic qualities and value of literature can sometimes overlap Covers the standard range of literary genres, while including others such as unfinished novels, freelance journalism, and lyric poetry in performance Offers methodologies that demonstrate why literature can be treated as something different from other forms of language and therefore assessed as art Explores the importance of maintaining clarity and specificity in the evaluation of literary works Companion to Literary Evaluation is a must-read for undergraduates, research students, lecturers, and academics in search of fresh perspectives on standard literary critical issues.

Aesthetics and Creation
Aesthetics and Creation

Author: Xingjian Gao

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9781604978360

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Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian is amongst the most challenging writers of the present era. He has probed the dynamics of Chinese and European literature and developed unique strategies for the writing of seventeen plays, two novels, a collection of short stories and a collection of poems. He has also written two collections of criticism. The present collection takes the title Aesthetics and Creation from the name of the Chinese collection from which most of these essays are drawn, but it also includes some of Gao's most recent unpublished essays. This book is both indispensable and inspiring reading for intellectuals and informed readers who regard themselves as citizen of the world. For academics, researchers and students engaged in the disciplines of literature and visual art studies, world literature studies, comparative literature studies, performance studies, theatre studies, cultural studies, narrative fiction studies, and studies in the history of literature and the visual arts in modern times, this book is essential and thought-provoking reading that will have many positive outcomes.This book is in the Cambria Sinophone World Series

The Ideology of the Aesthetic
The Ideology of the Aesthetic

Author: Terry Eagleton

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 1991-01-08

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9780631163022

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The Ideology of the Aesthetic presents a history and critique of the concept of the aesthetic throughout modern Western thought. As such, this is a critical survey of modern Western philosophy, focusing in particular on the complex relations between aesthetics, ethics and politics. Eagleton provides a brilliant and challenging introduction to these concerns, as characterized in the work of Kant, Schiller, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Lukacs, Adorno, Habermas, and others. Wide in span, as well as morally and politically committed, this is Terry Eagleton's major work to date. It forms both an original enquiry and an exemplary introduction.

John Steinbeck in East European Translation
John Steinbeck in East European Translation

Author: Danica Čerče

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2017-05-11

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1443892548

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This volume narrows a huge gap in regard to Steinbeck translations in Eastern Europe, here considered in terms of the political division between Western Europe and the Soviet-dominated East. As the only book of its kind, and although intended for both literature scholars and the broader arts community, it makes an important contribution to Steinbeck and American literature studies, and is useful for scholars of the languages discussed here. Although Steinbeck is regarded as an American writer of high repute, his appeal and influence extend far beyond the borders of North America. As documented here, he was particularly popular in Eastern Europe, where he inadvertently served political purposes. Evaluated through an ideological lens, the sole value of his works was seen to reside in their utility to oppressive political regimes. Even works that clearly showed Steinbeck venturing into new topics and forms could not escape an ideological burden, whereas several others that lacked social necessity and documentary integrity were unjustifiably marginalised or consigned to oblivion. As this study also shows, only recently, following the fall of totalitarian rule, have Steinbeck’s works started to be approached from the various angles of contemporary criticism. The acknowledgement that there is much more to recommend in his books than that which was praised by those who, blinded by their commitment or because of imposed limitations on expectations, showed no appreciation for the variety and subtlety of Steinbeck’s writing, explains the recent renaissance of interest in the whole of Steinbeck’s oeuvre. Indeed, viewed without preconceived ideas and accepted for what they are, it is impossible not to respond to Steinbeck’s exploration of issues of freedom, individual choice, and relationships, and not to notice that he was much more than merely a proletarian writer.

Beyond Documentary Realism
Beyond Documentary Realism

Author: Cyrielle Garson

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-02-22

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 3110715767

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Verbatim theatre, a type of performance based on actual words spoken by ''real people'', has been at the heart of a remarkable and unexpected renaissance of the genre in Great Britain since the mid-nineties. The central aim of the book is to critically explore and account for the relationship between contemporary British verbatim theatre and realism whilst questioning the much-debated mediation of the real in theses theatre practices.

Ideology and Aesthetics in American Literature and Arts
Ideology and Aesthetics in American Literature and Arts

Author: Jaroslav Kušnír

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2005-12-19

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 389821513X

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This book includes contributions by African, East and West European, Asian and North American scholars which deal with and compare ideological and non-ideological approaches to the analysis of literary, artistic as well as popular works (popular music) mostly by American authors. Most of the essays deal with a way various aspects of American identity are depicted, represented, treated, ideologized and aestheticized in different literary genres, forms of art and media. The contributions offer multidisciplinary, cross-cultural and comparative perspectives and represent a diversity of scholarly voices ranging from the general discussion on the relationship between ideology and art (Anton Pokrivčák), ideology and multiculturalism (Cristina Garrigós). They also give the analysis of poetry (Pokrivčák, Obododima Oha), postmodern fiction (Pi-Hua Ni, Cristina Garrigós), drama (Zoe Detsi-Diamanti, Csaba Csapó) as well as the comparative analysis of the depiction of the identity of North American Indians in such different media as literature and film (Michal Peprník). In addition to this, the book includes the analysis of Black rap music (Wojciech Kallas).