Synopses & Reviews
The rise of literary theory spawned the rise of anti-aestheticism, so that even for cultural theorists, discussions concerning aesthetics were often carried out in a critical shorthand that failed to engage with the particularity of the work of art, much less the specificities of aesthetic experience. This book introduces the notion of a new aestheticism--"new" insofar as it identifies a turn taken by a number of important contemporary thinkers towards the idea that focussing on the specifically aesthetic impact of a work of art or literature has the potential to open radically different ways of thinking about identity, politics and culture.
Synopsis
The interest in aesthetics in Philosophy, Literary and Cultural Studies is growing rapidly. 'The new aestheticism' contains exemplary essays by key practitioners in these fields which demonstrate the importance of this area of enquiry.
About the Author
John J. Joughin is Reader in English at the University of Central Lancashire. Simon Malpas is Lecturer in English at the Manchester Metropolitan University.
Table of Contents
The New Aestheticism: An Introduction--John J. Joughin and Simon Malpas * Part One: Positions * Aesthetic Education and the Demise of Experience--Thomas Docherty * Towards a Contemporary Aesthetic--Jonathan Dollimore * Mimesis in Black and White: Feminist Aesthetics, Negativity and Semblance--Ewa Plonowska Ziarek * What Comes after Art--Andrew Bowie * Touching Art: Aesthetics, Fragmentation and Community--Simon Malpas * Part Two: Reading * The Alexandrian Aesthetic--Howard Caygill * Defending Poetry, or Is There an Early Modern Aesthetic?--Mark Robson * Shakespeare's Genius: 'Hamlet', Adaptation and the Work of Following--John J. Joughin * Critical Knowledge, Scientific Knowledge and the Truth of Literature--Robert Eaglestone * Melancholy As Form: Towards An Archaeology of Modernism--Jay Bernstein * Kant and the Ends of Criticism--Gary Banham * Including Transformation: Notes on the Art of the Contemporary--Andrew Benjamin * Aesthetics and Politics: Between Adorno and Heidegger--Joanna Hodge
The New Aestheticism: An Introduction--John J. Joughin and Simon Malpas * Part One: Positions * Aesthetic Education and the Demise of Experience--Thomas Docherty * Towards a Contemporary Aesthetic--Jonathan Dollimore * Mimesis in Black and White: Feminist Aesthetics, Negativity and Semblance--Ewa Plonowska Ziarek * What Comes after Art--Andrew Bowie * Touching Art: Aesthetics, Fragmentation and Community--Simon Malpas * Part Two: Reading * The Alexandrian Aesthetic--Howard Caygill * Defending Poetry, or Is There an Early Modern Aesthetic?--Mark Robson * Shakespeare's Genius: 'Hamlet', Adaptation and the Work of Following--John J. Joughin * Critical Knowledge, Scientific Knowledge and the Truth of Literature--Robert Eaglestone * Melancholy As Form: Towards An Archaeology of Modernism--Jay Bernstein * Kant and the Ends of Criticism--Gary Banham * Including Transformation: Notes on the Art of the Contemporary--Andrew Benjamin * Aesthetics and Politics: Between Adorno and Heidegger--Joanna Hodge