Modern/Postmodern - A Study in Twentieth-Century Arts and Ideas (Paperback, New edition)

Silvio Gaggi's survey of the vast terrain of twentieth century arts and ideas is unique not only for its scope but also for the clarity and cohesiveness it brings to wide-ranging, seemingly disparate works. By identifying underlying epistemological, aesthetic, and ethical issues. Gaggi draws connections among such modern and postmodern masterpieces as Pirandello's and Brecht's theater, Fowles's and Barth's fiction, Warhol's paintings, Godard's and Bergman's films, and Derrida's literary theory. Modern/Postmodern begins with a discussion of the profound skepticism-about traditional beliefs and about our ability to know the self-that lies at the heart of both modernism and postmodernism. Gaggi identifies the modernist response to this doubt as the rejection of mimesis in favor of a purely formalistic or expressionistic art. The postmodern response, on the other hand, is above all to create art that is self-referential (concerned with art itself, the history of art, or its processes). Drawing from the work of Piranadello and Brecht, paradigms that can be applies to many different art works, Gaggi emphasizes how these works from diverse media relate to one another and what their relationships are to the contemporary artistic and philosophical climate. He concentrates on the works themselves, but examines theory as a parallel manifestation of the same obsessions that inform recent literature and art. Gaggi asks, finally, if self-referential art can also be politically and ethically engaged with the reality outside it. He concludes that the postmodern obsession with language, narrativity, and artifice is not necessarily a decadent indulgence but is, at its best, an honest inquiry into the problems, questions, and paradoxes of language. Modern/Postmodern is a lively approach to postmodern art that will interest all students and scholars of contemporary art and literature.

General

Imprint:	University of PennsylvaniaPress
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Penn Studies in Contemporary American Fiction
Release date:	February 1991
First published:	1989
Authors:	Silvio Gaggi
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 17mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	224
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-8122-1384-3
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > From 1900 > General Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > General Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Films, cinema > Film theory & criticism Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > From 1900 Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, from c 1900 - > General Books > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, from c 1900 - > General Promotions
LSN:	0-8122-1384-X
Barcode:	9780812213843

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