Aesthetics and Modernity Essays by Agnes Heller

by Rundell, John

• ISBN13: 9780739141328
• ISBN10: 0739141325
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-22
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Aesthetics and Modernity brings together Agnes Heller's most recent essays around the topics of aesthetic genres such as painting, music, literature and comedy, aesthetic reception, and embodiment. The essays draw on Heller's deep appreciation of aesthetics in all its forms from the classical to the Renaissance and the contemporary periods. Heller's recent work on aesthetics explores the complex and fraught status of artworks within the context of the history of modernity. For Heller, not only does the relation between aesthetics and modernity have to be looked at anew, but also the way in which these terms are conceptualized, and this is the two-fold task that she sets for herself in these essays. She engages this task with a critical recognition of modernity's pitfalls. This collection highlights these pitfalls in the context of continuing possibilities for aesthetics and our relationship with works of art, and throws light on Heller's theory of emotions and feelings, and her theory of modernity. Aesthetics and Modernity collects the essential essays of Agnes Heller, and is a must-read for anyone interested in Heller's major contributions to philosophy.

Author Biography

John Rundell is associate professor of social theory at the University of Melbourne. Agnes Heller is an influential and internationally recognized philosopher who frequently writes on such diverse topics as ethics, modernity, and political theory. In 2005 she was awarded the Sonning Prize. She is currently the Hannah Arendt Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at The New School in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Agnes Heller	p. 1
What Went Wrong With the Concept of the Beautiful?	p. 29
Autonomy of Art or the Dignity of the Artwork	p. 47
The Role of Emotions in the Reception of Artworks	p. 65
Joke Culture and Transformations of the Public Sphere	p. 79
The Contemporary Historical Novel	p. 93
The Metaphysics of Embodiment in the Western Tradition	p. 105
European Master Narratives about Freedom	p. 129
The Three Logics of Modernity and the Double bind of the Modern Imagination	p. 141
The Absolute Stranger	p. 159
The Gods of Greece	p. 177
Self-Representation and the Representation of the Other	p. 189
Where Are We at Home?	p. 203
Index	p. 223
About the Author and Editor	p. 233
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