In this key text in the history of art and aesthetics; Karl Rosenkranz shows ugliness to be the negation of beauty without being reducible to evil; materiality; or other negative terms used its conventional condemnation. This insistence on the specificity of ugliness; and on its dynamic status as a process afflicting aesthetic canons; reflects Rosenkranzs interest in the metropolis - like Walter Benjamin; he wrote on Paris and Berlin - and his voracious collecting of caricature and popular prints. Rosenkranz; living and teaching; like Kant; in remote Kouml;nigsberg; reflects on phenomena of modern urban life from a distance that results in critical illumination. The struggle with modernization and idealist aesthetics makes Aesthetics of Ugliness; published four years before Baudelaires Fleurs du Mal; hugely relevant to modernist experiment as well as to the twenty-first century theoretical revival of beauty.Translated into English for the first time; Aesthetics of Ugliness is an indispensable work for scholars and students of modern aesthetics and modernist art; literary studies and cultural theory; which fundamentally reworks conceptual understandings of what it means for a thing to be ugly.
#4129186 in eBooks 2015-04-28 2015-04-28File Name: B00WRY2FXC
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great IntroductionBy AidenAs a Masters student in Media Psychology I found this book to be a great resource if you are looking for a basic introduction to the subject. It does not cover all of the topics; obviously; as it is a small book. It covers the main points that most people focus on/are interested in; like violence and advertising. Although; there are a lot of big terms included that you can use to study deeper. The book also has a great enthusiasm and humor to it that makes the reading a lot more fun. I would recommend The Shallows by Nicholas Carr; for a more philosophical/interesting read.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Cheryl HugginsFantastic book! Great overview of Media Psychology!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Customergood and fast
