Here; for the first time; Christopher Kul-Want brings together twenty-five texts on art written by twenty philosophers. Covering the Enlightenment to postmodernism; these essays draw on Continental philosophy and aesthetics; the Marxist intellectual tradition; and psychoanalytic theory; and each is accompanied by an overview and interpretation.The volume features Martin Heidegger on Van Goghs shoes and the meaning of the Greek temple; Georges Bataille on Salvador Daliacute;s The Lugubrious Game; Theodor W. Adorno on capitalism and collage; Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes on the uncanny nature of photography; Sigmund Freud on Leonardo Da Vinci and his interpreters; Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva on the paintings of Holbein; Freuds postmodern critic; Gilles Deleuze on the visceral paintings of Francis Bacon; and Giorgio Agamben on the twin traditions of the Duchampian ready-made and Pop Art. Kul-Want elucidates these texts with essays on aesthetics; from Hegel and Nietzsche to Badiou and Ranciegrave;re; demonstrating how philosophy adopted a new orientation toward aesthetic experience and subjectivity in the wake of Kants powerful legacy.
#1287060 in eBooks 2008-11-13 2008-11-13File Name: B006INHQEQ
Review
8 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Not a comment on the plays. but the Kindle version is unreadableBy The LiquidfalconI was excited to find this collection of Wycherleys plays. but for some reason. much of the text is presented in tables. This means that a good deal of the text is cut and cannot be read on the Kindle. If Oxford books releases a corrected version. Id be happy to purchase again. but until then be warned - this ebook is unreadable with upwards of 50 lines of text lost with every page turn (especially in the dedications and prologues).Truly disappointing.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A theatrical assault on PuritanismBy HHFrom its creation until the mid-20th century. "The Country Wife" was subject to both aesthetic praise and moral outrage. Many critics through the centuries have acknowledged its linguistic energy and wit. Even Victorians such as Leigh Hunt. praised its literary quality in a selection of Restoration plays that he published in 1840 (itself a daring undertaking. for reputedly "obscene" plays that had been long out of print). However. Lord Macaulay swept aside questions of literary merit. famously claiming with indignation that "Wycherleys indecency is protected against the critics as a skunk is protected against the hunters. It is safe. because it is too filthy to handle and too noisome even to approach." Margery Pinchwife. regarded in Wycherleys own time as a purely comic character. was denounced by Macaulay as a scarlet woman who threw herself into "a licentious intrigue of the lowest and least sentimental kind". (See Macaluays review of Hunts volume.)During the 19th century the play was impossible equally to stage and to discuss. forgotten and obscure. Academic critics of the first half of the 20th century continued to approach "The Country Wife" gingerly. with frequent warnings about its "heartlessness". even as they praised its keen social observation. At this time nobody found it funny. and positive criticism tried to rescue it as satire and social criticism rather than as comedy. Macaulays "licentious" Mrs. Pinchwife becomes in the 20th century a focus for moral concern: to critics such as Bonamy Dobreacute;e. she is a tragic character. destined to have her naiveteacute; cruelly taken advantage of by the "grim. nightmare figure" of Horner. The past 50 years have seen a major change. and academic critics have acknowledged the play as a powerful and original work. Its a must-read for anyone interested in subversive works of theater!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Bob_in_MAThe Country Wife is one of the great restoration comedies. The "china scene" alone is worth five stars.
