| Description |
xliii, 310 pages ; 24 cm |
| Series |
Studies in contemporary German social thought |
|
Studies in contemporary German social thought.
|
| Contents |
Notes on the translation and acknowledgments -- Introduction toward a realization of anticipatory illumination / Jack Zipes -- Something's missing : a discussion between Ernst Block and Theodor W. Adorno on the contradictions of utopian longing (1964) -- [pt. 1]. Art and society -- Ideas as transformed material in human minds, or problems of an ideological superstructure (Cultural heritage) (1972) -- The wish-landscape perspective in aesthetics : the order of art materials according to the dimension of their profundity and hope (1959) -- [pt. 2]. Art and Utopia --- The creation of the ornament (1973) -- The conscious and known activity within the not-yet-conscious, the utopian function (1959) -- The artistic illusion as the visible anticipatory illumination (1959) -- Marxism and poetry (1935) -- The fairy tale moves on its own in time (1930) -- Better castles in the sky at the country fair and circus, in fairy tales and colportage (1959) -- Building in empty spaces (1959) -- On fine arts in the machine age (1964) -- On the present in literature -- The stage regarded as a paradigmatic institution and the decision within it (1959) -- A philosophical view of the detective novel (1965) -- A philosophical view of the novel of the artist (1965) -- The representation of wish-landscapes in painting, opera, and poetry (1959) -- Selected bibliography -- Index of names and works |
| Summary |
The aesthetic essays of the philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) belong to the rich tradition of cultural criticism represented by Georg Lukacs, Theodor Adorno, and Walter Benjamin. Bloch was a significant creative source for these thinkers, and his impact is nowhere more evident than in writings on art. Bloch was fascinated with art as a reflection of both social realities and human dreams. Whether he is discussing architecture or detective novels, the theme that drives his work is always the same -- the striving for "something better," for a "homeland" that is more socially aware, more humane, more just. The book opens with an illuminating discussion between Bloch and Adorno on the meaning of utopia; then follow 12 essays written between 1930 and 1973 on topics as diverse as aesthetic theory, genres such as music, painting, theater, film, opera, poetry, and the novel, and perhaps most important, popular culture in the form of fairy tales, detective stories, and dime novels. -- Back cover |
| Analysis |
Arts Aesthetics |
|
Literature Aesthetics |
| Notes |
Includes index |
|
The first essay, Something's missing, was originally published in German in Gesprache mit Ernst Bloch; the other essays are from Bloch's Asthetik des Vor-Scheins |
| Bibliography |
Bibliography: page <293>-303 |
| Notes |
Translated from German |
| Subject |
Aesthetics.
|
|
Aesthetics.
|
| Genre/Form |
Utopian fiction.
|
| Author |
Mecklenburg, Frank, translator
|
|
Zipes, Jack, 1937- translator
|
| LC no. |
87004068 |
| ISBN |
0262022702 |
|
