Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, PostmodernismFive Faces of Modernity is a series of semantic and cultural biographies of words that have taken on special significance in the last century and a half or so: modernity, avant-garde, decadence, kitsch, and postmodernism. The concept of modernity—the notion that we, the living, are different and somehow superior to our predecessors and that our civilization is likely to be succeeded by one even superior to ours—is a relatively recent Western invention and one whose time may already have passed, if we believe its postmodern challengers. Calinescu documents the rise of cultural modernity and, in tracing the shifting senses of the five terms under scrutiny, illustrates the intricate value judgments, conflicting orientations, and intellectual paradoxes to which it has given rise. Five Faces of Modernity attempts to do for the foundations of the modernist critical lexicon what earlier terminological studies have done for such complex categories as classicism, baroque, romanticism, realism, or symbolism and thereby fill a gap in literary scholarship. On another, more ambitious level, Calinescu deals at length with the larger issues, dilemmas, ideological tensions, and perplexities brought about by the assertion of modernity. |
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Contents
Introduction | 3 |
THE IDEA OF MODERNITY | 10 |
Three Eras of Western History | 19 |
Copyright | |
31 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
actually aesthetic ancients appears approach artistic avant-garde Baudelaire beauty become bourgeois called century characteristic Christian clearly complex concept consciousness consider contemporary crisis criticism cultural decadence discussion distinction early essay essential example expression fact French future German human Ibid idea ideology imagination implied important intellectual interesting Italy kind kitsch late later less literary literature major Marxist mass means modernist modernity moral movement nature Nietzsche notion object opposition original Paris passage past period philosophical poet poetic poetry political position possible postmodernism present Press production progress published question radical reason recent reference regard rejection representatives result romantic romanticism Saint-Simon seems seen sense significant social society speak specifically style suggest taste term theory things thought tion tradition trans turn understand University Western whole writes York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism |
| Authors | Matei Călinescu, Professor Matei Calinescu |
| Edition | 2, reprint, revised |
| Publisher | Duke University Press, 1987 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Jan 21, 2010 |
| ISBN | 082230726X, 9780822307266 |
| Length | 395 pages |
| Subjects | › Architecture / Reference Philosophy / Aesthetics |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |