Aesthetics, theory and interpretation of the literary work / / by Paolo Euron.

• Superior document: Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education; volume133
• VerfasserIn: Euron, Paolo, 1965-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden Boston : : Brill | Sense,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Transgressions: Cultural Studies and Education; volume133.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (251 pages).

This book introduces the reader to the literary work and to an understanding of its cultural background and its specific features. In doing so, it refers to two main traditions of Western culture: one of aesthetics and the theory of art and the other of literary theory. In our postmodern world, language and artistic creation (and above all literature as the art of language) occupy a special role in understanding the human world and become existential issues. A critical attitude requires knowledge of the relevant past in order to understand what we are today. The author presents key topics, ideas, and representatives of aesthetics, theory, and the interpretation of works of art in an historical perspective, in order to explain the Western tradition with constant attention to the present condition. Aesthetics, Theory and Interpretation of the Literary Work offers an outline of essential concepts and authors of aesthetics and theories of the literary work, presenting basic topics and ideas in their historical context and development, considering their relevance to the contemporary debate, and highlighting the specificity of the experience of the art work in our present world. The best way to approach a work of art is to enjoy it. In order to enjoy a literary work, we have to consider its correct context and its specific artistic qualities. The book is conceived as a general and enjoyable introduction to the experience of the work of art in Western culture.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Introduction -- Art, Beauty and Imitation in Plato’s Philosophy -- Art and Imitation in Aristotle -- Horace, Pseudo-Longinus and the Aesthetics of Literature in Hellenism -- Plotinus, Neo-Platonic and Christian Conception of Beauty -- The Middle Ages and Dante Alighieri -- Humanism and the New Idea of Human Beings -- Italian Neo-Platonism and Marsilio Ficino -- The New Idea of the Human Being and Artist -- The Baroque: History and Poetry in Giambattista Vico -- Baumgarten -- Kant and the Origin of Modern Aesthetics -- The Heritage of Kantian Philosophy in Romanticism -- Moritz -- Theory of Poetry of Early German Romanticism -- Hegel -- Schopenhauer -- Nietzsche -- Symbolism and Aestheticism -- Benedetto Croce -- Linguistics and Criticism -- Antonio Gramsci -- Structuralism -- Martin Heidegger -- Hans-Georg Gadamer -- Critical Theory -- Perspectives of Post-Structuralism -- The Practice of Deconstruction -- Contemporary Schools and Traditions in Literary and Critical Theory -- Postmodern and the New Character of the Literary Work -- Back Matter -- References -- Index.