Art in the offertorium : narcissism, psychoanalysis, and cultural metaphysics / / Harvey Giesbrecht and Charles Levin.

This book proposes a new approach to the problem of aesthetic experience in Western culture. Noting how art world phenomena evoke conventional psychoanalytic speculations about narcissism, the authors turn the tables and “apply” aesthetic questions and concerns to psychoanalytic theory. Experimentin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Contemporary psychoanalytic studies ; 15
:
TeilnehmendeR:
Year of Publication:2012
Edition:1st ed.
Language:English
Series:Contemporary psychoanalytic studies ; 15.
Physical Description:1 online resource (274 p.)
Notes:Description based upon print version of record.
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This book proposes a new approach to the problem of aesthetic experience in Western culture. Noting how art world phenomena evoke conventional psychoanalytic speculations about narcissism, the authors turn the tables and “apply” aesthetic questions and concerns to psychoanalytic theory. Experimenting with Freudian and post-Freudian concepts, they propose a non-normative theory of the psychic drive to address and embrace deep tensions in the post-Renaissance aesthetic project, the rise of modernism, and the contemporary art world. It is argued that these tensions reflect central conflicts in the development of patriarchal civilization, which the emergence of the aesthetic domain, as a specialized range of practice, exposes and subverts. The postmodern era of aesthetic reflection is interpreted as the outcome of a complex narcissistic dialectic of idealization and de-idealization that is significant for the understanding of contemporary culture and its historical prospects.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN:1283543095
9786613855541
9401207771
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Harvey Giesbrecht and Charles Levin.