Art for Art’s Sake and Literary Life is a history of literary aestheticism from the eighteenth century to modern deconstruction. Gene H. Bell-Villada examines writings by critics, philosophers, and other writers from Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Uniting all is his conviction that “there are concrete social, economic, political, and cultural reasons for the emergence, growth, diffusion, and triumph of l’art pour l’art over the past two centuries.”
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In his lucid, humane history, Bell-Villada, professor of Romance languages and literatures at Williams College and author of Garcia Marquez: The Man and His Work, describes the history of l'art pour l'art, the notion that beauty, divorced from utility and morality, is a desirable end in itself. He traces the idea from (mis)readings of Kant and Schiller through Theophile Gautier, Walter Pater, Edgar Allen Poe and Latin American Modernismo to the New Critics and Paul de Man. Some of this genealogy has been investigated before, but Bell-Villada brings both a readable style and a wide knowledge of literature, social influences, politics and markets to his story. The invention of paint tubes and prefabricated canvases in the first half of the 19th century and the academicization of criticism and literary life in the middle of this one share space with a thorough reconsideration of Joyce's presumed aestheticism. The general reader will find succinct background material on all the germane people, concepts and contexts. There are some peculiarities: Bell-Villada goes far out of his way just to apply a rather lame market analogy to Modernism, and his bilious analysis of Nabokov's work is likely to raise some hackles. But overall, this is a wide-ranging, erudite, well-written study with a refreshing disdain for doctrine.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Lucid and learned. . . . much more than an exercise in retrieval, although it is splendid on this account alone, Bell-Villada has also joined debates about the Latin American novel, deconstructionism, and post-modernism, offering what is always in short supply: a wide-angled, historical, and penetrating perspective."-Russell Jacoby (Russell Jacoby )
"Professor Bell-Villada has rendered an incomparable service to those probing the sources of the modern aesthetic . . . I have found his book so wide-ranging and inclusive that I would recommend it enthusiastically."-Dore Ashton (Dore Ashton )
"A wide-ranging, erudite, well-written study with a refreshing disdain for doctrine."-Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly )
"Professor Bell-Villada has rendered an incomparable service to those probing the sources of the modern aesthetic . . . I have found his book so wide-ranging and inclusive that I would recommend it enthusiastically."-Dore Ashton (Dore Ashton )
"A wide-ranging, erudite, well-written study with a refreshing disdain for doctrine."-Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great book with 2 major flaws,
By ygrenier@stfx.ca (Nova Scotia, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Art for Art's Sake and Literary Life: How Politics and Markets Helped Shape the Ideology and Culture of Aestheticism, 1790?1990 (Stages) (Hardcover)
Elegantly written, thought-provoking, abrasive, and immensely informative, Bell-Villada's essay is nonetheless affected by two important flaws: its relative lack of focus, especially toward the end of the book, and its rigid application of a left v. right girdle. Bell-Villada obviously believes that the left is always good and progressive, with the possible exception of Joseph Stalin, whereas the right and the center are innately deficients, both morally and intellectually, for they either call for a return to the past or for a blind defense of the statu quo. The problem here is theoretical. Arguably, the milieu of artists is ill suited for this kind of Manichean mutilation. Many artists, in modern times, have adopted syncretic political dispositions comprising ingredients such as contempt for the statu quo and rejection of dominant values (especially utilitarianism), this leading them either to fascism or to bolchevism, with a great deal of transactions between the two (it is significant that Bell-Villada does not have much to say about Ezra Pound!). Most fascists were also revolutionary and anti statu-quo: in fact, many were attempting to revitalize socialism. Rather than using only "left v. right", Bell-Villada should have added other variables such as "romantic v. enlightenment" and "liberal v. anti-liberal", and use them all with a great deal of flexibility.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, Informative, and enjoyable!,
By Rosa M. "Rosa M." (los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Art for Art's Sake and Literary Life: How Politics and Markets Helped Shape the Ideology and Culture of Aestheticism, 1790-1990 (Stages) (Paperback)
Art for Art's Sake and Literary Life: How Politics and Markets Helped Shape the Ideology and Culture of Aestheticism, 1790-1990 (Stages)I discovered this writer when I was looking for opinions about the Nobel Prize Garcia Marquez, "Garcia marquez the Man and His Work," and I was fascinated for the accuracy about Colombian history and the way he related it with the author's life and ouvre. Recently, curious to know what others books he had written; I found this one which catch my attention for its title, ART FOR ART'S SAKE, because it has been an old controversy. The book includes two hundred years of philosophy, critic, literatura, and poetry in a rich account on the most brilliant exponents. Ranging from enlightment to Latin American literary Boom. Sometimes giving a litle touch on one of the personages, and other times giving a profound account of them because of its deep relation with the study he had in mind. I greatly recommend this book because is richly informative and relaxing and enjoyable.
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