Modernism and Mimesis

This book offers a bold new view of the way in which modernist fiction, painting, music, and poetry are interlinked. Dowden shows that modernism, contrary to a longstanding view, did not turn away from mimesis. Rather, modernism operates according to a deepened understanding of what mimesis is and how it works, which in turn occasions a fresh look at other related dimensions of the modernist achievement. Modernism is neither difficult nor elitist. Instead, it trends toward simplicity, directness, and common culture. Dowden argues that naïveté rather than highbrow sophistication was for the modernists a key artistic principle. He demonstrates that modernism, far from glorifying subjective creativity, directs itself toward healing the split between subject and object. Mimesis closes this gap by resolving representation into play and festivity.

First book to undertake unifying reassessment of modernist fiction, painting, music, and poetry. Offers a new way to think about the nature of mimesis in modernist production. Reorganizes the modernist canon.

Autorentext
Stephen D. Dowden is Professor of German Language and Literature at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.

Inhalt

1. Chapter 1: Uneasy Modernism.- 2. Chapter 2: Novelistic Style and the Disappearance of Breakfast.- 3. Chapter 3: Painting the World Picture.- 4. Chapter 4: Music as Natural Magic.- 5. Chapter 5: The Gift of Babel.