Sublimity : the non-rational and the irrational in the history of aesthetics / James Kirwan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirwan, James, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sublime, The.

Aesthetics.

Physical Description:

viii, 213 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2005.

Summary:

In the history of aesthetics, few concepts have been as powerful and as elusive as the idea of the sublime, the "enthusiastic terror" that can possess us when we behold a mountain or a miracle. In his new book, James Kirwan unravels the concept of the sublime as it developed from the eighteenth century ideas of Burke and his contemporaries through Kant and the Romantics on up to Lyotard and other postmodern thinkers. Although there are many individual studies of the subject, Sublimity offers the first concise historical overview. With its appeal for readers in aesthetics, art history, religion, and literary theory, Sublimity will be of wide use to students and scholars.

Contents:

1 Mountains, Tigers, and Magnanimity: A Passion and Its Objects 1

2 A Pleasing Rape? Boswell versus Johnson in the History of the Sublime 15

3 Proud Creatures: The Fascination of Greatness 37

4 The Claim to a Nobler Motive: Kant 53

5 The Triumph of the Will: Schiller 67

6 The Philosophy of Belief: German Idealism 85

7 Common Senses: Eighteenth-Century Survivals 103

8 The Literature of Power: The Nineteenth Century 119

9 Epiphany and Therapy: The Twentieth Century 141

10 Sublimity 159.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-208) and index.

ISBN:

0415966868

0415966876

OCLC:

60810800