The sense of semblance : philosophical analyses of Holocaust art / Henry W. Pickford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pickford, Henry W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), and the arts.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (296 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Holocaust artworks intuitively must fulfill at least two criteria: artistic (lest they be merely historical documents) and historical (lest they distort the Holocaust or become merely artworks). The Sense of Semblance locates this problematic within philosophical aesthetics, as a version of the conflict between aesthetic autonomy and heteronomy, and argues that Adorno's dialectic of aesthetic semblance describes the normative demand that artworks maintain a dynamic tension between the two. The Sense of Semblance aims to move beyond familiar debates surrounding postmodernism by demonstrating the usefulness of contemporary theories of meaning and understanding, including those from the analytic tradition. Pickford shows how the causal theory of names, the philosophy of tacit knowledge, the analytic philosophy of quotation, Sartre's theory of the imaginary, the epistemology of testimony, and Walter Benjamin's dialectical image can help explicate how individual artworks fulfill artistic and historical desiderata. In close readings of Celan's poetry, Holocaust memorials in Berlin, the quotational artist Heimrad Backer, Claude Lanzmann's film Shoah, and Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus, Pickford offers interpretations that, in their precision, specificity, and clarity, inaugurate a dialogue between contemporary analytic philosophy and contemporary art. The Sense of Semblance is the first book to incorporate contemporary analytic philosophy in interpretations of art and architecture, literature, and film about the Holocaust"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Judgment of Holocaust Art

2. Conflict and Commemoration

3. The Aesthetics of Historical Quotation

4. The Aesthetic-Historical Imaginary:

Conclusion: The Morality of Holocaust Art

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-8232-4543-8

0-8232-5077-6

0-8232-5031-8

OCLC:

822024944