To the collector belong the spoils : modernism and the art of appropriation / Annie Pfeifer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pfeifer, Annie, author.

Series:

Cornell scholarship online.

Cornell scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collectors and collecting--Philosophy.

Collectors and collecting.

Modernism (Literature)--History--20th century.

Modernism (Literature).

Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940--Criticism and interpretation.

Benjamin, Walter.

Einstein, Carl, 1885-1940--Criticism and interpretation.

Einstein, Carl.

James, Henry, 1843-1916--Criticism and interpretation.

James, Henry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (364 pages)

Other Title:

Modernism and the art of appropriation

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2023.

Summary:

Through a constellation of three author-collectors - Henry James, Walter Benjamin, and Carl Einstein - the book examines the relationship between literary modernism and twentieth-century practices of collecting objects. From James's paper hoarding to Einstein's mania for African art and Benjamin's obsession with old Russian toys, the book shows how these authors' literary techniques of compiling, gleaning, and reassembling constitute a modernist style of collecting which that reimagines the relationship between author and text, source and medium. This book rethinks collecting as an artistic, revolutionary, and appropriative modernist practice which flourishes beyond institutions like museums or archives.

Contents:

Introduction: Dangerous Passions

"Morceaux de musee": James's Human Bibelots

Sardanapalus's Hoard

The Collector in a Collectivist State

Trash-Talking in The Arcades Project

The Collector and His Circle

Dilettante of Wonder: Einstein and Documents

Epilogue: Hoarding in a Digital Age.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Also issued in print: 2023.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781501767814

OCLC:

1335121595