Five Faces of Modernity

Author: Matei Calinescu (USA), translated by Guo Aibin and Li Ruihua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-05-01
Features: This book analyzes five fundamental concepts of modernity from an aesthetic perspective: modernism, avant-garde, decadence, kitsch, and postmodernism. It provides a detailed discussion of their origins, evolution, and current status, along with numerous examples. The author also proposes that aesthetic modernity should be understood as a crisis concept encompassing three dialectical oppositions: opposition to tradition, opposition to modernity of the bourgeoisie, and opposition to aesthetic modernity itself.