Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept

The current status of the «avant-garde» provokes many questions, which include both inner-artistic matters and matters of history and society commonly associated with Marxist or reception-oriented thinkers. The convolution of questions cannot be disentangled; efforts to confront the dilemmas of the...

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Main Author: Michael T. Jones
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: New Prairie Press 1980-09-01
Series:Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature
Online Access:http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol5/iss1/3
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author Michael T. Jones
author_facet Michael T. Jones
author_sort Michael T. Jones
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description The current status of the «avant-garde» provokes many questions, which include both inner-artistic matters and matters of history and society commonly associated with Marxist or reception-oriented thinkers. The convolution of questions cannot be disentangled; efforts to confront the dilemmas of the avant-garde cannot abstract from matters of commodification, recent reception, or the complex dialectic of «classical» and «modern.» The essay deals with the most recent manifestations of avant-garde aesthetic impulses. It emphasizes the historical and social aspects of German theorizing in contrast to purely formalist or ahistorical conceptions commonly found elsewhere. It insists that such «materialist» theory does greater justice than formalist conceptualizations to the proverbial connections of «art» and «life.» It tries to integrate the present phenomenon of proliferating theory into the theoretical exposition, as a characteristic trait of the current situation. It warns against abandoning the subversive content of classical modernism in the course of developing a theory of post-modernism.
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spelling doaj.art-060251b177c0492091aea05131b2f1822022-12-22T02:43:50ZengNew Prairie PressStudies in 20th & 21st Century Literature2334-44151980-09-015110.4148/2334-4415.10945574538Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a ConceptMichael T. JonesThe current status of the «avant-garde» provokes many questions, which include both inner-artistic matters and matters of history and society commonly associated with Marxist or reception-oriented thinkers. The convolution of questions cannot be disentangled; efforts to confront the dilemmas of the avant-garde cannot abstract from matters of commodification, recent reception, or the complex dialectic of «classical» and «modern.» The essay deals with the most recent manifestations of avant-garde aesthetic impulses. It emphasizes the historical and social aspects of German theorizing in contrast to purely formalist or ahistorical conceptions commonly found elsewhere. It insists that such «materialist» theory does greater justice than formalist conceptualizations to the proverbial connections of «art» and «life.» It tries to integrate the present phenomenon of proliferating theory into the theoretical exposition, as a characteristic trait of the current situation. It warns against abandoning the subversive content of classical modernism in the course of developing a theory of post-modernism.http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol5/iss1/3
spellingShingle Michael T. Jones
Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept
Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature
title Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept
title_full Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept
title_fullStr Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept
title_full_unstemmed Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept
title_short Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept
title_sort avant garde the convulsions of a concept
url http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol5/iss1/3
work_keys_str_mv AT michaeltjones avantgardetheconvulsionsofaconcept