Modernism: The Lure of Heresy
by Peter Gay
List Price:
Our Price: $14.99
You Save: $20.01 (57%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.21 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Peter GayEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-12
ISBN: 0393052052
Number of pages: 640
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Book Reviews of Modernism: The Lure of Heresy
Book Review: A Sweeping Survey
Summary: 5 Stars
Peter Gay has written a sweeping survey of Modernism that is lucid, highly readable, amply illustrated, beautifully designed, and remarkably complete. He has, essentially, written a survey of 120 years of cultural and aesthetic history. This is not a task for the faint of heart, but Gay has never suffered from that malady, his array of works spanning multiple centuries. His two-volume history of the Enlightenment remains a very important study and his work on Freud and on 19thc sensibility equally so.
The problem with Modernism is that there is so much of it, particularly if you set out to write about poetry and fiction, music, architecture, painting, pop culture, and the many movements and sub-movements attending them. And of course, he is not bounded by any national borders. This is history with a capital H. That means that he has relatively little space (4-6 pp., usually at the outside) for each major figure. Thus, the book is a sweeping survey, an excellent introduction to the subject. Theory is kept to a minimum. He focuses on two aspects of Modernism--its penchant for aesthetic heresy and its stress of subjectivism.
The book is also scrupulously fair, recognizing silliness and extremism where they are found and recognizing the important realities that work designed to shock the middle class cannot exist without a middle class prepared to consume it and a society sufficiently free and stable to protect the shockers and provide them a safe place in which to work.
Personally, I would like to have seen a little more discussion of individuals who distinguished themselves but who did not subscribe to the Modernist agenda, writers such as Graham Greene or George Orwell and any number of individuals who produced magnificent work within the constraints of traditional forms. This is a book about Modernism, of course, but that could be contextualized with sharper contrasts. Gay is a believer, though a balanced one. Still, he sees grandeur in the international style of architecture and tends to overlook the ugliness of fifties' boxes with smudged glass and drip stains from flat roofs. I did not expect him to take Tom Wolfe's stance on the Bauhaus or on abstract expressionism, but Wolfe's (much-maligned) stance is shared by many. The book concludes with a survey of contemporary Modernism, with Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim and Marquez's fiction. Gay sees the world of fiction as relatively flat, though there are many skilled practitioners. It is only flat, in my opinion, if you confine yourself to Modernist writing. Pynchon, e.g., does not fit his template and is thus not considered, though he is a towering figure. This is a small quibble in light of the book's accomplishments, however. I highly recommend it as an introduction to the subject and as an instructive, entertaining, well-written book.
Summary of Modernism: The Lure of Heresy
A celebration of subversives: the first one-volume history of the greatest cultural movement since the Enlightenment.
Peter Gay's most ambitious endeavor since Freud explores the shocking modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film with its assault on traditional forms. Beginning his epic study with Baudelaire, whose lurid poetry scandalized French stalwarts, Gay traces the revolutionary path of modernism from its Parisian origins to its emergence as the dominant cultural movement in world capitals such as Berlin and New York. A work unique in its breadth and brilliance, Modernism presents a thrilling pageant of heretics that includes (among others) Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso, and D. W. Griffiths; James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot; Walter Gropius, Arnold Schoenberg, and (of course!) Andy Warhol. Finally, Gay examines the hostility of totalitarian regimes to modernist freedom and the role of Pop Art in sounding the death knell of a movement that dominated Western culture for 120 years. Lavishly illustrated, Modernism is a superlative achievement by one of our greatest historians. 40 illustrationsHistory & Criticism Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History & Criticism Books
KISS and Make-upby Gene Simmons
Crown; Published: 2001-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.51
Price in other shops:
Elvis Presley: A Life in Music : The Complete Recording Sessionsby Ernst Jorgensen
St Martins Pr; Published: 1998-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $199.48
The Devil's Horn: The Story of the Saxophone, from Noisy Novelty to King of Coolby Michael Segell
Picador; Published: 2006-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.81
Price in other shops:
Elvis: My Best Man: Radio Days, Rock 'n' Roll Nights, and My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presleyby George Klein, Chuck Crisafulli
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2011-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Bill Evans: How My Heart Singsby Mr. Peter Pettinger
Yale University Press; Published: 1998-08-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $75.70
Microsoundby Curtis Roads
The MIT Press; Published: 2004-08-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.00
Price in other shops:
Hip Hop Americaby Nelson George
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-04-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops:
A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Albumby Ashley Kahn
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2003-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Jazz Styles: History and Analysis (10th Edition)by Mark C. Gridley
Prentice Hall; Published: 2008-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $45.99
Price in other shops:
Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garciaby Robert Greenfield
It Books; Published: 2009-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.47
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Complete Poems and Plays: 1909-1950by T. S. Eliot
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 1971; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.93
Price in other shops:
The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural Historyby Robert Darnton
Basic Books; Published: 2009-05-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.60
Price in other shops:
Romanticism and Art (World of Art)by William Vaughan, William Vaughn
Thames & Hudson; Published: 1994-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.46
Price in other shops:
The Philosophy of the Enlightenment: (Updated) (Princeton Classic Editions)by Ernst Cassirer
Princeton University Press; Published: 2009-08-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.33
Price in other shops:
To the Lighthouseby Virginia Woolf
Harvest Books; Published: 1989-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.72
Price in other shops:
If on a Winter's Night a Travelerby Italo Calvino
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; Published: 1982-10-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
The Foucault Readerby Michel Foucault
Pantheon; Published: 1984-11-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)by Christopher Butler
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-01-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.55
Price in other shops:
The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism (Vol. 1) (v. 1)by Peter Gay
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1995-07-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.37
Price in other shops:
The Enlightenment: The Science of Freedomby Peter Gay
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1996-02-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.75
Price in other shops: