Modernism and the Aesthetics of Violence

244 Pages·2013·1.72 MB·English

by  Dr Paul Sheehan

more information – www.cambridge.org/9781107036833

MODERNISM AND THE AESTHETICS
OF VIOLENCE
Thenotionthatviolencecangiverisetoart–andthatartcanserveasan
agentofviolence–isadominantfeatureofmodernistliterature.Inthis
study, Paul Sheehan traces the modernist fascination with violence
tothemiddledecadesofthenineteenthcentury,whencertainFrench
andEnglishwriterssoughttocelebratedissidentsexualitiesandstylized
criminality.Sheehanpresentsapanoramicviewofhowtheaestheticsof
transgressiongraduallymutatesintoaninfatuationwithdestructionand
upheaval,identifyingtheFirstWorldWarastheeventthroughwhich
themodernistaestheticofviolencecrystallizes.Byengagingwithexem-
plary modernists such as Joyce, Conrad, Eliot and Pound, as well as
lesser-known writers including Gautier, Sacher-Masoch, Wyndham
Lewis and others, Sheehan shows how artworks, so often associated
with creative well-being and communicative self-expression, can be
reorientedtowardsviolentandbellicoseends.
PaulSheehanisaseniorlecturerinEnglishatMacquarieUniversity,
Sydney, Australia. He is the author of Modernism, Narrative and
Humanism (2002) and the editor of Becoming Human: New
Perspectives on the Inhuman Condition (2003). Most recently, he has
published essays in SubStance, Twentieth-Century Literature and
Textual Practice, as well as book chapters on Thomas De Quincey,
Cormac McCarthy and Ralph Ellison, and several articles on
SamuelBeckett.

MODERNISM AND THE
AESTHETICS OF VIOLENCE
PAUL SHEEHAN
MacquarieUniversity
cambridge university press
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Sheehan,Paul,1960–
ModernismandtheAestheticsofViolence/PaulSheehan.
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Includesbibliographicalreferences.
isbn978-1-107-03683-3
1. Modernism(Literature)–GreatBritain. 2. Modernism(Literature)–France.
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Contents
Acknowledgements page ix
Introduction:Modernism’sBlastedHistory 1
part i decadence rising: the violence of
aestheticism 23
1 RevolutionoftheSenses 25
2 VictorianSexualAesthetics 45
3 Culture,Corruption,Criminality 66
4 AMaladyofDreaming:ThePictureofDorianGray 74
part ii modernism’s breach: the violence
of aesthetics 85
5 Prologue:TransgressionDisplaced 87
6 NoDreamingPaleFlowers 94
7 ModernistSexualPolitics 109
8 MaximumEnergy(LikeaHurricane) 135
9 ForbiddenPlanet:HeartofDarkness 155
Epilogue:TraumasoftheWord 168
Notes 173
Bibliography 211
Index 227
vii