Feeling and Form - Softcover

Susanne K. Langer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684155389 ISBN 13: 9780684155388

Publisher: Scribner Book Company, 1977

Synopsis

About this book: The author gives here here philosophy of art. Philosophy in a New Key, her earlier work, included an analysis of music which is the foundation of the theory of aesthetics in this book. The author suggests that among all the theories and philosophies of art there is no clear answer to the problem of what art creates. 'Once you answer the question: "What does art create?" all the further questions of why and how, personality, talent and genius, etc., seem to emerge in a new light from the central thesis.' All the arts are in some way analysed in relation to this question, and the result is a definition of art which connects it on one side with manual skill and on the other with feeling and expression. Art is the creation of forms which are symbols of human feeling. The book is written simply, and the argument explained clearly. There can be no doubt about the importance of its contribution to aesthetic theory. Chapters: Part 1: The Art Symbol: 1. The Measure of Ideas. 2. Paradoxes. 3. The Symbol of Feeling. Part 2. The Making of the Symbol. 4. Semblance. 5. Virtual Space. 6. The Modes of Virtual Space. 7. The Image of Time. 8. The Musical Matrix. 9. The Living Work. 10. The Principle of Assimilation. 11. Virtual Powers. 12. The Magic Circle. 13. Poesis. 14. Life and Its Image. 15. Virtual Memory. 16. The Great Literary Forms. 17. The Dramatic Illusion. 18. The Great Dramatic Forms: The Comic Rhythm. 19. The Great Dramatic Forms: The Tragic Rhythm. Part 3. The Power of the Symbol. 20. Expressiveness. 21. The Work and Its Public. Appendix: A Note on the Film. Bibliography; Index

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0684155389
• ISBN 13: 9780684155388
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 431