Modernism by Christopher Butler

Modernism by Christopher Butler

Is a tower block, your unmade bed, your lavatory basin, or the bicycle chained to the gate next door a work of art? Why should a novel have a beginning, a middle, and an end; or even a story? Whether we recognise it or not, virtually every aspect of our life today has been influenced in part by the aesthetic legacy of Modernism. In this Very Short Introduction Christopher Butler examines how and why Modernism began, explaining what it is and showing how it has gradually informed all aspects of 20th and 21st century life. Butler considers several aspects of modernism including some modernist works; movements and notions of the avant garde; and the idea of 'progress' in art. Butler looks at modernist ideas of the self, subjectivity, irrationalism, people and machines, and political definitions of modernism as a whole.

A useful introduction, as lucid and engaging as it is concise/ Peter Blair, University of Chester

Professor Christopher Butler is Professor of English Language and Literature at Christ Church College, University Oxford. His many publications include Early Modernism: Literature, Music, and Painting in Europe, 1900-1916 (OUP, 1994), Interpretation, Deconstruction, and Ideology (OUP, 1984), and Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2002).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192804419
ISBN 10	0192804413
Title	Modernism
Author	Christopher Butler
Series	Very Short Introductions
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2010-07-29
Number of pages	144
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.