LEADER 03303cam a2200397Ia 4500001 77721 005 20240621173229.0 008 021219s2001 xx rb 000 0 eng d 035 (OCoLC)ocm51253703 035 77721 049 LHMA 040 LHM |beng |erda |cLHM 090 BM301.M54 |bL48 2001 100 1 Levi, Neil Jonathan, |d1967- 245 10 Aesthetics out of place : |bmodernist technique in the age of catastrophe / |cNeil Jonathan Levi. 264 1 [Place of publication not identified] : |b[publisher not identified], |c2001. 300 313 pages 336 text |btxt |2rdacontent 337 unmediated |bn |2rdamedia 338 volume |bnc |2rdacarrier 502 Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 2001. 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 302-313). 520 "Aesthetics Out of Place: Modernist Technique in the Age of Catastrophe" examines how both a Nazi exhibition of modernist art-the 1937 "Degenerate Art" exhibition-and modernist texts by James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Theodor W. Adorno, and Samuel Beckett intertwine notions of dirt with talk of "the Jews." My investigation of notions of dirt in these texts demonstrates how what is often seen as a traditional satirical topos has, in this century, become vitally bound up with literary reflections on and of history and politics. Mary Douglas's definition of dirt as "matter out of place," and her argument that dirt is an inevitable by-product of creative activity, in particular, the creation of social order are of especial importance to this project. This constellation of texts is examined as a series of reflections of-and upon-the historical moment that Eric Hobsbawm has defined as "the Age of Catastrophe," and the fate of European Jewry in the Second World War forms a constant point of historical reference for my readings. The dissertation shows the range of the uses of the notion of "the Jew" and the fantasy world of anti-semitism for thinking about the formal innovations of modernism. It suggests that fascism and anti-semitism, can be regarded as important points of historical and cultural reference for works that do not, at first glance, engage the phenomenon of fascism or that seem to address anti-semitism in contexts prior to fascism's rise. Finally, it demonstrates the methodological utility of the concept of the constellation in expanding our sense of the sources we might employ to find out about the relationships that obtain between cultural and political phenomena in general and, specifically, between modernism, fascism, and anti-semitism. 530 Electronic version(s) |bavailable internally at USHMM. 533 Photocopy. |bAnn Arbor, Mich. : |cUMI Dissertation Services, |d2002. |e23 cm. 590 Dissertations and Theses 591 Record updated by Marcive processing 21 June 2024 650 0 Modernism (Aesthetics) 650 0 Fascism and literature. 650 0 Fascism and art. 856 41 |uhttp://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=728111741&sid=29&Fmt=6&clientId=54617&RQT=309&VName=PQD |zElectronic version from ProQuest 956 41 |u http://dc.ushmm.org/library/bib77721/9998180.pdf |z Hosted by USHMM. 994 X0 |bLHM 852 0 |bstacks |hBM301.M54 |iL48 2001 852 |bwww 852 |bebook