Author : Gustaf E. Karsten
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331903277
Total Pages : 712 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (32 download)
Book Synopsis The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 6 by : Gustaf E. Karsten
Download or read book The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 6 written by Gustaf E. Karsten and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-20 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 6: 1906-1907 Hauptmann has not, himself, set forth any new theory of art, nor was he the originator of the naturalistic movement in Germany. He rather followed in the wake of Arno Holz and Johannes Schlaf; at the beginning of his career professing himself indirectly a supporter of their creed. Holz, the theorist of the naturalistic school, maintaining that our present system of aesthetics has been erected upon wrong foundations, and that it therefore is without any value whatsoever, has imposed upon himself the task of supplying the world with at least a basis for a new science of aesthetics, but has surely failed in the attempt. Permeated by the scientific spirit of the age, nothing short of the exactness of natural science will do for him, and accordingly he treats aesthetics as a social science. From the analysis of a single, and most simple case, he announces the following as the fundamental truth of aesthetics: 'Art has the tendency to be nature again. Art becomes nature to a degree determined by the conditions of reproduction and the manner in which they prevail in each specific case.' It is, according to him, the sole purpose of aesthetics to discover and formulate the natural laws or tendencies underlying all artistic activity, so that the artist through the knowledge thus obtained may be enabled to put himself into harmony with these natural tendencies, and so achieve a higher degree of perfection. The contention that art has the tendency to become nature again takes no account of the artist who consciously and intentionally idealises nature in his works; or we must regard, not only the fashion in art at that particular period, education and training of the artist, and the influence of his associates upon him, but above all the idiosyncracies of the artist, as conditions of reproduction. From the arguments of Holz it appears, moreover, that the most perfect likeness of a natural object should rank highest as a work of art. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
