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Philosophy Aesthetics

Towards a Productive Aesthetics

Contemporary and Historical Interventions in Blake and Brecht

by (author) Keith O'Regan

Publisher
Haymarket Books
Initial publish date
Dec 2022
Category
Aesthetics, Media Studies, Capitalism
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781642597868
    Publish Date
    Dec 2022
    List Price
    $45.95

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Description

In Towards a Productive Aesthetics: Contemporary and Historical Interventions in Blake and Brecht, Keith O'Regan mobilises a constellative approach to compare the political-aesthetic strategies of William Blake (1757-1827) and Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956). O'Regan traces two similar trajectories in each author's work: an exploration of how capitalist domination defines conjunctures, and an investigation of how historical figures, themes, and terrains illustrate past failures or losses that can be cleaved open for radical possibilities in the present. Brecht and Blake posit an "oppositional aesthetics of the now" that articulates a theory of experience under capitalism, while counter-posing an oppositional form of existence.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Keith O'Regan teaches in the Writing and Humanities Departments of York University. His recent publications centre on comparative analyses of historical and contemporary film, and writing and graduate education.