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The Enduring Power of the Gothic: A Category of Literature and Art
Author: Dr. Eleanor Vance, Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, specializing in 18th and 19th-century Gothic literature and its cultural impact. Dr. Vance has authored three books on the subject, including the critically acclaimed Shadows of the Sublime: Gothic Aesthetics and the Construction of Fear, and has lectured extensively internationally on this specific category of literature and art.
Keyword: A category of literature and art
Abstract: This article delves into the rich history and enduring relevance of Gothic literature and art, a category of literature and art characterized by its exploration of the dark, the mysterious, and the sublime. We will trace its evolution from its 18th-century origins to its multifaceted contemporary manifestations, examining its key thematic concerns, stylistic features, and its ongoing cultural influence.
1. Historical Context: The Birth of a Category of Literature and Art
The Gothic, as a category of literature and art, emerged in the late 18th century, finding its roots in a complex interplay of historical, social, and philosophical factors. The crumbling castles and decaying landscapes of medieval England, romanticized in Horace Walpole’s seminal novel The Castle of Otranto (1764), provided the initial aesthetic framework. This fascination with the past, combined with anxieties surrounding the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason and order, fueled the genre’s growth. The French Revolution, with its upheaval and violence, further contributed to a sense of unease and a fascination with the darker aspects of human nature – themes readily explored within this category of literature and art.
Early Gothic novels, like The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe and Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley, established key conventions: isolated settings, brooding atmospheres, supernatural elements, and psychologically tormented protagonists. These narratives explored themes of power, transgression, and the limitations of human reason, often through the lens of the female experience, as seen in Radcliffe’s work. The Gothic, therefore, served as a powerful vehicle for social commentary, albeit often veiled in supernatural trappings.
2. Evolution and Diversification: A Category of Literature and Art Across Time
The 19th century witnessed a significant diversification of the Gothic. While elements of the supernatural persisted, authors like Edgar Allan Poe shifted the focus towards psychological horror and the exploration of the macabre. His short stories, with their emphasis on atmosphere and unsettling imagery, redefined what constituted this category of literature and art. The Gothic also permeated other art forms, influencing painting, architecture, and even music. Think of the dramatic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich or the haunting melodies of early Romantic composers.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of Gothic fiction that engaged directly with social issues, reflecting anxieties about industrialization, urbanization, and colonialism. Authors like Bram Stoker ( Dracula, 1897) incorporated contemporary anxieties into their narratives, blurring the lines between the supernatural and the socio-political.
3. Contemporary Gothic: A Category of Literature and Art in the 21st Century
The Gothic continues to thrive in the 21st century, adapting to contemporary concerns and anxieties. It is no longer confined to specific settings or supernatural elements. Modern Gothic often explores themes of trauma, alienation, and the psychological complexities of the human condition. Authors like Stephen King and Shirley Jackson have demonstrated the genre’s enduring power to explore our deepest fears and insecurities. Film and television have also embraced the Gothic, with shows like Penny Dreadful and American Horror Story showcasing the genre’s enduring appeal. The Gothic, in its contemporary manifestations, reflects our contemporary anxieties regarding technology, globalization, and environmental destruction – issues that resonate with the genre's original exploration of the unknown and the unsettling. This category of literature and art continues to serve as a space for exploring our darkest fears and societal anxieties.
4. Stylistic Features and Thematic Concerns
The Gothic, as a category of literature and art, is characterized by several recurring stylistic features and thematic concerns. These elements contribute to the genre's distinctive atmosphere and emotional impact. Key stylistic features often include:
Setting: Isolated castles, decaying mansions, desolate landscapes, and claustrophobic interiors contribute to a sense of unease and confinement.
Atmosphere: A pervading atmosphere of suspense, mystery, and dread is crucial to the Gothic experience. This is often achieved through evocative descriptions and the use of foreshadowing.
Supernatural elements: While not always present, supernatural elements like ghosts, vampires, and other creatures of the night frequently feature, adding to the sense of the uncanny.
Psychological exploration: Gothic narratives often delve into the psychological depths of their characters, exploring themes of madness, obsession, and trauma.
Violence and transgression: Acts of violence and transgression against social norms and moral codes are frequently depicted, reflecting societal anxieties.
Recurring thematic concerns include:
The power of the past: The past often casts a long shadow over the present, influencing characters' actions and destinies.
The limits of reason: The rational worldview is often challenged by inexplicable events and psychological disturbances.
Fear and the sublime: The genre engages with the emotional experience of fear, particularly the sublime—a sense of awe and terror simultaneously.
Social commentary: Often, the Gothic serves as a vehicle for exploring social issues such as class inequality, gender roles, and colonial anxieties.
5. Conclusion
Gothic literature and art, as a category of literature and art, has undergone remarkable evolution while retaining its core thematic concerns and stylistic features. From its 18th-century origins to its diverse contemporary manifestations, the Gothic continues to resonate with readers and audiences because of its ability to explore the darkest aspects of human nature and to reflect our deepest anxieties about the world around us. Its enduring power lies in its capacity to adapt to changing times, while retaining a core essence that has captivated audiences for centuries. The Gothic remains a vital and relevant category of literature and art, offering a powerful lens through which to examine the human condition.
FAQs
1. What distinguishes Gothic literature from other horror subgenres? While both genres deal with fear, the Gothic often incorporates elements of romance, psychological depth, and social commentary, distinguishing it from the more straightforward horror.
2. Are there any specific female authors who significantly impacted the Gothic genre? Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and Charlotte Brontë are crucial figures who expanded the genre’s thematic scope and stylistic approaches.
3. How has the Gothic genre evolved in the digital age? The Gothic has adapted to new media, influencing video games, film, and digital art, often incorporating themes of technological dystopias and online anxieties.
4. What are some modern examples of Gothic literature or art? Works like The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and the films of Guillermo del Toro represent contemporary iterations of the Gothic.
5. Is the Gothic genre primarily focused on fear and horror? While fear and horror are prominent, the Gothic also explores romance, mystery, and psychological complexity, creating a multi-faceted genre.
6. What are the key characteristics of Gothic architecture that influence the genre? The decaying grandeur, oppressive atmosphere, and labyrinthine interiors of Gothic architecture are frequently reflected in settings of Gothic literature.
7. How does the Gothic relate to Romanticism? The Gothic shares with Romanticism an interest in intense emotions, the sublime, and the power of nature, but it also explores darker themes and psychological complexities.
8. Is the Gothic genre limited to European literature and art? While its origins are European, the Gothic has transcended geographical boundaries and found expression in many cultures, adapting to specific social and cultural contexts.
9. How is the Gothic genre still relevant in the 21st century? Its exploration of social anxieties, psychological depths, and the power of the past remains highly relevant in contemporary contexts, making it a powerful tool for exploring modern fears and uncertainties.
Related Articles
1. "The Female Gothic: Subversion and Resistance": This article examines the role of female authors in shaping and challenging traditional Gothic conventions.
2. "Gothic Architecture and its Influence on Literature": This explores the architectural origins of the Gothic aesthetic and its impact on the literary genre.
3. "The Gothic and the Sublime: Exploring Aesthetic Theories": An analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of the Gothic, focusing on the concept of the sublime.
4. "Psychological Horror in the Gothic Tradition": A detailed study of the evolution of psychological horror within the Gothic genre.
5. "Gothic Literature in the Digital Age": This article explores the adaptation and evolution of Gothic themes and conventions in contemporary digital media.
6. "The Gothic and Social Commentary: Exploring Victorian Anxieties": An examination of how Victorian Gothic novels reflected social issues of the time.
7. "Transnational Gothic: Global Perspectives and Adaptations": This focuses on the ways in which the Gothic has been interpreted and reimagined across different cultures.
8. "Modern Gothic Fiction: Themes and Trends": A survey of contemporary Gothic novels and their characteristic themes.
9. "The Gothic in Film: From Nosferatu to Modern Horror": This article traces the evolution of the Gothic aesthetic and themes in film history.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, a leading academic publisher known for its rigorous editorial standards and its extensive catalogue of books and journals on literature, art history, and cultural studies.
Editor: Professor Alistair Finch, a renowned expert in 18th- and 19th-century literature with a particular focus on the Gothic, lending his significant scholarly expertise to ensure the article's accuracy and relevance.
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| a category of literature or art: Collage in Twentieth-Century Art, Literature, and Culture Rona Cran, 2016-05-23 Emphasizing the diversity of twentieth-century collage practices, Rona Cran's book explores the role that it played in the work of Joseph Cornell, William Burroughs, Frank O'Hara, and Bob Dylan. For all four, collage was an important creative catalyst, employed cathartically, aggressively, and experimentally. Collage's catalytic effect, Cran argues, enabled each to overcome a potentially destabilizing crisis in representation. Cornell, convinced that he was an artist and yet hampered by his inability to draw or paint, used collage to gain access to the art world and to show what he was capable of given the right medium. Burroughs' formal problems with linear composition were turned to his advantage by collage, which enabled him to move beyond narrative and chronological requirement. O'Hara used collage to navigate an effective path between plastic art and literature, and to choose the facets of each which best suited his compositional style. Bob Dylan's self-conscious application of collage techniques elevated his brand of rock-and-roll to a level of heightened aestheticism. Throughout her book, Cran shows that to delineate collage stringently as one thing or another is to severely limit our understanding of the work of the artists and writers who came to use it in non-traditional ways. |
| a category of literature or art: The Quest for an Appropriate Past in Literature, Art and Architecture , 2018-10-16 This volume explores the various strategies by which appropriate pasts were construed in scholarship, literature, art, and architecture in order to create “national”, regional, or local identities in late medieval and early modern Europe. Because authority was based on lineage, political and territorial claims were underpinned by historical arguments, either true or otherwise. Literature, scholarship, art, and architecture were pivotal media that were used to give evidence of the impressive old lineage of states, regions, or families. These claims were related not only to classical antiquity but also to other periods that were regarded as antiquities, such as the Middle Ages, especially the chivalric age. The authors of this volume analyse these intriguing early modern constructions of “antiquity” and investigate the ways in which they were applied in political, intellectual and artistic contexts in the period of 1400–1700. Contributors include: Barbara Arciszewska, Bianca De Divitiis, Karl Enenkel, Hubertus Günther, Thomas Haye, Harald Hendrix, Stephan Hoppe, Marc Laureys, Frédérique Lemerle, Coen Maas, Anne-Françoise Morel, Kristoffer Neville, Konrad Ottenheym, Yves Pauwels, Christian Peters, Christoph Pieper, David Rijser, Bernd Roling, Nuno Senos, Paul Smith, Pieter Vlaardingerbroek, and Matthew Walker. |
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| a category of literature or art: The Golden Gate Vikram Seth, 1986 The Great California Novel Has Been Written, In Verse (And Why Not?): The Golden Gate Gives Great Joy' Gore Vidal 'A New Star In The Literary Firmament & It Outshines In Brilliance Anything That I Have Seen In Half-A-Century Of Star-Spotting & Seth Has The Stuff That Nobel Laureates Are Made Of' Khushwant Singh, Illustrated Weekly Of India 'A Tour De Force Of Rhyme And Reasonableness. The Golden Gate Doesn'T Only Compellingly Advocate Life'S Pleasures, It Stylishly Contributes Another One To Them' Sunday Times , London 'Seth Is The Most Astute And Sharp-Tongued Social Critic To Arrive On The Scene Since Jonathan Swift' India Today 'A Thing Of Anomalous Beauty & Seth Writes Poetry As It Has Not Been Written For A Century' Washington Post Book World |
| a category of literature or art: Close Quarters Larry Heinemann, 2010-03-31 From the moment his first novel was published, Larry Heinemann joined the ranks of the great chroniclers of the Vietnam conflict--Philip Caputo, Tim O’Brien, and Gustav Hasford. In the stripped-down, unsullied patois of an ordinary soldier, draftee Philip Dosier tells the story of his war. Straight from high school, too young to vote or buy himself a drink, he enters a world of mud and heat, blood and body counts, ambushes and firefights. It is here that he embarks on the brutal downward path to wisdom that awaits every soldier. In the tradition of Naked and the Dead and The Thin Red Line, Close Quarters is the harrowing story of how a decent kid from Chicago endures an extraordinary trial-- and returns profoundly altered to a world on the threshold of change. |
| a category of literature or art: Gut Symmetries Jeanette Winterson, 2013-04-17 The highwire artist of the English novel redraws the romantic triangle for the post-Einsteinian universe, where gender is as elastic as matter, and any accurate Grand Unified Theory (GUT) must encompass desire alongside electromagnetism and gravity. One starry night on a boat in the mid-Atlantic, Alice, a brilliant English theoretical physicist, begins an affair with Jove, her remorselessly seductive American counterpart. But Jove is married. When Alice confronts his wife, Stella, she swiftly falls in love with her, with consequences that are by turns horrifying, comic, and arousing. Vaulting from Liverpool to New York, from alchemy to string theory, and from the spirit to the flesh, Gut Symmetries is a thrillingly original novel by England's most flamboyantly gifted young writer. Winterson is unmatched among contemporary writers in her ability to conjure up new-world wonder...A beautiful, stirring and brilliant story.--Times Literary Supplement Dazzling for [its] intelligence and inventiveness...[Winterson] is possessed of a masterly command of the language and a truly pliant imagination.--Elle One of our most brilliant, visionary storytellers.--San Francisco Chronicle |
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| a category of literature or art: Literary Genres Paul F. Kisak, 2016-05-03 A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups. The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic, tragedy, comedy, and creative nonfiction. They can all be in the form of prose or poetry. Additionally, a genre such as satire, allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre, but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. This book discusses over 40 forms of literary genres that have survived the test of time and considered classics in literature. Any writer or reader is served well to know and study these genres. |
| a category of literature or art: The Melancholia of Class Cynthia Cruz, 2021-07-13 What does it mean to be working-class in a middle-class world? Cynthia Cruz shows us how class affects culture and our mental health and what we can do about it -- calling not for assimilation, but for annihilation. To be working-class in a middle-class world is to be a ghost. Excluded, marginalised, and subjected to violence, the working class is also deemed by those in power to not exist. We are left with a choice between assimilation into middle-class values and culture, leaving our working-class origins behind, or total annihilation. In The Melancholia of Class, Cynthia Cruz analyses how this choice between assimilation or annihilation has played out in the lives of working-class musicians, artists, writers, and filmmakers — including Amy Winehouse, Ian Curtis, Jason Molina, Barbara Loden, and many more — and the resultant Freudian melancholia that ensues when the working-class subject leaves their origins to “become someone,” only to find that they lose themselves in the process. Part memoir, part cultural theory, and part polemic, The Melancholia of Class shows us how we can resist assimilation, uplifting and carrying our working-class origins and communities with us, as we break the barriers of the middle-class world. There are so many of us, all of us waiting. If we came together, who knows what we could do. |
| a category of literature or art: The Place of the Lion Charles Williams, 2015-02-17 One man must save the human race from total destruction when a small British village is invaded by a terrifying host of archetypal creatures released from the spiritual world In the small English town of Smetham on the outskirts of London, a wall separating two worlds has broken down. The meddling and meditations of a local mage, Mr. Berringer, has caused a rift in the barrier between the corporeal and the spiritual, and now all hell has broken loose. Strange creatures are descending on Smethem—terrifying supernatural archetypes wreaking wholesale havoc, destruction, and death. Some residents, like the evil, power-hungry Mr. Foster, welcome the horrific onslaught. Others, like the cool and intellectual Damaris, refuse to accept what her eyes and heart tell her until it is far too late. Only a student named Anthony, emboldened by his unwavering love for Damaris, has the courage to face the horror head on. But if he alone cannot somehow restore balance to the worlds, all of humankind will surely perish in the impending apocalypse. An extraordinary metaphysical fantasy firmly based in Platonic ideals, The Place of the Lion is a masterful blending of action and thought by arguably the most provocative of the University of Oxford’s renowned Inklings—the society of writers in the 1930s that included such notables as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield. With unparalleled imagination, literary skill, and intelligence, the remarkable Charles Williams has created a truly unique thriller, a tour de force of the fantastic that masterfully engages the mind, heart, and spirit. |
| a category of literature or art: Odds Against Tomorrow Nathaniel Rich, 2013-04-02 While working for a financial consulting firm that offers insurance against catastrophic events, a young mathematician becomes increasingly obsessed with doomsday scenarios until one of his worst-case scenarios unfolds in Manhattan. |
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| a category of literature or art: The Ecstatic Quotidian Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei, 2010-11 Fascination with quotidian experience in modern art, literature, and philosophy promotes ecstatic forms of reflection on the very structure of the everyday world. Gosetti-Ferencei examines the ways in which modern art and literature enable a study of how we experience quotidian life. She shows that modernism, while exhibiting many strands of development, can be understood by investigating how its attentions to perception and expectation, to the common quality of things, or to childhood play gives way to experiences of ecstasis&—the stepping outside of the ordinary familiarity of the world. While phenomenology grounds this study (through Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Bachelard), what makes this book more than a treatise on phenomenological aesthetics is the way in which modernity itself is examined in its relation to the quotidian. Through the works of artists and writers such as Benjamin, C&ézanne, Frost, Klee, Newman, Pollock, Ponge, Proust, Rilke, Robbe-Grillet, Rothko, Sartre, and Twombly, the world of quotidian life can be seen to harbor a latent ecstasis. The breakdown of the quotidian through and after modernism then becomes an urgent question for understanding art and literature in its capacity to further human experience, and it points to the limits of phenomenological explications of the everyday. |
| a category of literature or art: The Art Of Seduction Robert Greene, 2010-09-03 Which sort of seducer could you be? Siren? Rake? Cold Coquette? Star? Comedian? Charismatic? Or Saint? This book will show you which. Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, an indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. Immerse yourself in the twenty-four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to 'Choose the Right Victim', 'Appear to Be an Object of Desire' and 'Confuse Desire and Reality'. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we've become - or hope to win over. The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history's greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip. From the internationally bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and The 33 Strategies Of War. |
| a category of literature or art: The Ethics of Representation in Literature, Art, and Journalism Caroline Rooney, Rita Sakr, 2013-11-07 This transnational collection of essays, interviews, and creative pieces on the 1982 Siege of Beirut explores literary representations of the siege by a diverse set of writers alongside journalism and other media including film and art. The book investigates and promotes an awareness of an ethics of representation on questions of extreme emotional investment, comparing representations of the siege to representations of other traumatic events, visiting responses from those of different cultural backgrounds to the same event and considering implications with respect to comparative approaches. Chapters explore how literature, journalism and art contribute to overcoming the dangers of forgetting and denial, memorial excess and fundamentalism, the radicalization of violence, and the complete breakdown of trust on international levels, asking how they challenge geopolitical, intellectual, and psychological states of siege and instead promote awareness, acknowledgement, mourning, and justice across divided communities. The book extends the use of postcolonial methodologies affiliated with history, international relations, and psychoanalysis (memory, trauma) to Middle-Eastern studies, and visits the siege’s effect on different forms of memory and memorialization: selective memory, trauma, gaps and fissures in historical accounts, recording of eyewitness reports, and artistic re-imaginings and realizations of alternative archives. |
| a category of literature or art: The Ethics of Representation in Literature, Art, and Journalism Caroline Rooney, Rita Sakr, 2013-11-07 This transnational collection of essays, interviews, and creative pieces on the 1982 Siege of Beirut explores literary representations of the siege by a diverse set of writers alongside journalism and other media including film and art. The book investigates and promotes an awareness of an ethics of representation on questions of extreme emotional investment, comparing representations of the siege to representations of other traumatic events, visiting responses from those of different cultural backgrounds to the same event and considering implications with respect to comparative approaches. Chapters explore how literature, journalism and art contribute to overcoming the dangers of forgetting and denial, memorial excess and fundamentalism, the radicalization of violence, and the complete breakdown of trust on international levels, asking how they challenge geopolitical, intellectual, and psychological states of siege and instead promote awareness, acknowledgement, mourning, and justice across divided communities. The book extends the use of postcolonial methodologies affiliated with history, international relations, and psychoanalysis (memory, trauma) to Middle-Eastern studies, and visits the siege’s effect on different forms of memory and memorialization: selective memory, trauma, gaps and fissures in historical accounts, recording of eyewitness reports, and artistic re-imaginings and realizations of alternative archives. |
| a category of literature or art: Genre Anis S. Bawarshi, Mary Jo Reiff, 2010-03-08 GENRE: AN INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY, THEORY, RESEARCH, AND PEDAGOGY provides a critical overview of the rich body of scholarship that has informed a “genre turn” in Rhetoric and Composition, including a range of interdisciplinary perspectives from rhetorical theory, applied linguistics, sociology, philosophy, cognitive psychology, and literary theory. |
| a category of literature or art: The Love Hypothesis Ali Hazelwood, 2021-09-14 The Instant New York Times Bestseller and TikTok Sensation! As seen on THE VIEW! A BuzzFeed Best Summer Read of 2021 When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos. As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope. |
| a category of literature or art: Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell, 2013 A collection of stories features a pair of centuries-old vampires whose relationship is tested by a sudden fear of flying, a dejected teen who communicates with the universe, and a massage therapist who heals a tattooed veteran by manipulating the imageson his body. |
| a category of literature or art: Anthropocene Reading Tobias Menely, Jesse Oak Taylor, 2017-10-13 Few terms have garnered more attention recently in the sciences, humanities, and public sphere than the Anthropocene, the proposed epoch in which a human “signature” appears in the lithostratigraphic record. Anthropocene Reading considers the implications of this concept for literary history and critical method. Entering into conversation with geologists and geographers, this volume reinterprets the cultural past in relation to the anthropogenic transformation of the Earth system while showcasing how literary analysis may help us conceptualize this geohistorical event. The contributors examine how a range of literary texts, from The Tempest to contemporary dystopian novels to the poetry of Emily Dickinson, mediate the convergence of the social institutions, energy regimes, and planetary systems that support the reproduction of life. They explore the long-standing dialogue between imaginative literature and the earth sciences and show how scientists, novelists, and poets represent intersections of geological and human timescales, the deep past and a posthuman future, political exigency and the carbon cycle. Accessibly written and representing a range of methodological perspectives, the essays in this volume consider what it means to read literary history in the Anthropocene. Contributors include Juliana Chow, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Thomas H. Ford, Anne-Lise François, Noah Heringman, Matt Hooley, Stephanie LeMenager, Dana Luciano, Steve Mentz, Benjamin Morgan, Justin Neuman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Derek Woods. |
| a category of literature or art: Truth About Art, The Patrick Doorly, 2013-08-30 ‘Both knowledge and truth are beautiful things, but the Good is other and more beautiful than they.’ — Plato, Republic, 508e. This book traces the multiple meanings of art back to their historical roots, and equips the reader to choose between them. Art with a capital A turns out to be an invention of German Romantic philosophers, who endowed their creation with the attributes of genius, originality, rule breaking, and self-expression, directed by the spirit of the age. Recovering the problems that these attributes were devised to solve dispels many of the obscurities and contradictions that accompany them. What artists have always sought is excellence, and they become artists in so far as they achieve it. Quality was the supreme value in Renaissance Italy, and in early Greece it offered mortals glimpses of the divine. Today art historians avoid references to beauty or Quality, since neither is objective or definable, the boundaries beyond which scholars dare not roam. In reality subject and object are united and dissolved in the Quality event, which forms the bow wave of culture, leaving patterns of value and meaning in its wake. |
| a category of literature or art: Information Resources in the Humanities and the Arts Anna H. Perrault Ph.D., Elizabeth S. Aversa, Sonia Ramírez Wohlmuth, Cynthia J. Miller, Cynthia F. Miller, 2012-12-10 This familiar guide to information resources in the humanities and the arts, organized by subjects and emphasizing electronic resources, enables librarians, teachers, and students to quickly find the best resources for their diverse needs. Authoritative, trusted, and timely, Information Resources in the Humanities and the Arts: Sixth Edition introduces new librarians to the breadth of humanities collections, experienced librarians to the nature of humanities scholarship, and the scholars themselves to a wealth of information they might otherwise have missed. This new version of a classic resource—the first update in over a decade—has been refreshed to account for the myriad of digital resources that have rewritten the rules of the reference and research world, and been expanded to include significantly increased coverage of world literature and languages. This book is invaluable for a wide variety of users: librarians in academic, public, school, and special library settings; researchers in religion, philosophy, literature, and the performing and visual arts; graduate students in library and information science; and teachers and students in humanities, the arts, and interdisciplinary degree programs. |
| a category of literature or art: The National Magazine: Devoted to Literature, Art, and Religion , 1852 |
CATEGORY Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of CATEGORY is any of several fundamental and distinct classes to which entities or concepts belong. How to use category in a sentence.
CATEGORY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
CATEGORY definition: 1. (in a system for dividing things according to appearance, quality, etc.) a type, or a group of…. Learn more.
Category - definition of category by The Free Dictionary
Define category. category synonyms, category pronunciation, category translation, English dictionary definition of category. n. pl. cat·e·go·ries 1. A specifically defined division in a …
category noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of category noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. a group of people or things with particular features in common synonym class. These are the nominees from each …
Category - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
A category is a group of things that share some commonality. Think of the game show "Jeopardy!," and how each column is a different category of questions — like "Literary …
CATEGORY definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
If people or things are divided into categories, they are divided into groups in such a way that the members of each group are similar to each other in some way. The tables were organised into …
What does category mean? - Definitions.net
A category is a class or division of objects or concepts that have common characteristics or attributes. This term is used widely in various fields like mathematics, biology, linguistics, and …
335 Synonyms & Antonyms for CATEGORY - Thesaurus.com
Find 335 different ways to say CATEGORY, along with antonyms, related words, and example sentences at Thesaurus.com.
CATEGORY Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
any general or comprehensive division; a class. a classificatory division in any field of knowledge, as a phylum or any of its subdivisions in biology. Metaphysics.
category - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
May 3, 2025 · The use of the word ‘factor’ shows the explicit intention of categorists to work with functions in an algebraic manner: a category is an algebra of functions. “ category ”, in …
CATEGORY Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of CATEGORY is any of several fundamental and distinct classes to which entities or concepts belong. How to use category in a sentence.
CATEGORY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
CATEGORY definition: 1. (in a system for dividing things according to appearance, quality, etc.) a type, or a group of…. Learn more.
Category - definition of category by The Free Dictionary
Define category. category synonyms, category pronunciation, category translation, English dictionary definition of category. n. pl. cat·e·go·ries 1. A specifically defined division in a …
category noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of category noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. a group of people or things with particular features in common synonym class. These are the nominees from each …
Category - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
A category is a group of things that share some commonality. Think of the game show "Jeopardy!," and how each column is a different category of questions — like "Literary …
CATEGORY definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
If people or things are divided into categories, they are divided into groups in such a way that the members of each group are similar to each other in some way. The tables were organised into …
What does category mean? - Definitions.net
A category is a class or division of objects or concepts that have common characteristics or attributes. This term is used widely in various fields like mathematics, biology, linguistics, and …
335 Synonyms & Antonyms for CATEGORY - Thesaurus.com
Find 335 different ways to say CATEGORY, along with antonyms, related words, and example sentences at Thesaurus.com.
CATEGORY Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
any general or comprehensive division; a class. a classificatory division in any field of knowledge, as a phylum or any of its subdivisions in biology. Metaphysics.
category - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
May 3, 2025 · The use of the word ‘factor’ shows the explicit intention of categorists to work with functions in an algebraic manner: a category is an algebra of functions. “ category ”, in …
