Showing papers in "Modern Language Review in 1990"
TL;DR: The Five Faces of Modernity as discussed by the authors is a series of semantic and cultural biographies of words that have taken on special significance in the last century and a half or so: modernity, avantgarde, decadence, kitsch, and postmodernism.
Abstract: Five Faces of Modernity is a series of semantic and cultural biographies of words that have taken on special significance in the last century and a half or so: modernity, avant-garde, decadence, kitsch, and postmodernism. The concept of modernity-the notion that we, the living, are different and somehow superior to our predecessors and that our civilization is likely to be succeeded by one even superior to ours-is a relatively recent Western invention and one whose time may already have passed, if we believe its postmodern challengers. Calinescu documents the rise of cultural modernity and, in tracing the shifting senses of the five terms under scrutiny, illustrates the intricate value judgments, conflicting orientations, and intellectual paradoxes to which it has given rise. Five Faces of Modernity attempts to do for the foundations of the modernist critical lexicon what earlier terminological studies have done for such complex categories as classicism, baroque, romanticism, realism, or symbolism and thereby fill a gap in literary scholarship. On another, more ambitious level, Calinescu deals at length with the larger issues, dilemmas, ideological tensions, and perplexities brought about by the assertion of modernity.
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TL;DR: The authors provides a comprehensive analysis of the rise of American middlebrow culture and the values encompassed by it, focusing on five important expressions of the middlebrow: the founding of the Book-of-the-Month Club; the beginnings of great books programs; the creation of the New York Herald Tribune's book-review section; the popularity of such works as Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy; and the emergence of literary radio programs.
Abstract: The proliferation of book clubs, reading groups, \"outline\" volumes, and new forms of book reviewing in the first half of the twentieth century influenced the tastes and pastimes of millions of Americans. Joan Rubin here provides the first comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon, the rise of American middlebrow culture, and the values encompassed by it. Rubin centers her discussion on five important expressions of the middlebrow: the founding of the Book-of-theMonth Club; the beginnings of \"great books\" programs; the creation of the New York Herald Tribune's book-review section; the popularity of such works as Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy; and the emergence of literary radio programs. She also investigates the lives and expectations of the individuals who shaped these middlebrow institutions--such figures as Stuart Pratt Sherman, Irita Van Doren, Henry Seidel Canby, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, John Erskine, William Lyon Phelps, Alexander Woollcott, and Clifton Fadiman. Moreover, as she pursues the significance of these cultural intermediaries who connected elites and the masses by interpreting ideas to the public, Rubin forces a reconsideration of the boundary between high culture and popular sensibility.
217 citations
TL;DR: This paper pointed out what Saussure and Wittgenstein's ideas have in common, in spite of their different intellectual sources, and this study breaks new ground in the development of linguistic thought.
Abstract: Saussure and Wittgenstein are arguably the two most important figures in the development of twentieth-century linguistic thought. By pointing out what their ideas have in common, in spite of intellectual sources, this study breaks new ground.
94 citations
TL;DR: Kuehn's analysis of the Scottish influence provides a new perspective on the German enlightenment and Kant's role within it, revealing the importance of problems of idealism versus realism and of philosophical justification versus mere descriptive metaphysics as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: He finds that the work of these philosophers was widely discussed in German philosophical journals and translated into German soon after its publication in Britain. Important German philosophers, such as Mendelssohn, Lossius, Feder, Hamann, and Jacobi, representing the full range of philosophical positions, read the Scots and found valuable philosophical insights in their thought. Kuehn suggests that the most important aspect of their reading was the perception of Scottish common-sense philosophers as opposing Hume's scepticism while complementing his positive teaching. Their views gave considerable impetus to those developments in German thought that ultimately led to Kant's critical philosophy. In fact Kant, whose devastating criticism of the Scottish common-sense philosophers is often cited, learned much from the Scots, as his Critique of Pure Reason reveals. Kuehn's analysis of the Scottish influence provides a new perspective on the German enlightenment and Kant's role within it, revealing the importance of problems of idealism versus realism and of philosophical justification versus mere descriptive metaphysics.
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TL;DR: Much of the discussion revolves around the understanding of basic human nature (that the authors are unique in being able to produce a rich, highly articulated, and complex language on the basis of quite rudimentary data), and it is here that Chomsky's ideas on language relate to his ideas on politics.
Abstract: Language and Problems of Knowledge is Noam Chomsky's most accessible statement on the nature, origins, and current concerns of the field of linguistics. He frames the lectures with four fundamental questions: What do we know when we are able to speak and understand a language? How is this knowledge acquired? How do we use this knowledge? What are the physical mechanisms involved in the representation, acquisition, and use of this knowledge?Starting from basic concepts, Chomsky sketches the present state of our answers to these questions and offers prospects for future research. Much of the discussion revolves around our understanding of basic human nature (that we are unique in being able to produce a rich, highly articulated, and complex language on the basis of quite rudimentary data), and it is here that Chomsky's ideas on language relate to his ideas on politics.The initial versions of these lectures were given at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua, in March 1986. A parallel set of lectures on contemporary political issues given at the same time has been published by South End Press under the title On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures.Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT. Language and Problems of Knowledge is sixteenth in the series Current Studies in Linguistics, edited by Jay Keyser.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the path from individual self-direction to national self-determination in the context of self-understanding, natural growth and human purpose, history, culture, and political legitimacy.
Abstract: Part 1 From extended selfhood to political rightness - Rousseau: self-direction and political will self-mastery and paternalism extended selfhood - \"patriotism and citizenship\" public reasons and political legitimacy self-choosing and right-acting self-direction or self-destruction - an appraisal. Part 2 From historical self-understanding to civic humanity - Herder: rationality and self-direction coping with autonomy natural growth and human purpose historical understanding - \"dispositions and reasons\" historical consciousness and political culture - levels of legitimacy analogy and political vision - an appraisal. Part 3 From individual self-direction to national self-determination - Rousseau and Herder: nature, culture and political legitimacy.
TL;DR: The Critical Heritage set of Critical Heritage as discussed by the authors consists of 40 volumes covering 19th and 20th century European and American authors and is available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes.
Abstract: This set comprises 40 volumes covering 19th and 20th century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes. This second set compliments the first 68 volume set of Critical Heritage published by Routledge in October 1995.