German Aesthetics provides English-speaking audiences with accessible explanations of fundamental concepts from the German tradition of philosophical aesthetics. Organized with the understanding that aesthetic concepts are often highly contested intellectual territory, and that the usage and meanings of terms often shift within historical, cultural, and political debates, this volume brings together scholars of German literature, philosophy, film studies, musicology, and history to provide informative and creative interpretations of German aesthetics that will be useful to students and scholars alike.
Taking systematic and historical perspectives, the essays in this volume explore numerous concepts that feature prominently in German aesthetics, such as imagination, mimesis, beauty, the sublime, and irony. Drawing on foundational writings by Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Adorno, the authors cover a wide spectrum of the arts, including literature, music, painting, and film. Readers will also find topics rarely treated elsewhere, such as 'saying/showing' and 'the end of art.' This is an excellent book that will provide Anglophone teachers and students with informed insights into aesthetics from the eighteenth century through the present.
