Ruskin and Modernism

by Giovanni Cianci, Peter Nicholls

Overview

The extent of John Ruskin's influence has long been acknowledged, though his impact on the development of Anglo-American modernism has received little systematic attention. In this volume, published to mark the centenary of Ruskin's death, a group of international scholars consider what is often an awkward and conflicted relation. Ruskin's voluminous writings are seen to shelter an incipient modernism whose antipathy to a degraded modernity, powerfully predicts a major current within the work of the new century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333915608
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	12/12/2000
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	219
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.99(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

DINAH BIRCH Fellow and Tutor In English, Trinity College, Oxford LAUREL BRAKE Senior Lecturer in Literature, Birkbeck College, London RONALD BUSH Professor of American Literature, St John's College, Oxford TONI CERUTTI Professor of English, University of Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli IAN DUNCAN Professor of English, University of Oregon GIOVANNO LEONI Professor of History and Architecture, University of Barl, Italy STEFANIA MICHELUCCI Lecturer in English Studies, Instituto di Anglistica, Milan ANDREA PINOTTI Lecturer in Aesthetics, University of Milan MAX SAUNDERS Reader in English, King's College, London RICHARD L. STEIN Professor of English, University of Oregon LUISA VILLA Lecturer in English Literature, University of Genova, Italy

Table of Contents

Introduction; G.Cianci & P.Nicholls Unstable Foundations: Ruskin and the Costs of Modernity; R.L.Stein Gothic as Leaf, Gothic as Crystal: John Ruskin and Wilhelm Worringer; A.Pinotti Ruskin, Myth, and Modernity; D.Birch Degrees of Darkness: Ruskin, Pater and Modernism; L.Brake Reactionary Desire: Ruskin and the Work of Fiction; I.Duncan The Early James and Ruskin: Intergenerational Frictions; L.Villa Things Passed Over: Ruskin, Modernism, and Autobiography; M.Saunders Ruskin and the Fascination of Words; T.Cerutti Tradition, Architecture and Rappel a l'Ordre : Ruskin and Eliot (1917-1921); G.Cianci Eliot and Ruskin: Second Thoughts; R.Bush Ruskin's Grotesque and the Modernism of Ezra Pound and Wyndham Lewis; P.Nicholls Laying the Ghost: D.H. Lawrence's Fight with Ruskin; S.Michelucci Architecture as Commentary: Ruskin's Pre-Modern Architectural Thought and Its Influence on Modern Architecture; G.Leoni Index

Editorial Reviews

International scholars consider John Ruskin's impact on the development of Anglo-American modernism. Ruskin's writings are seen to shelter an incipient modernism that predicts a major current in the work of the next century; contributors explore facets of Ruskin's thinking such as his relentless testing of the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, his sense of history and myth, and his inquiries into architecture and the rise of the modern city. The 13 essays were first presented as papers at a conference held at the U. of Milan in September 1997. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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