Matei Calinescu, Five Faces of Modernity:
Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism. Durham: Duke
University Press, 1987. 395p.
KITSCH
Etymology, Contexts of Usage, and the "Law of Aesthetic Inadequacy" (232)
What is kitsch
bad art
false art
synonym for bad taste
term is international
term is recent -
1860s-70s--painters and art dealers in Munich
First decades of 20th century - became international
etymological hypotheses
1. sketchy
2. cheap
3. rubbish or junk
strongly derogatory
tries to be artistic without genuinely being so (235)
Two categories in literature
1. produced for propaganda
2. produced for entertainment
Always aesthetic inadequacy
formal qualities inappropriate to cultural content or intention
use of genuine art as mere ostentatious decoration
easily affordable things given significance as if true art
Kitsch and Modernity
Kitsch, Camp, and
High Art
Etymology, Contexts
of Usage, and the "Law of Aesthetic Inadequacy"
Kitsch and Romanticism
Bad Taste, Ideology,
and Hedonism
Some Stylistic Considerations
Kitsch and Cultural
Industrialization
The "Kitsch-Man"
Links and Abbreviations (links are abbreviated by using the initials)