From Library Journal
Intended to provide scholars and students with a single-volume reference to the history and terminology of aesthetic concepts and theory, this dictionary-style work includes signed articles, varying in length from a column to three or four pages, with individual bibliographies. References to ideas, as well as to publications, go through 1990. For instance, the effect of revolution in eastern Europe on the history of Marxist art theory is discussed. The cross references included are necessary as well as useful, for some terms are really subtopics while other are too broad to be treated adequately in a single essay. In addition, the copy editing is occasionally erratic, resulting in errors like missing dates. This book will serve its intended scholarly audience, but it has too little to offer more general readers who might also be interested in the subject matter.- Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Book News, Inc.
An alphabetically-arranged guide to the entire field of aesthetics, being both a reference and an in-depth examination of current thinking about the arts (aesthetics is used in the broad sense of philosophy of art, with art itself taken so broadly as to include, for instance, literature). The 130 articles survey the most significant concepts, problems, movements, and authors in the philosophy of art, documenting new directions of enquiry as well as traditional topics such as catharsis and the sublime. The articles vary from 1,200 to 4,000 words in length, and one, "Theories of Art," is much longer. Substantial bibliographies accompany each entry. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Book Description
Questions about the nature of beauty and the relation between morality and art were among the earliest discussed by ancient philosophers. And today, a host of new issues has been prompted by recent developments in the arts and in philosophy, testifying to a great revival of interest in aesthetics and literary criticism. The nature of representation, the relation between art and truth, and the criteria for interpretation are among the most debated problems in contemporary philosophy. Alphabetically arranged, the 130 articles in this volume provide comprehensive coverage of the main topics and writers in this area of aesthetics. The Companion will serve students of philosophy, literary criticism and cultural studies - as well as the general reader - both as a work of reference and, with its many substantial essays, as a guide to the best thinking about the arts in the late twentieth century.


About the Author
David E. Cooper is Professor of Philosophy at East Carolina State University. He is the author of a number of books including Metaphor (1986), Existentialism (1990) and World Philosophies (Blackwell Publishers, 1996) and is also editor of Aesthetics: The Classic Readings (Blackwell Publishers, 1992).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The nature of representation, the relation between art and truth, and the criteria for interpretation are among the most debated problems in contemporary philosophy. Questions about the nature of beauty and the relation between morality and art were among the earliest discussed by ancient philosophers. And today, a host of new issues has been prompted by recent developments in the arts and in philosophy, testifying to a great revival of interest in aesthetics and literary criticism. Alphabetically arranged, the 130 articles in this volume provide comprehensive coverage of the main topics and writers in this area of aesthetics. The Companion will serve students of philosophy, literary criticism and cultural studies - as well as the general reader - both as a work of reference and, with its many substantial essays, as a guide to the best thinking about the arts in the late twentieth century.

SYNOPSIS

This Companion provides a guide to the whole field of aesthetics within the framework of an alphabetically arranged volume. It is both a work of reference and an in-depth examination of the best thinking about the arts at the end of the twentieth century.

FROM THE CRITICS

Cogito

It is a compendium to be welcomed.

Reference Reviews

The range is phenomenal, the erudition daunting and the index rigorous. It is an essential purchase for all but the most tough-minded of academic reference collections and it would grace the shelves of many a public or personal library.

Library Journal

Intended to provide scholars and students with a single-volume reference to the history and terminology of aesthetic concepts and theory, this dictionary-style work includes signed articles, varying in length from a column to three or four pages, with individual bibliographies. References to ideas, as well as to publications, go through 1990. For instance, the effect of revolution in eastern Europe on the history of Marxist art theory is discussed. The cross references included are necessary as well as useful, for some terms are really subtopics while other are too broad to be treated adequately in a single essay. In addition, the copy editing is occasionally erratic, resulting in errors like missing dates. This book will serve its intended scholarly audience, but it has too little to offer more general readers who might also be interested in the subject matter.-- Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.

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