Julia Prewitt Brown – författare

In the first book to explore the philosophical significance of Oscar Wilde's life and work, Julia Prewitt Brown establishes Wilde's importance to 19th-century literature and thought by placing him in the continuum of continental aesthetic philosophy from Kant and Schiller, through Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, to Benjamin and Adorno. Calling his philosophy of art his ""most elusive legacy"", Brown attempts to define Wilde's conceptions of what art is and is not, of what the experience of art means in the modern world, and of the contradictory relations between the work of art and the sphere of the ethical everyday. She traces the experimental character of Wilde's thought from its resonance in his own life through its development within the tradition of aesthetic philosophy, ultimately focussing on his sense of the equivocal and diminishing presence of art in the postindustrial world. Convinced that the future of art, as well as that of civilization as a whole, depended upon the development of what he called ""cosmopolitan criticism"", Wilde consciously made himself at home in the culture of other nations. This did not entail a repudiation of his own roots, however, and was thus dialectical in nature. Brown firmly places Wilde amidst the thinkers who gave rise to his philosophy - Ruskin, Pater, Arnold, Baudelaire - and she establishes his role as the link between Victorian ideas and the more modern Benjamin and Adorno. ""Cosmopolitan Criticism"" is an interdisciplinary study that should appeal not only to Wilde enthusiasts but also to readers interested in 19th- and 20th-century literature and aesthetics. In this time of debate over ethics and the arts, Brown's provocative analysis will add much to the dialogue.

Calling Oscar Wilde's philosophy of art his ""most elusive legacy"", Julia Prewitt Brown attempts to define Wilde's conceptions of what art is and what it is not, of what the experience of art means in the modern world, and of the contradictory relations between the work of art and the sphere of the ethical everyday. She traces the experimental character of Wilde's thought from its resonance in his own life through its development within the tradition of aesthetic philosophy, ultimately focusing on his sense of the equivocal and diminishing presence of art in the postindustrial world.

The city, with its manifold distractions and violence, its invitation to intoxication and dream, had long served to represent the experience of modernity in works of art at the time John Schlesinger made his acclaimed urban documentary ‘Terminus’ in 1961. To be a reader of the city was to be a reader of modern life, and Schlesinger was a discriminating, at times relentless, reader of the city throughout his career, especially in his three greatest films, ‘Midnight Cowboy’, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and ‘The Day of the Locust’, set in New York, London and Los Angeles, respectively. His character-driven stories, evocation of the significance of the everyday, and insistence on ambiguities of situation and motive – all qualities he was known for – point to literary influences that reach back to the nineteenth century and earlier. ‘The Films of John Schlesinger’ is not only the first book to fully acknowledge those influences, but also the first book to explicate the power of his art to capture the modern, urban experiences of becoming an adult in an atmosphere that relentlessly promotes fantasies of success and wealth; of coming to terms with one’s national identity in the context of international politics; and of attempting to transform the past, both personal and cultural, into a viable present.

These provocative essays offer a bold vision of the benefits of reading that challenges contemporary trends, reintroducing neglected works of fiction and memoir.For readers curious to learn about both novels that have been neglected and ideas that are becoming endangered – because they challenge contemporary tastes and values – Reclamations provides fresh readings of a curated selection of books from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Reading a wide range of authors, such as Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, D. H. Lawrence, James Baldwin, Philip Roth, Kamala Shamsie, and Celeste Ng, Julia Prewitt Brown brings together her years of teaching experience and razor-sharp commentary to open up new ways of looking at the past and present, interrogating how people today see the world and literature’s place in it.Rather than a chronological progression, these nine essays aim to guide readers through a series of questions concerning contemporary tastes, morality, character building, and philosophical thought in literature. What is it about Lawrence that scares people? What did the Victorians understand about the effects of wealth on character that we’ve forgotten? Is the idea of agency replacing the idea of character in today’s popular fiction? Can a novelist light a reader’s path with unanswerable questions?The neglected novels and ideas highlighted in Reclamations deserve attention today not only because of their distinctiveness, but also because the fact of their neglect helps us understand the cultural present.

These provocative essays offer a bold vision of the benefits of reading that challenges contemporary trends, reintroducing neglected works of fiction and memoir.For readers curious to learn about both novels that have been neglected and ideas that are becoming endangered – because they challenge contemporary tastes and values – Reclamations provides fresh readings of a curated selection of books from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Reading a wide range of authors, such as Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, D. H. Lawrence, James Baldwin, Philip Roth, Kamala Shamsie, and Celeste Ng, Julia Prewitt Brown brings together her years of teaching experience and razor-sharp commentary to open up new ways of looking at the past and present, interrogating how people today see the world and literature’s place in it.Rather than a chronological progression, these nine essays aim to guide readers through a series of questions concerning contemporary tastes, morality, character building, and philosophical thought in literature. What is it about Lawrence that scares people? What did the Victorians understand about the effects of wealth on character that we’ve forgotten? Is the idea of agency replacing the idea of character in today’s popular fiction? Can a novelist light a reader’s path with unanswerable questions?The neglected novels and ideas highlighted in Reclamations deserve attention today not only because of their distinctiveness, but also because the fact of their neglect helps us understand the cultural present.