Walter Pater – författare

'art comes to you professing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments' sake'In Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), a diffident Oxford don produced an audacious and incalculably influential defence of aestheticism. Through his highly idiosyncratic readings of some of the finest paintings, sculptures, and poems of the French and Italian Renaissance, Pater redefined the practice of criticism as an impressionistic, almost erotic exploration of the critic's aesthetic responses. At the same time, reclaiming the Hellenism that he saw as the most characteristic aspect of the Renaissance, he implicitly celebrated homoerotic friendship.Pater's infamous 'Conclusion', which forever linked him with the decadent movement, scandalized many with its insistence on making pleasure the sole motive of life, even as it charmed fellow aesthetes such as Oscar Wilde. This edition of Studies reproduces the text of the first edition, recapturing its initial impact, and the Introduction celebrates its doomed attempt to stand out against the processes of industrialization. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Renaissance is a strikingly original and influential collection of essays in which Walker Pater gave memorable expression to an aesthetic view of life. It has never before been published in a scholarly edition. Donald L. Hill reproduces Pater's text of 1893, with a record of all verbal variations in other editions, from the early magazine versions to the Library Edition of 1910. Mr. Hill provides a full set of critical and explanatory notes on each of Pater's essays; headnotes outlining the story of its composition, publication, and reception; and an essay on the history of the book as a whole. Students of Pater and the Aesthetic Movement in England will find this new, annotated edition indispensable.