Autonomy : The Social Ontology of Art Under Capitalism

In__Autonomy__Nicholas Brown theorizes the historical and theoretical argument for art's autonomy from its acknowledged character as a commodity. Refusing the position that the distinction between art and the commodity has collapsed, Brown demonstrates how art can, in confronting its material determinations, suspend the logic of capital by demanding interpretive attention. He applies his readings of Marx, Hegel, Adorno, and Jameson to a range of literature, photography, music, television, and sculpture, from Cindy Sherman's photography and the novels of Ben Lerner and Jennifer Egan to__The Wire__and the music of the White Stripes. He demonstrates that through their attention and commitment to form, such artists turn aside the determination posed by the demand of the market, thereby defeating the foreclosure of meaning entailed in commodification. In so doing, he offers a new theory of art that prompts a rethinking of the relationship between art, critical theory, and capitalism. In 'Autonomy' Nicholas Brown theorizes the historical and theoretical argument for art's autonomy from its acknowledged character as a commodity. Refusing the position that the distinction between art and the commodity has collapsed, Brown demonstrates how art can, in confronting its material determinations, suspend the logic of capital by demanding interpretive attention. He applies his readings of Marx, Hegel, Adorno, and Jameson to a range of literature, photography, music, television, and sculpture, from Cindy Sherman's photography and the novels of Ben Lerner and Jennifer Egan to 'The Wire' and the music of the White Stripes. He demonstrates that through their attention and commitment to form, such artists turn aside the determination posed by the demand of the market, thereby defeating the foreclosure of meaning entailed in commodification. In so doing, he offers a new theory of art that prompts a rethinking of the relationship between art, critical theory, and capitalism. Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: On Art and the Commodity Form 12 1. Photography as Film and Film as Photography 52 2. The Novel and the Ruse of the Work 90 3. Citation and Affect in Music 126 4. Modernism on TV 163 Epilogue: Taking Sides 189 Notes 194 Bibliography 218 Index 226 A 226 B 226 C 227 D 227 E 227 F 227 G 227 H 227 I 228 J 228 K 228 L 228 M 228 N 229 O 229 P 229 R 229 S 230 T 230 U 230 V 230 W 230 Color Plates 234 Nicholas Brown theorizes the historical and theoretical conditions for the persistence of art's autonomy from the realm of the commodity by showing how an artist's commitment to form and by demanding interpretive attention elude the logic of capital