Exemplarity and Mediocrity : The Art of the Average From Bourgeois Tragedy to Realism

Following Hegel's analysis of art's increasing difficulty to both engage and extricate itself from prosaic reality, Paul Fleming investigates the strategies employed by German literature from 1750 to 1850 for increasingly attuning itself to quotidian life—common heroes, everyday life, non-extraordinary events—while also avoiding all notions of mediocrity. He focuses on three sites of this tension: the average audience (Lessing), the average artist (Goethe and Schiller), and the everyday, or average life (Grillparzer and Stifter). The book's title, __Exemplarity and Mediocrity__, describes both a disjunctive and a conjunctive relation. Read disjunctively, modern art must display the "exemplary originality" (Kant) that only genius can provide and is thus fundamentally opposed to mediocrity as that which does not stand out or lacks distinctiveness; in the conjunctive sense, modern art turns to non-exceptional life in order to transform it—without forsaking its commonness—thereby producing exemplary forms of mediocrity that both represent the non-exceptional and, insofar as they stand outside the group they represent, are something other than mediocre. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 The Prose of the World......Page 12 The Werther Complex......Page 14 Literature, Exemplarity, and Mediocrity......Page 18 From Bourgeois Tragedy to Realism......Page 22 Exorbitant or Not at All......Page 26 Living the “Mean” Life (Aristotle)......Page 30 The Rule of Mediocrity (Horace)......Page 32 Exemplary Originality (Kant)......Page 39 Exemplary Averageness (Kant/Schiller)......Page 44 Higher Criticism: Appreciating Mediocrity (Kleist)......Page 50 How to Avoid a Tragic Fate......Page 53 Middle Heroes......Page 59 The Great Commonizer: Compassion......Page 65 Art Without Admiration, or, the End of the Age of Great Men......Page 69 How Many Tears Should the “Best Human” Shed?......Page 73 The Politics of Compassion......Page 79 Paving the Way for Mediocre Minds......Page 81 When Applause Becomes Suspicious......Page 83 The Stamp of the Dilettante......Page 87 The Age of Dilettantism......Page 92 The Imitation Drive......Page 96 “Much I have tried . . . and neither learned nor achieved anything” (Goethe)......Page 102 The Problem of Popularity......Page 105 Art School for Nonartists......Page 113 The Art of Renunciation......Page 117 The Eternal Return of the Dilettante......Page 124 The Museum of Spirit......Page 131 Lives of the Nonfamous (Grillparzer)......Page 139 The Insight of the Obscure......Page 143 The Sublimity of Regularity (Stifter)......Page 150 Perceptions of the Unperceivable......Page 155 The Statistical Law......Page 157 How Gentle Is the Gentle Law?......Page 160 The Art of Prosaic Reality......Page 165 Conclusion......Page 174 Notes......Page 186 Bibliography......Page 222 Index......Page 234 Following Hegel's Analysis Of Art's Increasing Difficulty To Both Engage And Extricate Itself From Prosaic Reality, Paul Fleming Investigates The Strategies Employed By German Literature From 1750 To 1850 For Increasingly Attuning Itself To Quotidian Life - Common Heroes, Everyday Life, Non-extraordinary Events - While Also Avoiding All Notions Of Mediocrity. The Book's Title, Exemplarity And Mediocrity, Describes Both A Disjunctive And A Conjunctive Relation. Read Disjunctively, Modern Art Must Display The Exemplary Originality (kant) That Only Genius Can Provide And Is Thus Fundamentally Opposed To Mediocrity As That Which Does Not Stand Out Or Lacks Distinctiveness; In The Conjunctive Sense, Modern Art Turns To Non-exceptional Life In Order To Transform It - Without Forsaking Its Commonness - Thereby Producing Exemplary Forms Of Mediocrity That Both Represent The Non-exceptional And, Insofar As They Stand Outside The Group They Represent, Are Something Other Than Mediocre.--book Jacket. Exemplarity And Mediocrity -- The Average Audience (lessing On Bourgeois Tragedy) -- The Average Artist (goethe And Schiller On Dilettantanism) -- Average Life (grillparzer And Stifter, And The Art Of Prosaic Reality). Paul Fleming. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [211]-222) And Index. Exemplarity and mediocrity Common heroes : the making of an exemplary audience (Lessing on bourgeois tragedy) Mediocre artists : the aesthetic education of the dilettante (Goethe and Schiller) Average life : the art of prosaic reality (Grillparzer and Stifter).