Is the sublime sustainable? : a comparative aesthetics approach to the sublime

Is the Sublime Sustainable? introduces the key points of debate around the sublime while opening new avenues for future inquiry, especially through its comparative aesthetics approach. In it, you will discover how thinking on the sublime emerged historically and then engage with the recent critical scholarship on the topic, including from the fields of theology, philosophy, and literature. The critiques of the sublime are then expanded in dialogue with perspectives from Japanese aesthetics and art, shaping the argument that what is needed today is a sublime that enriches human lives by cultivating profound, participative relationships. Contents Note on Translations Acknowledgments Abstract Introduction: Questioning the Sublime and Standing before a Waterfall 1 Locating the Sublime in the Euro-American Context 1.1 Establishing a Roadmap for the Sublime 1.2 Longinus, the Middle Ages, and Renaissance: Origin and Hibernation 1.3 The Eighteenth Century: the Golden Age of the Sublime 1.4 The Nineteenth Century: the Eclipse of the Sublime 1.5 The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: a Sublime Revival 1.6 Summary 2 Sustaining Depth: Critiquing the Sublime with Theological Aesthetics 2.1 Question: Sublime vs. Beauty? 2.2 Answer: a Peaceful Beautiful-Sublime via the Analogy of Being 2.3 Sustaining Depth with Hiroshi Senju 3 Preserving Particularity: Critiquing the Sublime with Environmental Aesthetics 3.1 Environmental Aesthetic Perspectives on the Relation of Nature and Art 3.2 The Sublime in Nature and/or Art? Kant as a Touchstone 3.3 Recovering a Sublime That Links Nature and Art through Engagement 3.3.1 Bodily Engagement 3.3.2 Imaginative Engagement 3.3.3 Affective Engagement 3.4 Preserving Particularity with Hiroshi Senju 4 Cultivating Participation: Critiquing the Sublime with Critical Theory 4.1 Feminist Critiques 4.2 Racial Critiques 4.3 Political Critiques 4.4 Technological Critiques 4.5 Cultivating Participation with Hiroshi Senju Conclusion: toward an Everyday Sublime Keywords