Pleasure and the arts : enjoying literature, painting, and music

how Do The Arts Give Us Pleasure? Covering A Very Wide Range Of Artistic Works, From Auden To David Lynch, Rembrandt To Edward Weston, And Richard Strauss To Keith Jarrett, Pleasure And The Arts Offers Us An Explanation Of Our Enjoyable Emotional Engagements With Literature, Music, And Painting. The Arts Direct Us To Intimate And Particularized Relationships, With The People Represented In The Works, Or With Those We Imagine Produced Them. When We Listen To Music, Look At A Purely Abstract Painting, Or Drink A Glass Of Wine, Can We Enjoy The Experience Without Verbalizing Our Response? Do Our Interpretative Assumptions, Our Awareness Of Technique, And Our Attitudes To Fantasy, Get In The Way Of Our Appreciation Of Art, Or Enhance It? Examining These Questions And More, We Discover How Curiosity Drives Us To Enjoy Narratives, Ordinary Jokes, Metaphors, And Modernist Epiphanies, And How Narrative In All The Arts Can Order And Provoke Intense Enjoyment. Pleasurable In Its Own Right, Pleasure And The Arts Presents A Sparkling Explanation Of The Enduring Interest Of Artistic Expression. features A Sparkling, Engaging Essay By A Leading Critic On A Perennially Fascinating Topic How do the arts give us pleasure? Covering a very wide range of artistic works, from Auden to David Lynch, Rembrandt to Edward Weston, and Richard Strauss to Keith Jarrett, Pleasure and the Arts offers us an explanation of our enjoyable emotional engagements with literature, music, and painting. The arts direct us to intimate and particularized relationships - with the people represented in the works, or with those we imagine produced them. When we listen to music or look at a purely abstract painting, or when we drink a glass of wine, can we enjoy the experience without verbalizing our response? Do our interpretative assumptions, our awareness of technique, and our attitudes to fantasy, get in the way of our appreciation of art, or enhance it? As the book examines these questions and more, we discover how curiosity drives us to enjoy narratives, ordinary jokes, metaphors, and modernist epiphanies, and how narrative in all the arts can order and provoke intense enjoyment. Pleasurable in its own right, Pleasure and the Arts presents a sparkling explanation of the enduring interest of artistic expression. How do the arts give us pleasure? Covering a very wide range of artistic works, from Auden to David Lynch, Rembrandt to Edward Weston, and Richard Strauss to Keith Jarrett, "Pleasure and the Arts" offers us an explanation of our enjoyable emotional engagements with literature, music, and painting. The arts direct us to intimate and particularised relationships, with the people represented in the works, or with those we imagine produced them. When we listen to music, look at a purely abstract painting, or drink a glass of wine, can we enjoy the experience without verbalising our response? Do our interpretative assumptions, our awareness of technique, and our attitudes to fantasy, get in the way of our appreciation of art, or enhance it? Examining these questions and more, we discover how curiosity drives us to enjoy narratives, ordinary jokes, metaphors, and modernist epiphanies, and how narrative in all the arts can order and provoke intense enjoyment. Pleasurable in its own right, "Pleasure and the Arts" presents a sparkling explanation of the enduring interest of artistic expression "The arts direct us to intimate and particularized relationships - with the people represented in the works, or with those we imagine produced them. When we listen to music or look at a purely abstract painting, or when we drink a glass of wine, can we enjoy the experience without verbalizing our response? Do our interpretative assumptions, our awareness of technique, and our attitudes to fantasy, get in the way of our appreciation of art, or enhance it? As the book examines these questions and more, we discover how curiosity drives us to enjoy narratives, ordinary jokes, metaphors, and modernist epiphanies, and how narrative in all the arts can order and provoke intense enjoyment. Pleasurable in its own right, Pleasure and the Arts presents a sparkling explanation of the enduring interest of artistic expression."--Jacket How do the arts give us pleasure? Covering a very wide range of artistic works, from Auden to David Lynch, Rembrandt to Edward Weston, and Richard Strauss to Keith Jarrett, Butler offers us an explanation of our enjoyable emotional engagements with literature, music, and painting. Pleasurable in its own right, Pleasure and the Arts presents a sparkling explanation of the enduring interest of artistic expression. - ;How do the arts give us pleasure? Covering a very wide range of artistic works, from Auden to David Lynch, Rembrandt to Edward Weston, and Richard Strauss to Keith Jarrett, Pleasure. Oxford University Press, USA Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Introduction 12 1. Jokes, Poems, Understanding 22 2. Emotions and Narrative 51 3. Beyond Words: Sensation 101 4. Beyond Words: Enjoying Abstractions 126 5. Beyond Words: Appreciation, Technique, and Form 153 6. Specificity, Fantasy, and Critique 185 Appendix on Beauty 248 Picture Credits 252 Index 254 A 254 B 254 C 254 D 255 E 255 F 255 G 255 H 255 I 255 J 255 K 255 L 255 M 256 N 256 O 256 P 256 R 256 S 256 T 257 U 257 V 257 W 257 Z 257 ISBN-13:,9780199272488 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 1. Jokes, Poems, Understanding......Page 22 2. Emotions and Narrative......Page 51 3. Beyond Words: Sensation......Page 101 4. Beyond Words: Enjoying Abstractions......Page 126 5. Beyond Words: Appreciation, Technique, and Form......Page 153 6. Specificity, Fantasy, and Critique......Page 185 Appendix on Beauty......Page 248 Picture Credits......Page 252 C......Page 254 L......Page 255 S......Page 256 Z......Page 257 How does this not very good but typical joke work to amuse us?