English 394AW - Aesthetics of Waste

Is beauty useless, or does art serve a purpose? With the rise of literacy, accessibility, and democratization post-industrialization, this question gained new political and economic valence. This course combines readings in aesthetic philosophy with literary works to investigate art in a society of consumption. Does art merely preserve the old or can it disrupt economies of sufficiency? We will look at the politics of representation in the Western tradition that privileges certain bodies and ignores others. We will also interrogate the process of interpretation itself as it relates to the preservation of cultural products. Readings from Symbolism, Decadence, Modernism, and contemporary texts

Prereq: English 200.