scholarly journals DOS PASSOS’S U.S.A. THROUGH THE LENS OF LEFT-WING PUBLICATIONS IN THE USSR

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanos Despotis
Keyword(s):  
Popular Front ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Aesthetics And Politics ◽  
Proletarian Literature ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Aesthetic

The subject of this paper was borne out of engagement with the genre of proletarian literature in 1930’s America, the artistic output of the Popular Front era, as well as the multifaceted scholarly debates that surround them. Slightly refining the scope of this investigation, I will be examining John Dos Passos’s U.S.A. trilogy, and situating it within the context of the nuanced interconnection of aesthetics and politics in that era. I wish to argue that U.S.A. became a highly contested space of literary and ideological conflict. Within this space, a wide-ranging and sometimes heated debate on form and content transpires which is inseparable from the political project of socialist construction in the USSR. This debate was held between proponents of the aesthetic movements of modernism and realism, and was intensely present in organs and publications affiliated with these left-wing institutions. Therefore, I divert my attention towards one of these Anglophone publications, namely International Literature, in order to map Dos Passos’s presence within them and gauge the extent to which my hypothesis is legitimate. I will develop an exposition of archival material from this journal which serve the purpose of illuminating the extent to which there was a preoccupation with the work of Dos Passos within the literary circles of the organised Left, as well as outlining the content of the attitudes expressed towards him. This exposition however will necessarily be accompanied by an engagement with the scholarship around this subject, especially taking into consideration the historicity of the scholarship itself; that is to say, the recognition of historical limitations within the scholarship, as well as the attempt to supersede these limitations by more recent critical works. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0760/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Background Stories

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Sally Bick
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Film Music ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Values ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Low Culture ◽  
The Aesthetic

This chapter introduces the political landscape caused by World War I, the crisis in capitalism, the Great Depression, and the Popular Front, crises that would shape Copland’s and Eisler’s individual musical and political perspectives. Their political commitment led them to embrace film music and to seek employment in Hollywood. Their decisions took place within the debates regarding the aesthetic and political values of high and low culture as exemplified by culture critic Gilbert Seldes (The Seven Lively Arts), George Antheil, and others. The chapter also discusses Hollywood as an industrial enterprise and the conditions that composers like Copland and Eisler faced working in the movie capital.

scholarly journals The Crisis of the Concept of Identity in Modern Left-Wing Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
M. A. Radchenko
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Marxist Ideology ◽  
The Subject

The analysis concerns the conceptual crisis within the leftist discourse, which manifests itself in conceptual tensions within the Marxist ideology and philosophy on such cornerstone issues as identity, praxis and practice. The importance of identity for the left idea is connected with both neo-Marxist origins (Frankfurt School) and modern Western left liberalism which fuels the identity debate. The postmodern rejection of activity (Marxist praxis) conditions the identity-practice crisis. Manipulating the category of identity devaluates the concept of class, and, more importantly, the concept of oppression, leading therefore to confusion of the concepts of rights and privileges. The probable reason for that is the general crisis of the subject and, thus, its identity. Inside the left it can be described as saturated generic identity of the working class (Badiou). Instead of praxis, which allows a person to embody the integrity of being, personal identity is built on practices reconceptualized here in terms of identity theory as an economic theory. Practices mean episodic activities, void of continuity and integrity, aimed at increasing one’s market value. Therefore, the left accommodates to neoliberalism, reduces the political activity to activism. The discussion on class issues and the rise of precariat shows that trend. Judith Butler can serve as an example, as her approach defines precariat vulnerable and only able to confront neoliberalism with bodily activation of protest, which only emphasizes precariat’s weakness, incorporates it in neoliberalism, prevents it from realizing its historical subjectivity.

Toward a Transversal Reading of Art and Politics in Israel

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Mor Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
The Political ◽  
Aesthetics And Politics ◽  
Art And Politics ◽  
Socially Engaged Art ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Art Collectives ◽  
Alternative Reading

The 2011 Israeli protest for social justice marked a change in the responses of Israeli citizens to political and social matters. The ways in which art and social change intersected during the protest, and the emer- gence of art collectives following the events, call for an understanding of the relation between art and politics in Israel. This article suggests an alternative reading of socially engaged art in Israel. To this end, I use Félix Guattari’s notion of ‘transversality’ and Jacques Rancière’s theory on the ‘aesthetic regime’ to highlight signi cant periods where art and politics have intersected in ways that have challenged Israeli art historiography, often neutralizing the political within an artwork. By using a theoreti- cal framework that emphasizes notions of hybridity and the blurring of boundaries, I make new connections between times, places, and practices that go beyond the binaries of center and periphery, mainstream and alter- native, and aesthetics and politics.

scholarly journals Insurrection of singularities. A conceptualization of (anti)political action in postanarchism

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Dmitry B. Polyakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Radical Politics ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Libertarian Theory

The article reveals the political and philosophical core of contemporary anarchist thought using the example of such its theoretical variation as postanarchism. Seamlessly engaging into the current left-wing radical discursive context, postanarchism at the same time reflects the micro-political, localist and largely spontaneous tendencies that characterize today’s forms of political protest and resistance in many countries of the world. Having arisen as a reaction to the crisis of legitimacy of political and economic institutions, these tendencies lead to a rethinking of standard political categories by modern philosophy: “class”, “revolution”, “democracy”, “sovereignty”, “political”, etc. The postanarchist perspective, revealing distinctly anarchic features in current forms of radical politics (decentralization, network character, distrust of official institutions), also offers its own reinterpretation of a series of concepts on purpose of radicalizing and updating libertarian theory. In particular, this article focuses on the logic of differentiating the concepts of revolution and insurrec­tion, which is carried out by the leading theorist of postanarchism S. Newman, who starts from the philosophical individualism of M. Stirner and also proceeds from the crisis of metanarratives proclaimed by the postmodern. Furthermore, within the framework of an at­tempt to define a new political subject, that is common to Western left thought, Newman develops the concept of singularity in a number of his texts, actively using the philosophical studies of some continental thinkers. Finally, in terms of postanarchism, the conceptualiza­tion of political action and the subject of this action through the concepts of rebellion and singularity not only contributes to the clarification and revitalization of anarchist discourse but is itself a subversive gesture that destabilizes the normative political language.

A reply to Sujit Choudhry’s ‘Resisting democratic backsliding’: Weimar legacy and self-enforcing constitutions in post-WWII left-wing constitutional theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-423
Author(s):  
RONALD CAR
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The West ◽  
East Berlin ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Subject

Abstract:As claimed by Sujit Choudhry, ‘historical examples have re-emerged as important elements not only of academic analysis, but also of constitutional practice’ worried by the threat of democratic backsliding. Left-wing constitutionalists inspired by the Frankfurt School have left us a theory of constitutional stability drawn on by the Weimar experience. Following Choudhry’s call for more historical research on the subject, I will first summarise the critiques of the Weimar constitution developed by these authors and their ensuing proposals for its reformation. Secondly, I will describe the efforts made after 1945 to translate these suggestions into keys for German democratic renaissance. Apart from their impact on the Basic Law, I will focus on the much lesser known attempt to design a ‘better Weimar’ in the Soviet Zone of Occupation from 1945 to 1947. I will show how Weimar left-wing constitutionalism influenced East Berlin constitutional debate and the reactions of the West German constitutionalists. My final goal is to enrich our understanding of the issue raised by Choudhry of placing the political parties at the very core of the constitution instead of running away from political power.

Linksruck der Fakten

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-118
Author(s):  
Albrecht Koschorke
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Hostile Takeover ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Political Principle ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
The Subject ◽  
French Theory ◽  
Fact Checking

Auf dem Feld der Theorie ist es zu einer Umpolung der politischen Vorzeichen gekommen. Was fünfzig Jahre lang Gegenstand einer linksemanzipatorischen Kritik war, ist zur Zielscheibe nationalistisch-autoritärer Bewegungen geworden: der Liberalismus, der Kapitalismus, die Globalisierung, das politische Prinzip der Repräsentation, der hegemoniale Charakter von Wahrheitsansprüchen. Lieblingsvokabeln der French Theory wie ›Dekonstruktion‹ und ›Simulation‹ sind in die Machtpraxis von Rechtspopulisten übergegangen. Kulturwissenschaftler dagegen finden sich in der ungewohnten Lage wieder, fact checking zu betreiben und gegen die Relativierung universell gültiger wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse zu demonstrieren. Der Beitrag fragt danach, wie angesichts dieser ›feindlichen Übernahme‹ das emanzipatorische Potenzial und die Erkenntnisleistungen des Poststrukturalismus verteidigt werden können. There has been a reversion of political signs in the (academic) field of theory. What has been the subject of left-wing emancipatory critique during the 1950s has become the target of nationalist- authoritarian movements: liberalism, capitalism, globalization, the political principle of representation, the hegemonial character of truth claims. Favoured words of French Theory like ›deconstruction‹ and ›simulation‹ have assimilated with the exercise of power of right-wing populists. Cultural scientists on the other hand now find themselves in the completely foreign position of being tasked with fact checking and to rally against relativization of universally acknowledged scientific findings. This article asks how the emancipatory potential and the gaining of knowledge of poststructuralism can be defended against a ›hostile takeover‹

Texte, die Spaß machen: Antiautoritäre Öffentlichkeit in Filmkritik und Filmkritiker Kooperative

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-130
Author(s):  
Philipp Goll
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Political Left ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Media Practices

Abstract In the second half of the 1960s, the Munich based journal Filmkritik was rattled by a heated debate between the so-called “aesthetic left” and the “political left”. The article argues that within this context, the aesthetic left developed a notion of the public sphere informed by media practices such as watching movies and writing about it, a process whereby an ‘aesthetic formation’ emerges. Drawing upon the anti-authoritarian movement’s critique of the ‘ritualization’ of the liberal public sphere, the aesthetic left developed new styles of writing aimed at interrupting the ritualized bourgeois discourse.

scholarly journals Rhythm, rhyme and reason: hip hop expressivity as political discourse

Popular Music ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torgeir Uberg Nærland
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Communicative Rationality ◽  
Hip Hop Music ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Aesthetic

AbstractUsing Norwegian hip hop as an example, this article argues that public sphere theory offers a fruitful theoretical framework in which to understand the political significance of music. Based on a musical and lyrical analysis of Lars Vaular's ‘Kem Skjøt Siv Jensen’ (Who Shot Siv Jensen) – a song that recently became the subject of extensive public political discourse in Norway – this article first highlights how the aesthetic language specific to hip hop music constitutes a form of political discourse that may be particularly effective in addressing and engaging publics. Further, the analysis brings attention to how hip hop music is characterised by phatic, rhetoric, affective and dramatic modes of communication that may be of value to democratic public discourse. Lastly, this article examines the expressive output of ‘Kem Skjøt Siv Jensen’ in light of Habermas' concept of communicative rationality. In conclusion, the article contends that the dichotomy between (‘rational’) verbal argument and (‘irrational’) musical expressivity constructed within public sphere theory is contrived and, moreover, that hip hop expressivity under certain conditions does conform to the standards of communicative rationality.

The Occasional Conformity Controversy: Ideology and Party Politics, 1697-1711

1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Flaningam
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ideological Debate ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Distinct Existence ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The occasional conformity controversy has been the subject of considerable study by historians, both contemporary and modern. However, recent research has tended to concentrate on the parliamentary and electoral aspects of the issue, with somewhat less attention given to its importance as an ideological question. Nevertheless, the latter aspect of the controversy is well worth examining, for aside from its impact upon the struggle for office and power, occasional conformity was also the subject of heated debate on the theoretical and philosophical level. And although this debate often degenerated into partisan diatribes and rhetoric, it also raised questions that transcended the political ploy on the one hand, and the theologian's quibble and the propagandist's stalking horse on the other. The arguments used by both sides during the controversy revealed the basic philosophical differences that lay at the heart of the rivalry between the Whig and Tory parties. Occasional conformity's role as an expression of, and its relation to, this struggle is the subject of this article.The ideological debate over occasional conformity was necessarily stimulated by the parliamentary struggles during the first decade of the eighteenth century over the various bills which were designed to discourage the practice, and many of the tracts on the subject were written in response to these and other political maneuvers. But the pamphlet war had its own distinct existence, and the writers involved fought with their pens a battle that was parallel to the one that the politicians were fighting with votes and influence.

Dante Alighieri

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Bartoloni
Keyword(s):  
Dante Alighieri ◽  
The Political ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Artistic Process ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
The Aesthetic

The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) is invoked several times in the work of Giorgio Agamben, often in passing to stress a point, as when discussing the political relevance of désoeuvrement (KG 246); to develop a thought, as in the articulation of the medieval idea of imagination as the medium between body and soul (S, especially 127–9); or to explain an idea, as in the case of the artistic process understood as the meeting of contradictory forces such as inspiration and critical control (FR, especially 48–50). So while Agamben does not engage with Dante systematically, he refers to him constantly, treating the Florentine poet as an auctoritas whose presence adds critical rigour and credibility. Identifying and relating the instances of these encounters is useful since they highlight central aspects of Agamben’s thought and its development over the years, from the first writings, such as Stanzas, to more recent texts, such as Il fuoco e il racconto and The Use of Bodies. The significance of Agamben’s reliance on Dante can be divided into two categories: the aesthetic and the political. The following discussion will address each of these categories separately, but will also emphasise the philosophical continuity that links the discussion of the aesthetic with that of the political. While in the first instance Dante is offered as an example of poetic innovation, especially in relation to the use of language and imagination, in the second he is invoked as a forerunner of new forms of life. Mediality and potentiality are the two pivots connecting the aesthetic and the political.

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