Teaching Japanese Aesthetics Whys and Hows for Non-Specialists

Mara Miller

apanese aesthetics introduces a whole new set of basic concepts outside the familiar JWestern aesthetic framework of beauty, sublimity, disinterest. As the history ofWest­ ern arts over the past century or twn attests, these concepts have proven powerfully re­ warding for Westerners, especially artists. But they have gotten less philosophical atten­ tion than they deserve, considering their provocative philosophical premises and impli­ cations. Most distinctive is the insistence on overcoming dichotomies, especially between cognition and emotion, body and mind, self and other, and individual and group. Several topics are particularly illuminating within aesthetics: virtually any writing on calligraphy will deal with the body/mind problem, and Japanese architecture and gardens pose in­ AMERICAN SOCIETY teresting challenges to the art/nature, inside/outside, and public/private dichotomies so FORAESTHETICS crucial to ethical and political analysis. But other features ofJapanese aesthetics are equally deserving of philosophical scru­ AN AsSOCIATION FORAESTHETlCS, tiny: the ways in which arts and aesthetics are integrated with daily life, the emphasis on CRITICISM AND THEORY OF THE ARTS process rather than product, the different views of originality and obsolescence, the VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 length of time involved in creativity (usually a lifetime, but at least "a thousand times" or "ten years"), and the relation of the artistic process to the self, which is seen as a devel­ opment or construction of the self, rather than self-expression. And because the Japa­ Review of Kathleen Higgins's nese did not separate art and aesthetics (as we have done) from ethics, religion, and daily 4 A esthetics in Perspective life, there is also an overlap with other philosophy courses such as environmental ethics, ethics, and philosophy of the person. Review of John A. Fisher's All of these are good reasons fo r philosophers to teach Japanese aesthetics. Addi­ 5 Reflecting on Art tional reasons are motivated by the increasing pressure from both students and adminis­ tration to open our curricula to non-Western resources and approaches. Japan and Asia are of rapidly increasing importance in the world, so that from the point of view of self­ 6 Aesthetics News interest, it behooves us to learn about them. And of course, as with any culture, Japan deserves to be known and understood in its own right. The Japanese themselves feel this most keenly, and so there are better resources-translations, interpretive studies, videos, 7 Conference Reports slide sets, and computer software-for teaching about Japan and Japanese aesthetics than any other non-Western culture. New on the Net But in addition,]apanese culture is probably as different from our culture (however 8 Calls for Papers you define it) as a culture can be. So if you want to challenge students to understand other viewpoints, stretch their minds, give them a sense of how different human experi­ ence can be,Japan is a good place to start. I also thinkJapan puts the usual challenges of 10Upcoming Events studying "the Other" (and learning about ourselves in the process) into a whole new perspective because the scale of difference is altered when you introduce Asian material. Active Aestheticians Compared to Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto, for example, Islam sud­ 11 Grants and Fellowships denly seems very close indeed to Judaism and Christianity. The paradox is that in spite of these worlds of difference, when you work with Japa­ nese arts and aesthetics, there will almost always be something for the students to fall in love with. This is the biggest kick for me, and it may be addictive. If you teach this stuff, you will get to watch the students fall in love. And while Japanese culture is far from http://www.indiana.edu/-asanl monolithic or uniform and most people (including many Japanese!) find some of it in- furiating or incomprehensible, there is so much that is compelling, questions about whether it isn't in fact human-as opposed to and in so many different ways, that, provided you teach some range white--to look down on other people. of material, everyone will be melted by something. This brings us to another advantage of studying Japanese aes­ There are also benefits for the teacher that payoff spending thetics: its long history of reflection on consciousness, memory, art, time to learn something new. Students are wonderfully naive and and aesthetic matters. In so me ways this history, as we see it emerg­ open about Japan-nobody ever makes the mistake of thinking ing in the fi ction, diaries and poetry of the classical Heian period they already know everything there is to know about it. Most stu­ (794-n85) feels quite modern, and is easy for students to relate to. dents, even (or especially) Asian students, approach the topic with (This can lead to discussions about what makes it possible for us to a little timidity and a good deal of respect and want you to tell them understand these voices in the first place. The Heian is the great everything. It is an especially good topic to teach the toughies and period for aesthetics, and it is also is the period in which ethics and cynics and know-it-alls. (They won't know this stuffi) It's also use­ personal identity are explored for the first time outside the context ful for the culture snobs, since half an hour with an up-scale maga­ of religious texts-most conspicuously in the work of two women, zine like Architectural Digest (the ads as well as articles) will dem­ Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon. Although this literature is a onstrate how thoroughly Japanese aesthetic values and arts have great distance from our time, it has remained crucial to Japanese pervaded hegemonic American culture. thought and feeling and behavior-even today there are made-for­ There is a downside, however. First, students often assume they TY videos and comic book versions of the most important work of can't understand anything on their own, without your telling them fiction, Murasaki's novel The Tale o/Genii, as well as several com­ what to look for and giving them lots and lots of in formation. This plete translations into English and Japanese. This novel has also in­ is untrue, though widespread, and not only among students. Unfor­ spired large bodies of work in other arts, especially painted hand tunately even some scholars and writers on Japan give the impres­ scrolls, wood block prints, and Noh theater, which illustrate it or sion that Japanese culture exists to be decoded, formally, with rules develop it further. Finally, this early literature is part of a long line and algorithms and pre- and proscriptions-there's a sort of des­ of explorations of self-consciousness that emerges at the turn of the perate grabbing on to rules and facts. I'd encourage you to help your last century as the so-called I-novel, which is closely related to con­ students learn to perceive, and make sense, as much as possible temporary Russian and later Existentialist novels. from within their culture, to develop empathy first, and then to Japan is the only major world power where women's voices were analyze as a second step, and go back for more information as a integrated into the canonical "mainstream" at an early stage. Given third. This works well with Japanese arts and aesthetics, partly be­ Japan's success at industrialization, modernization, democracy, and cause Japanese arts value the indirect and implicit, placing heavy capitalism (but not "Westernization"), it makes it all the more im­ demands on the reader or viewer to complete the work, as it were, portant that we understand precisely what women's role in creating and to empathize in order to understand. Japanese culture has been. What I've said so far applies equally to all students. But Japa­ The important role of women's voices in the formative stages of nese material can be especially helpful to t\¥o Asian-American and mainstream Japanese culture has barely begun to be explored for its Mrican-American students. Asian-Americans will find their own implications for feminist (and other) theory. Students can have a upbringing, their family's divergences from mainstream America, lot of fun here, especially in conjunction with Luce Irigaray and suddenly making sense. I often get the comment, "Now I under­ Margaret Whitford, Julia KriSleva, and Monique Wittig. Theory stand my mother."This will often be true for non-Japanese Asians aside, it is liberating for female students to encounter work by as well, since the religious values and artistic traditions influencing women the importance of which has been taken for granted for a aesthetics are not restricted by national boundaries. (However, it thousand years. takes someone with the perspective of a Nakamura Hajime or I recommend organizing material on Japanese aesthetics and Amanda Coomaraswamy to get a grip on the similarities across art into thematic units. Since my teaching is motivated by the de­ Asia without losing sight of the equally crucial differences within sire to liberate thinking from so me of the ruts we've been in, I've the distinct cultures-beware those pan-Asian generalizations! developed units around themes such as women and the female Asian cultures are not only less similar to each other but also em­ voice, sexuality and homosexuality, father-son relations and defini­ brace far more intra-cultural diversity than Americans like to tions of masculinity, representations of the "Other," selfhood, gar­ think.) dens, nature and the environment, and war, violence and resistance. For Mrican-Americans, there is I think a special value in dis­ The wealth of material available makes it easy both to create whole covering an arena in which difference and sameness, culnue and the courses on Japanese aesthetics and to integrate modules into Other, and race itself can be discussed outside the context of white/ courses with a larger focus. These thematic units are not murually black polarizations. (Actually the value is equal for all races but the exclusive. The first three or four especially can be integrated into need is more apparent to Mrican-Americans.) larger units on gender construction and "selfuood" dovetails nicely Asian Studies gives a relatively safer, less explosive arena to ex­ with any of them. plore dehumanization; we can witness it, and listen to the voices of In teaching about Japan we start with three problems: the com­ those who witness it, see what they saw, without getting caught up plexity and subtlety of Japanese experience, our own timidity, and in tangles of guilt and blame, because this has little to do, histori­ the students' American habits of mind which insist not only on cally, with us. Many of the best examples, from the Heian through mastery of a subject, but speedy mastery, where mastery is under­ the early Edo period, have litde to do with modern Japan either, so stood as the processing of information. These problems can be this "us" is a fairly inclusive one. A discuss ion of Japanese percep­ countered by using a phenomenological approach, teaching stu­ tions of the Japanese lower class, or Koreans or whites leads to dents to get involved with the material on their own, from their

2 ASA NEWSLETTER own starting point-their own perceptions Pilgrim, Richard B., "Intervals (Ma) in Space SUNY Press, 1989). and knowledge about the world. This ap­ and Time: Foundations for a Religio-Aes­ Curtin, Deane, "Dogen, Deep Ecology, and the proach is supported by the Buddhist (and thetic Paradigm in Japan," History of Reli­ Ecological Self," Environmental Ethics, 16 Deweyan) pedagogical principle of "expe­ g;ons, 25 (1986). (1994). dient means," Don't be afraid to start with Rohlen, Thomas and Gerald LeTendre, Teach­ Davies, Shann, ed. Tree of Lift: Buddhism and where they are---and where you are! f'.l]I ing and Learning inJapan (New York: Cam­ the Protection of Nature (Geneva: Buddhist bridge University Press, 1996). Perceptions of Nature, 1987). [email protected] Saito, Yuriko. "The Japanese Aesthetics ofIm­ Higuchi Tadahiko, The Visual & Spatial Struc­ perfection and Insufficiency," Journal of Aes­ ture of Landscapes (Cambridge: MIT Press, thetic! and Art Criticism (forthcoming). 1983). Saito, Yuriko, "The Japanese Appreciation of LaChapelle, Delores, Sacred Land, Sacred Sex. Nature," British Journal of Aesthetics, 25 Miller, Mara, The Garden as an Art. (Albany: A Reading List (19 85). SUNY Press, 1993). Suzuki Daisetz, Zen and the Arts ofJapan. Saito, Yuriko, "The Japanese Appreciation of TanizakiJun'ichiro, In Praise of Shadows. Nature," British Journal of Aesthetics, 25 Classical Sources (1985). Slawson, David A., Secret Teachings in the Art of Kenko, Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Tea Ceremony Aesthetics Japanese Gardens: Design Principles, Aesthetic Kenko, trans. Donald Keene (Tokyo: Tuttle, Values. (Kodansha, 1987). 19 81). Anderson, Jennifer L., An Introduction to the Watsuji, Tetsuro, Climate. Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, trans. E. Japanese Tea Ritual (Albany: SUNY Press, Seidensticker. 1993)· Tsunoda Ryusaku, William Theodore de Bary, Castile, Rand, Th Way of Tea (New York: Women and the Female Voice and Donald Keene, Sources of Japanese Tra­ Weatherhill, I97x). dition (New York: Columbia University Okakura, The Book of Tea. Ackroyd, Joyce, "Women in Feudal Japan." Press, 1958). Sadler, A. L., Cha-no-Yu: The Japanese Tea Cer­ Transactions of the Asiatic Society ofJapan, 3d Murasaki Shikibu, On the Art of the Novel. emony (Tokyo: Tuttle, 1962). series, 7 (1959)· Fujiwara no Teika, Introduction to the Guide to Varley, Paul and Kumakura Isao, eds., Tea inJa­ Bernstein, Gail Lee, cd., Recreating Japanese the Composition ofPoetry. pan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, Women, I600- I945 (Berkeley: University of Seami, On Attaining the Stage ofYugen; On the 1989). California Press, 1991). Om Mind Linking All Powers; The Nine Cabezon,Jose Ignacio, Buddhism, Sexuality and Stages of Noh in Order. Gender (Albany: SUNY Press). Chikamatsu, On Realism in Art. Novels with a Focus on the Arts Cherry, Kittredge, Womansword: What Japanese Basho, The Rustic Gate. Words Say about Women (Kodansha, 1987). Kyorai, Conversations with Basho. '" address the reception of Western aesthetics Lebra, Joyce, Joy Paulson and Elizabeth Pow­ Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, ers, eds., Women in Changing Japan (Palo trans. Ivan Morris (Penguin). Enchi, Fumiko, Masks, trans. Juliet Winters Alto: Stanford University Press, 1976). Zeami, On the Art ofthe No Drama: The Major Carpenter (New York: Random House, Lebra, Takie Sugiyama, Japanese Women: Con­ Treatises of Zeami, trans. Thomas Rimer & 1983)' straint and Fuifillment (Honolulu: Univer­ Yamazaki Masakazu (princeton: Princeton Ishikawa, Takuboku, &maji Diary and Sad sity of Hawaii Press). University Press, 1984). Toys.'" Lebra, Takie Sugiyama and William P. Lebra, Kawabata, Yasunari, Beauty and Sadness. Japanese Culture and Behavior: Selected Read­ ---, Snow Country. ings (Honolulu: University of Hawaii 20th Century Sources ---, The Sound of the Mountain. Press). ---, A Thousand Cranes. McClellan, Edwin, Woman in the Crested Ki­ Anderson, Richard L., "Japanese Aesthetics: Mishima, Yukio, The Temple of the Golden Pa­ mono: The Life of Shihue 10 and Her Family vilion.'" Drawn from Mori Ogaij 'Shihue Chusai,' An Exultation of Beauty and Bliss," In Calliope's Sisters: A Comparative Study of Soseki, Natsume, Three-Cornered World.'" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985). Philosophies ofArt (Prentice Hall, 1990). Tanizaki, Jun'ichiro, Some Preftr Nettles. Miller, Mara, "Canons and the Challenge of Anesaki Masaharu, Art, Life and Nature in Ja~ Gender," The Mon;,1 (1993). pan (Tokyo: Tuttle, 1973). Pharr, Susan J., Political Women in Japan: The Heine, Steven. A Blade of Grass:Japanese Poetry Gardens, Environment, Place Search Jor a Place in Political Lift (Berkeley: and Aesthetics in Dogen Zen (New York: University of California Press, 1981). Lang, 1988). Badiner, Allan Hunt, ed., Dharma Gaia:A Har­ Wakita Haruko. "Marriage and Property in Kawahara Yasunari, Japan the Beautiful and vest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology Premodern Japan From the Perspective of Myself (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1990). Women's History." Journal of Japanese Stud­ Philip, Leila, The Road Through Miyama (New Callicott,]. Baird and RogerT. Ames, cds., Na­ ies, 10 (1984). York: Random House, 1989). ture in Asian Traditions of Thought (Albany:

3 Most welcome is a section devoted to the identification and analysis of aesthetic qualities in everyday experience. The essays span a wide range, from John Dewey's classic characterization of REVIEW the dynamic, rhythmic and telic qualities of lived experience, to Janet McCracken's sober advice on the importance of structuring Kathleen M. Higgins, ed. Aesthetics in Perspective and arranging the elements of one's "domestic aesthetic," to Robert Harcourt Brace, 1996. ISBN 0-15-501452-8. C. Solomon's pungent proposal of an "inferiority theory" of humor. Their common theme seems to be that quiet, reflective, sensitive awareness of life's nearest and most humble experiences is essential Albert Hayward to both moral and aesthetic maturity. No comprehensive anthology can omit the classics in its field, and Higgins obliges by including selections from Plato, Aristotle, oe of the virtues which Kathleen Higgins claims for this rich Hume, Kant and Nietzsche in a section entitled "What Is Beauty Oand varied collection is the ample inclusion of material from and Where Has It Gone?" Most students however will find these outside the mainstream of academic aesthetics, or as she terms it, writings daunting if not inaccessible. Try, for example, explaining to "the high art tradition of the West." Indeed a brief perusal of the them the meaning of Michael Joyce's translation of Diotima's re­ contents of her recently published anthology will easily confirm mark that eros is the desire "to bring forth upon the beautiful, both this. In addition to nearly one hundred pages of readings on aes­ in body and in soul." thetic themes and issues from nine "000-Western" cultures (Afri­ Axthur Danto's "The Artworld," a classic by now, opens the can, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Islamic, Papuao, Aztec, Navaho, section on "What Is Art?" It is followed by Morris Weitz' plea that and indigenous Latin American), she has interspersed pieces from art is an open concept, and George Dickie's reply in which he lays popular and journalistic writings throughout the book's four main out the institutional theory. None of this grabs students as much as divisions. While the general category of aesthetics brings a certain Timothy Binkley's "Piece: Contra Aesthetics," in which he unity to this eight hundred page collection of over one hundred jauntingly declares that the work of art is the gesture which makes readings, one might say that the book's theme is to highlight the the piece. This seems to makes sense to them. Walter Benjamin's changes that the discipline has undergone in the latter half of the warning about the evils of mechanical reproduction however comes twentieth century. For the book is also a multidisciplinary reader, a far too late in the century to impress, and in "The Affecting Pres­ selection of feminist criticism, a primer on popular culture, a re­ ence" Robert Plant Armstrong trails off into abstractions about pository of classical texts, and a representative sample of the central works of art as nodes of feeling in the medium of culture. Though literature of analytic aesthetics. carefully crafted and interesting, students will snore through this With so many pieces in the volume it would be impossible to one. For more traditionally minded aestheticians there is Plato offer even the briefest comment on each. Instead I will remark on pressing the case against the artists, Edward Bullough and George the book's main divisions and identifY a few of the more interesting, Dickie on aesthetic experience, Roger Fry and Eduard Hanslick on challenging and even puzzling pieces, and how they were received formalism, and Langer, Collingwood, Bell and Hospers on expres­ by my students in a class just completed. sion. There is also Tolstoy and John Berger, and Milan Kunderis In its organization the book appears to offer something to every pointed little observation of why kitsch will never be art. interest. In addition to a multicultural component it contains useful Three of the book's most thought-provoking pieces emerge and accessible readings on movements and ideologies which chal­ from the milieu of analytic aesthetics and have important implica­ lenge traditional conceptions of aesthetics. For example, Jenene]. tions for our understanding of contemporary art and the role of art Allison's "Deconstruction and the Energizer Bunny Rabbit" engag­ in the contemporary world. Alexander Nehamas' "Plato and the ingly conveys in a few pages the central ideas and techniques of Mass Media" perceptively reveals similarities between Plato's at­ deconstruction. Leo Marx's fine essay "Huck at 100" is model of tacks on poetry and today's oft heard polemics against television. sensitivity and clear thinking, and is recommended to all who see History has misinterpreted Plato, Nehamas says, by reading him as racism and racial issues in the arts as simple and one-dimensional. condemning the fine arts when in fact his denunciations were di­ There is unevenness in the pieces concerned with sexism and gen­ rected against the popular arts which, very much like today's televi­ der issues. Linda Nochlin's investigation into the social and institu­ sion, have the "magic" to move and disturb people. Television, tional barriers to women's participation in the arts, "Why Axe Nehamas has the courage to say, is "literally an art which has not There No Great Women Artist's?," is a work of sound scholarship yet become art." On a related theme Liza Mundy's "The New Crit­ that deserves to be read by students in many disciplines. On the ics" urges perspective and caution toward the recent phenomenon other hand the point of Marla Lugones' "Playfulness, 'World'­ of campus censorship of art on grounds of "offensiveness." The Traveling, and Loving Perception" is never made clear~ It presents widening use of this all-purpose indictment is symptomatic, she itself as an attempt to articulate and account for the experience of suggests, of deeper cultural ills: career-oriented education, increas­ being an outsider (nonwhite, nonmale) in a culrure (the U.S.) where ing stratification of the economy, a powerful consumer mentality. If one's identity is typically measured by how far one departs from you want to rurn up the volume in the campus wars, try suggesting mainstream stereotypes. Yet the author is so intent on conveying that art should be provocative and unsettling and see how quickly the confusion and disconnectedness of her own experience that it is students will find your position "offensive." Finally, in "Understand­ difficult to recognize what she calls her "loving solution" to the ing Performance Art" Thomas Heyd explains how perhaps more problem ofbeing an outsider. than any of the other arts performance art has forced us to come to

4 ASA N EWSLETIER grips with the question What is Art? By its technique of blurring member the meaning of the word 'paradigm.'" the boundary between art and life, its use of powerful and ambiva­ Reflecting on Art is intended for undergraduates, and is greatly lent imagery, and its assumption of the role of being a public con­ enriched by Fisher's years of experience in teaching this course and science, performance art can be an important moral force as well as by his wide-ranging philosophical acuity in both the visual arts and an inoculation against elitism, stagnation and aestheticism. music. He takes a slightly different slant than other texts on aes­ Clearly this collection has a character of its own which will en­ thetics, adding topics sometimes left untouched, such as public dear it to some while testing the patience of others. Purists will im­ support for thG arts, art versus craft, and art and morality. Early mediately note that many of their favorite pieces have been exten­ philosophical questions such as "What is art?" are closely followed sively edited to accommodate them to the available space, or to by such practical inquiries as "Who should pay for it?" make them accessible to a mainly undergraduate audience. Instruc­ As Fisher states, this textbook "provides more than enough ma­ tors who must apportion the book's resources to their individual terial for a one-semester introduction to the philosophy of art." needs will appreciate the informative chapter introductions, serv­ There are eleven color plates and numerous black and white illus­ iceable glossary, useful index, and appendices listing the readings by trations, all chosen with a careful eye. Each chapter is fronted by an artistic medium and individual works or cases. Scholars will be illustration or photograph and a thought-provoking quote. For ex­ pleased with the attention paid to documentation, the editor having ample, chapter one begins with a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, thoughtfully identified sources, translators, dates and places of and below it is a photograph of a stone flooring in a museum with original publication, and preserved important footnotes. The half various squares 'missing: These are captioned: "Mona Lisa (ca. dozen or so discussion questions at the end of each chapter are no­ [503-[505) by Leonardo da Vinci, and Cuts ('967) by Carl Andre. ticeably general and open-ended, and tend to invite personal as­ So many kinds of things are considered art that thinkers have sessment or opinionated response. As such they can only be used, voiced frustration at what R.A. Sharpe terms 'the apparent impen­ as perhaps they were meant to be used, as points of departure or etrability of a concept of "art" that embraces both the Mona Lisa discussion starters, and not as exam questions or homework assign­ and piles of bricks.'" ments. The fifteen-page bibliography of Western aesthetics con­ Reflecting on Art is divided into three large sections, and in the tains standard fare, favoring complete texts over journal articles, first of these, "Why Philosophy of Art?," Fisher treats issues of and featuring what to many are the core texts of the discipline of public funding, aesthetic value, moral content, and the avant-garde. aesthetics as it is taught in American universities. More interesting Thus readings in Danto ("De Kooning's Three-Seater") and Dickie is the five-page bibliography of non-Western aesthetics which may ("Defining Art") appear before the discussions of mimetic theory, help aestheticians to locate and gather materials which might oth­ formalism, and expression theory, which are grouped in part three. erwise be omitted from their courses. (I take the liberty here of Undergraduates will enjoy his initial plunge into some of the most mentioning one charming and useful omission however, Yi-Fu unusual and 'problematic' examples of art in the world, and perhaps TU2D's Passing Strang' and Wrmdnfol (Kodansha, [995), wtllch wi th will be more appreciative of the role of the aesthetic theories to fol­ ddicacy and insight explores the development and imporrance of low. The illustrations are quite well-chosen and compelling. I gath­ aesthetic experience in four different cultures: Australian Aborigi­ ered a small group of music students, and showed them the photo­ nal, classical Chinese, medieval European, and modern American.) graph of the performance artist Stelarc hanging naked over a street, In all, Aesthetics in Perspective is a most welcome expansion of the suspended by eighteen fishhooks through his flesh. A sample of resources available in our under-appreciated discipline, and we are their reactions: "the shock value makes it art," "that's disgusting," indebted to Kathleen Higgins for making it possible. rl3 "well, I guess he's expressing himself," and finally one student who said he couldn't judge because he was looking at a reproduction in a Southeast Missouri State University book of a photograph of the event and not the event itself. (I am [email protected] discounting one response of "man, that guy was on big drugs!") The text itself is also set in an eye-catching fashion. In each chapter, as sidebars literally cut into the text, there are engaging quotes from such diverse individuals as Sir Edward Elgar, Nelson Goodman, Piet Mondrian, John Cage, atld Woody Allen. Two REVIEW samples. first from Richard Taruskin: "Modern musicians-coin­ posers, scholars and performers of every stripe-are essentially for­ John Andrew Fisher, Reflecting on Art malists at heart. And so are modern listeners" and from Marcel Mayfield, [993, 428 pp., 27 ill., [[ in color. ISBN 0-87484-821-0 Duchamp: "The fact that [Ready-Mades) are regarded with the same reverence as objects of art probably means I have failed to solve the problem of trying to do away entirely with art." All of Jennifer Judkins these could serve as excellent jumping-off points for classroom dis­ CUSSIon. The readings that are sprinkled at the end of each chapter have ne of our graduate assistants in conducting here at UCLA enough length to give a good sense of their originals, and are se­ Ograbbed this book off my desk and said "John Fisher' I had a lected for both importance and appeal. For example, chapter four class called 'Philosophy and the AIts' with him when I was a fresh­ explores art and morality, and the readings are from Plato (The Re­ man at Boulder. It was one of the most important classes I've ever public), Laace Morrow ("The Poetic License to Kill"), Oscar Wilde taken. Pe! iod. A perfect beginning to college. And I'll always re- (Preface from The Picture oj Dorian Gray), and William H. Gass

5 ("Goodness Knows Nothing of Beauty: On completing her term as President at the conclu­ the Distance Between Morality and Art"). sion of the present year and a cordial welcome to In outlining expression theory in chapter Ted Cohen who w ill assume the presidency in eleven, Fisher includes readings from Leo the coming year. Tolstoy (What is Art?), R.G. Collingwood Aesthetics To all our colleagues who provide leadership (from The Principles ofArt), Meyer Schapiro News and service, a heartfelt thanks. ("The Apples of Cezanne"), and Jerrold Cu rtis L. Carter Levinson ("Music and Negative Emotion"). Message from the Secretary-Treasurer Throughout, topics which are not always well represented in textbooks on the arts, It did not take long in my new role of Secretary Derby MA in Aesthetics and Politics such as environmental art, music, and Treasurer of the ASA to appreciate the superb drama, are defdy engaged. For example, quality of volunteers who function in so many This is a new programme, at the University of Fisher offers the example ofJ.S. Bach's later, capacities to make the Soc iety a vital organiza­ Derby concerned with the reappra isal of aesthet­ more abstract works such as theArt afFugue tion. Foremost in mind is the work of my pred­ ics, through the study of the interaction of the in his discussion of musical formalism. He eCeKr Roger Sh iner who has dutifully aesthetic and the political in European history. asks: what did Bach's contemporaries think responded to literally hundreds of queries that The aesthetic is considered as both rooted in, made possible a smooth transition of the Na­ of this piece, which is non-representational and as an active e!ement of, social history, with a tional Office from the University of Alberta to focus on the question of value and its socia! and and non-religious? He speculates that they Marquette University. After eight years of diligent political dimensions. The programme examines found it puzzling, because "no doctrine of service, Roger remains willing to assist in every aesthetic thought critically from this perspective, the arts that locates the very nature and way. using appropriate examples from visual and liter­ meaning of artworks in form had been put Program chair Danny Herwitz and his col­ ary culture. forth." He adds that the first appearance of leagues on the 1996 program committee have The programme is organised around a these formalist doctrines authorized artists created a program that promises substance and number of key moments in the history of aes­ (first in music, then in the other arts) to cre­ the opportunity for spirited interdisciplinary dis­ thetics, moments not only of changes in theory ate purely nonrepresentational works. It course. Those attending the Annual Meeting in but also of social importance. These case studies wasn't that form hadn't previously been a Montreal this October will witness the unveiling make possible the close examination of the prominent concern, Fisher asserts. "What of Komar and Melamid's commissioned painting shape and functioning of the aesthetic in par­ which provides a visual rendering of the aes­ was new was the explicit idea that form is ticular circumstances. They consi st of two core thetic preferences of ASA members, as re vealed areas: Critical Theory, and German Idealism and what art is about." in a survey organized by Michael Kelly. Artist Romanticism;and a range of options in the areas Reflecting on Art offers a thoughtful Mark Tansey contributed funds to sp::>nsor the of: Classical Greece, Eighteenth century Britain: overview of art philosophy, brimming with project. Among the highlights of the conference aesthetiCS, science and politiCS, Nietzsche and the illustrations and readings, giving aesthetic will be keynote lectures by art historian T. J. Clark postmodern sublime, Histories and theories of pleasure itself in its design and 'feel; beyond and ASA president Marcia Eaton. We welcome art, Weimar aesthetics and the critique of myth, its enticing cover. I have one small objection the presence of the Canadian Society for Aes­ Post war Britain: aesthetics, institutions, markets. regarding the ordering of materials in the thetics, whose president Viaor Yelverson Haines, There are also independent study modules in­ book, and this may have been out of Fisher's se rves as local arrangements chair for the Mon­ volVing research projects. The programme has control: the footnotes for the text in each treal meetings. both full time (one year) and part time (sixteen chapter are placed after the rather substan­ The quiet but efficient efforts of Phil Alperson, months, two years or more) routes. Part time editor of the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criti­ routes can begin in September or in January tial readings, making for a great deal of page cism, backed by book review editor Ron Moore, a {with a minimum period of sixteen months.} turning for references. This quibble aside, strong editorial board and the profeSSional staff For further details: Stanley Mitchell, Depart­ Fisher offers stimulating materials and a of the University of Wisconsin Press, continues to ment of Hi storical am Theoretical Studies, strong academic content in a very exciting produce for the ASA the leading scholarly journal School of Art and Design, University ofDerbY,Bri­ introductory text. Ei in the field. Members will be pleased to know tannia Mill, Mackworth Road, Derby UK DE22 3BL; that the JMC continues to gain subscriptions as phone (1332) 622216; email UCLA other scholarly journals experience significant G.Pea ker@de rby.ac.uk [email protected] declines. Relatively new to the field is the Aesthetics On­ Line web site and the aesthetics email list main­ library of Congress Cards tained by Oom Lopes, w ho w ith Sa rah Fowler, also serves as editor of this Newsletter. These ef­ library of Congress users are now required to forts and those of previous members who have a Reader Registration Card. Cards can be helped develop the ASl\s internet communica­ obtained in room G22 of the Thomas Jefferson tions have placed the Society in the forefront of Building. For information call (202) 707-7400. such endeavors. These efforts require enormous amounts of time and provide a vital service to ASA members and friends. Not the least are the services of ASA Board and committee members who steer the course of the Society from behind the scenes. It is fitting to of­ fer particular thanks to Marcia Eaton who will be

6 ASA N EWSLE"ITER Art in Victorian England.-In ·Florence and the American icons.These photos and his comments Development of Howells'Contextual Aesthetics,· will be published as a book in the near future. John Samson, English, Texas Tech University, held On Sunday morning the Seventh Session, with that William Dean Howells should be recognized two concurrent panels, began with "The Analogy Conference as a pioneer in contextual aesthetics. Between Food and Art: Tolstoy and Eaton,· pre­ In the second panel Patricia Ross, English, New sented by Spencer K. Wertz, Philosophy, Texas Reports York University,in her paper,MReconciling the Bro­ Christian University, in which he defended ken World: 'The Magic of Contradictions' and Tolstoy'S analogy against the criticism of Marcia 1996 Rocky Mountain Division Meeting Willa Cather's A lost lady," illustrated the use of Eaton, who was present. Jeffrey A. Bell, History art in creating both personal and metaphysical and Government, Southeastern Louisiana Uni­ The Rocky Mountain Division of the American reconciliations. Eileen John, Philosophy, Univer­ versity, argued most convincingly in "Nietzsche, Society for Aesthetics conducted its annual sity of Louisville, contended in her paper, ·'You'll Music, and the Transcendental Deduction" that meeting July 12-14 at St.John's College,Santa Fe, Always Want Nothing:' Conceptual Investigation the key to understanding the unity of Nietzsche's New Mexico. in Literary Experience,·that the search for mean­ thought is his use and appreciation of musi c. The First Sess ion featured three philosophers ing in art is self-limiting. Edward Sankowski, Phi­ Donald Driscoll, Philosophy, University of South­ and began with Christine P.Watling, University of losophy, University of Oklahoma, revealed in ern Colorado,claimed in MSublime Boredom"that Alberta, who argued in her paper/Art and Neuro­ -Autonomy, Blame, Fiction, and Emotion,· the ex­ for Schopenhauer, who should have been a Zen sCience: Evidence for Art's Cognitive Role.. that tent to w hich literature can supplement moral Buddhist, boredom would be worse than extinc­ aesthetic experience not only colors what we philosophy in clarifying concepts of freedom and tion. know, but may be necessary for knowing at all. responsibility. In the second panel, which focused on west­ Don Roberts, University d Waterloo, followed The Fifth SeSSion, "Desert Place and Land­ ern American literature and is reported by \.'v1th "Beauty, Like Certain Other Figments, Is scape/ reported by Tina Watling, was initiated by Reuben Ellis, George Moore, Sewall Academic More than Skin Deep,~ in which he contended, Bob J. Frye, English, Texas Ch dstian University, Program, University of Colorado at Boulder, dis­ following Peirce, that constructs of the imagi na~ who used excerpts from Richard Shelton's Going cussed the study of western American literature tion may be more real than sense data. Manuel M. Back to Bisbee and John Graves'Goodbye to a River as an arena for debate concerning identity poli­ Davenport, Texas A&M, concluded with "Art vs. to convey the importance of the word in sum­ tics and intercultural poetics as it confronts us Morality/·which explored the paradox that what moning up for the reader a sense of place. Allen with "A Thousand Frontiers:The Dialogic Model is aesthetically good serves what is morally good Carlson, Philosophy, University of Alberta, in of Culturallnteraction.* Robin Jones, English, Uni­ much better than the moral se rves the aesthetic. ~ Hillerman's Landscapes,· while arguing that a versity of Colorado at Boulder, in her paper, ·The John Haddox, Philosophy, University ofTexas at place has aesthetic value in its own right, rejected Potential of Borders: Sandra Cisneros' Woman EI Paso, began the Second Session with NJose the notion that a landscape has aesthetic impor­ Hollering Creek, "focused on the concept of"bor­ Vasconcelos and Aesthetic Education: an ac­ tance merely because of significant events or derlands/ comparing it with Chela Sandoval's count of the conflict in Mexico between aes­ persons associated with it. Pursuing a related no­ notion of ·differential consciousness· which me­ thetic intuition and the tyranny of positivism. tion, Marcia Eaton, in "Fact and Fiction in the Ap­ diates tensions between ethnic and gender Charles Johnson, Philosophy, Utah State Univer­ preciation of Forests," claimed that uninformed identity. In MThe Handiwork of landscape: Repre­ sity, in *Aesthetic Perception: Aspect Recognition and sentimental notions of forest creatures, for senting the Anasazi in Western Nature Writing,­ and the Language of Criticism: suggested that example, Bambi, can lead to uninformed and of­ Reuben Ellis, English, Hope College, examined the psychology of perception provides an unsus­ ten harmful efforts to ·save- the environment. and questioned the common representation of pected link between criticism and aesthetic ap­ In a sepa rate panel, Alastair Beattie, Foreign the Anasazi as inseparable from their-cliff Dwell­ preciation. Robert Warden, Architecture, Texas Language and literature, University of the Andes, ing"landscape. A&M University, speculated h MKierkegaard, concluded with "The Aesthetics of Physical and At the annual business meeting, Reuben Ellis Hegel, and Peirce: A Triadic Dialogue of Art* that Metaphysical Dimension,·which expressed most ended his three-year term as president and was Peirce's "Thirdness* is a higher synthesis of the clearly what was an underlying theme of the succeeded by Manuel M. Davenport. George Hegelian dialectic and Kierkegaard's "Either/Or." conference: the phenomenal and the noumenal Moore was elected to serve as the new vice In the Keynote Session, Arnold Krupat, English, are united by the aesthetic. president and Don Driscoll agreed to continue as Sarah Lawrence College, presented -American Saturday afternoon was devoted to the -Art­ secretary/treasurer. A unanimous expression of Hi stories: based on the thesis that the history of ists at Work" session. Pam Chadick, who directs gratitude was made for Reuben Ellis's excellent North America from the perspective of the Na­ the studio art work at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and gracious service and for his making each tive American Indians is no less accurate and true described and provided examples of ·Intersects: conference better than the la st. Speaking of this than the history of North America viewed from Where line and Letter Meet.· She and James year's Marcia Eaton quoted that famous artist, the perspective of the European conquerors and Morrison, a w riter from Colorado Springs who Mae Wesetoo much of a good thing is wonder­ settlers. was not present, have been working together to ful'" On the following day, the Fourth Session fea­ integrate his prose and poetry with her ink draw­ tured two concurrent panels, ·Context and Im­ ings in order to create contemporary versions of Manuel M. Davenport age"'and -Na rrative Registers.-The former began illuminated manuscripts. Their results, however, [email protected] with a paper, NThe Naturalist and the Gardener: are neither luminous nor mystical but are dark, Two Ways of Imitating in Art: by Ira Newman, earthy, and only lightly touched by a dry humor. Philosophy, Mansfield University, in which he ex­ The second artist, Bruce Hucko, a photogra­ amined Aristotelian and other concepts of imita­ pher from Santa Fe, in his presentation, ·Where tion by means of the metaphors stated in the There Is No Name:The Art ofTewa Pueblo Chil­ title. Michael' Manson, English, University College dren,· exhibited photos of art work created un­ of Cape Breton, by using Tennyson's work re­ der hs "coaching" by Indian children of vealed how the belief that poetry was woman's elementary school age which are remarkable for work was overcome by ·The (R)emasculation of their integration of Tewa symbols and Anglo-

7 r

Humanities Research Web Sites

The Su rvey of Humanities Computer-Based Teaching Aesthetics Projeds web site is a searchable database of on­ New on line projects in the UK, maintained by the Office Callfor Submissions for Humanities Communications, supported by the Net the British Library Research and Development The Newsletter invites papers and other Department. materials that address the teaching of Aesthetics Ideas http} Iinfo.ox.ac.u k/cti text!survey/index. h tm I. aesthetics, art theory and art criticism. The Arts & Humanities Data Service is a new Also invited are submissions to the A new section has been added to Aesthetics On­ project of the UK's Higher Education Funding Teaching Aesthetics section of Aes­ line, the official web site of the ASA. NAesthet ics Councils and will coordinate access to eledronic Ideas· contains electronic versions of longer arti­ resources in the arts and humanities. Services thetics On-Line. cles first printed in this Newsletter. Now available now on-line include the Archaeological Data ar­ are pieces by James 0. Young, Crispin Sartwell chive, the Historical Data Unit, and the Oxford pedagogical essays and Denis Dutton. In addition, MAesthetics Ideas· Text Archive. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/projeds/ .:. is also accepting preprints of articles in aesthet­ ahds/top.html syllabi ics, art theory and the criticism of the arts. Sub­ .:. missions of conference-length (ten to twelve case studies page) papers are invited. For information contact CSA Electronic Journal the Newsletter editor. The Canadian Society for Aesthetics now main­ reading lists and bibliographies tains a journal in electronic format on the world .:. Artcrit Email list wide web. The electronic format anticipates a discussions of individual artworks journal with recorded music, films, and images The listserver address for the arterit email list has and is fl exible enough at present to meet the book, film and exhibition r",,;ews cha nged. To subscribe, send an email to publishing demands of a rapidly changing and [email protected] with the message: exciting field of inquiry.The journal now includes subscribe arterit papers by Arthur Danto, Joseph Margolis and followed by your name (e.g. ·subscribe arteri! others. hnp}/tornade.ere.umontreal.ca:801 Vasari1. -guedon/AE/ ae.html. will include lectures 1:1) Jonathan Bate and Law­ rence BuelLPossib'e memes ·nclude nature writ­ The Film Studies Site ing,. ecofemin~ and I" erature, ecological imperiallSffl arc cok>n&a :he country and the This is a web site devoted to critiCism, theory, and Callsfor 01) pIacir

8 ASA NEWSLETTER North Texas, Department of English, Box 13827, Denton TX 76203;[email protected];fax(817) 565-4355. Annual Meeting Deadline September 30, 1996. American Society for Aesthetics Marginal RegionslTextual Margins International Associatio n for Philosophy and Literature October r6- r9, Montreal, Canada May 6-10,1997, Mobile, Alabama The annual meeting of the International Associa­ tion for Philosophy and Literature will be held at OU are cordially invited to participate in the 54th Annual Meeting of the ASA. the University of South Alabama in May 1997. YThe meeting, held jointly with the Canadian Society for Aesthetics, will take place Submissions are invited on the theme Margina October 16- 19 at the Hotel du Pare in downtown Montreal, which offers a view of Reg ionsrrextual Margins. For information con­ Mount Royal. taa [email protected]. The program begins with a reception and exhibition at the Centre International Deadline: October 1,1996. d'Art Contemporain de Montreal, feanuing the commissioned painting by Komar & Melamid reflecting ASA members' tastes as revealed in a su rvey organized by Michael The Style Conference Kelly. July 25-28, 1997, 80wling Green,Ohio Other highlights of the meeting include a special session featuring art historian T.J. Clark Cat the Musee des Beaux Arts de Montreal), and the presidential address by This conference will assemble people working Marcia Eaton. A richly textured program representative of historical and contempo­ feminist and cultural studies, postmodernist a"lC rary issues in aesthetics, many of which are interdisciplinary in character, has been or­ queer theory, design, media, and other flclds ganized by program chair Daniel Herwitz and the Program Committee. Victor discuss the new scholarship on style. ,''we hope --­ Yelverton Haines, president of the CSA, is responsible for local arrangements. provide a unique interdisciplinary forum -ha~ The city of Montreal offers a wide range of aesthetic delights: more than twenty also incorporate the major critiques of -r-.a: Our notion of style is pro mar txx:i cr<: pe"i;JF­ museums, the Canadian Center for Architecture, proximity to the beauties of nature, mative. but we irMte considerar on o ~ a ~.a- fine gourmet restaurants, and interesting streets on which to stroll and explore the old and new elements of this cosmopolitan urban space. Exhibitions featuring Rene Magritte, landscape artist Frederick Law Olmstead, and me Art of Fashion will be available during our stay. A tour of the Canadian Center for Archit= . - be offered to meeting attendees on Sunday morning. We encourage you to invite colleagues and friends to attend the AnnuallYleeting styles, a:::p

How to Register Eastern Division Meeting March 20-22, 1997, Worcester. Massachusetts Download a registration form from the Aesthetics On-Line web site or send an email to the ASA N ationa! Office with your name, address and a credit card number (but be The 1997 meeting of the ASA Eastern di ISO" warned that email isnotalwaysprivate)[email protected]. will be held at Holy Cross University in Worc~ Massachusetts. Papers are requested in all a~eas of aesthetics, especially papers relating to inter~e­ Travel Grants lations and dialogue between continental, ana­ lytiC and post-analytic approaches, and the intersections between art and politics. We a'? Travel grants are available from the ASA for students under two programs-one for also interested in organizing a session on teach­ those presenting papers at the meeting and one for those not presenting. Funds are also ing introductory aesthetics. Pape rs should be ten available to defray the travel expenses of scholars from economically disadvantaged to twelve pages, take no longer than twenty min­ countries. For further information contact the National Office. utes to read, and be prepared for blind revielt. Don Keefer, Division of liberal Art s, RISD, 2 Col­ lege Street. Providence RI 02903; phone (40 1) 454-6263; fax (401) 454-6320; [email protected] u. For schedules, hotel information and updates check Aesthetics On-line Deadline: December 12,1996. http://www,indiana,edu/-asanl

9 ASA Pacific Division proposals will be accepted. Donald Driscoll, Phi­ Time and Memory April 2- 4, 1997, Pacific Grove, California losophy Department, University of Southern Australasian Society for Contine ntal Ph ilosophy Colorado, Pueblo CO 81001; phone (719) 549- September 27-29, 1996, Melbourne The Pacific Division of the American Society for 2800; fax (719) 549-2800. Aesthetics will hold its annual meeting at the Deadline: March 5,1997 An interdisciplinary conference concerning time, Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove. Pa ­ its passage and preservation also incorporating a pers on any topic in any area of aesthetics are in ­ special symposium devoted to the w orks of vited. Especially welcome would be papers on Critical Voices in Art, Culture and Critical Gilles De leuze. Gues t speakers will include Keith recent and current developments and trends in Theory Ansell-Pearson, Constantin Boundas, Philip culture, the arts, and aesthetic theory. Papers Goodchild, Elizabeth Grosz, and Brian Massumi. should fun ten to twelve pages, take no longer Th is new series, published by Gordon and Breach ASCP,Centre for Comparative literature and Cul­ than twenty minutes reading time, be prepared Art International and distributed in Europe by tural Studies, Monash University, Clayton 3168 for blind review, and be accompanied by a 100- Thames and Hudson, will form a library of texts Victoria Austra lia; email word abstract. Joel Rudinow, Department of Phi­ which address the issues and changing views gj [email protected]. losophy, Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati that mark the transition from modernist to post­ Ave., Rohnert Park CA 94928; phone (707)664- modernist thought. Five or six titles will be pub­ 2277; [email protected] . lished each year.Each volume will contain a short Quality & Creativity Deadline:December 15,1996. introduction,dealing with the importance of the Teaching and Learning in Arts and Humanities authors and the issues raised, followed by seven October 12, 1996, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK to ten essays by artists, critics or theorists, and The Orchestration ofthe Arts closing with a ten to fifteen thousand word criti­ This conference brings together research ers and Society of Phenomenology, Aesthetics and the Fine Arts cal 'afterword' by a respondent. Saul Ostrow, Art educators interested in the fields of teaching and April 18-19, 1997, Cambridge, Massachusetts Editor, Bomb Magazine and General Editor for learn ing in arts and humanities higher education. Critical Voices; email [email protected]. The day will start with a keynote address by Submissions are welcome that address the corre­ Lewis Elton on NR esearch and Teaching: Symbio­ spondence of the arts, especially those in which sis or ConflictrThemes will include:research and creative synergies enhance life. Subject could in­ teaching, teaching assessments, innovation & clude,but are not limited tO,literature and music, crea tivity in the curriculum, and technology for from text to performance, poetry and dance, the Upcoming the arts and humanities. Carol Rowland, Institute vi sua l arts,stage design, architecture and human of Educaronal Technology, Open University, nature, performance, photography and fi lm. Events Walton Hall, Milton Keynes UK MK7 6AA; phone Marlies Kronegger, Michigan State University, (1908) 652870;email [email protected]. DHB 313, East Lansing M148824; fax (517) 432- Media Ethics: Privacy, Public Interest and 3844;email [email protected]. Censorship Deadline: February 1, 1997. September 20-21, 1996, University of leeds Philosophy of literature/Film Association The Centre for Business and Professional Ethics is November 7- 9, 1996, Towson State University Henry James and Philosophy holding a conference at the University of Leeds to bring academics and media profeSSionals to­ For information: James M. Wel sh, Literature/Film Submissions are invited for the Henry James Re­ gether to discuss impartiality and problems of Quarterly,Salisbury State University,Salisbury MD viewforum,James and Philosophy, scheduled for media bias, rights of privacy and the public i nter ~ 21801. publication in the fall of 1997.This forum will take est, motives and journalistic integrity, media sen ~ up what has proved to be the enduring critical sationalism and ha rm,and censorship,regulation temptation to connect Henry James's writing to and freedom of expression in a liberal society.The Sibley and After philosophy. It will include contributions by both conference is aimed at people interested in ap­ April 3- 6, 1997, Amblesid e, En gland literary critics and philosophers and address, im­ plied ethics, social affairs, media and communica­ plicitly and explicitly, the challenges of interdisci­ tion studies and those practically involved in The Lancaster University Philosophy Depart­ plinary discussion. Submissions may address any media policy,journalism or working with the me­ ment, with the su pport of the British Society of aspect 'of the tope "James and Philosophy." dia. Aesthetics, the Mind Association and the Analysis Susan M. Griffin,Henry James Review, Depart­ Conference speakers include Brian Appleyard, Committee, will hold a conference in honour of ment of English, University of Louisville, Louisville David Archard, Martin Bell, Gordon Graham, Tony Frank Sibley's work in aesthetics. 'Sibley and Aher' KY 40292; email [email protected]. Hall, Matthew Kieran, David Marsh, Mary Midgley, will take place in Ambleside, in the English Lake Deadline for proposals:March 1,1997. Greg Philo, Peter Preston, Judith Stamper, Lord District. Speakers include: John Benson, Ted Wakeham, Nigel Warburton and Baroness Mary Cohen,Terry Diffey,Cheryl Foster,Peter Lamarque, Warnock. Jerrold Levinson, Karlheinz Ludeking, Colin Lyas, ASA Rocky Mountain Division Cornelia Shirley, School of Continuing Educa­ Nick Mc Adoo and Nick Zangwill. Emily Brady, Phi­ July 11-13, 1997,Sa nta Fe, New Mexico tion, Continuing Education Building, Springfield losophy Department, Furness College, Lancaster Mount, Leeds UK LS2 9NG;phone (113) 233 3233; University, Lancaster UK LA 1 4YG; phone (1524) The Division invites critical papers from all fields fax (113) 233 3240. '!llII) fax (1524) 65201; email on any topic pertaining to the history or applica­ [email protected]. tion of aesthetic understanding, including pursu­ ing interdisciplinary or intercultural approaches " or emphasizing the natural or cultural cha racter r of the American Southwest. Papers and detailed

10 ASA N EWSLETTER Art: Representation and Expression RICHARD ELDRIDGE, Swarthmore College, is edi­ JOEL RUDINOW, Sonoma State University, has A Mini-Confe rence in Honour of Richard Wollheim tor of an anthology, Beyond Representation: Phi­ been awarded a major grant from the California May 1-2 1997, Ut recht University, Netherlands losophy and Poetic Imagination, published in State University Cha ncellor's Academic Opportu­ April by Cambridge University Press. It contains, nities Fund to develop an internet-based course No adequate theory of our understanding of art among other things, essays by ASA members on MEthics and Value Theory in the Information can do without speCifying the conceptual rela­ STANLEY BATES, ARTHUR DANTO, and MICHAEL Age." tions between artistic representation and artistic FISCHER. expression. Richard Wollheim has devoted much KENDALL WALTON's work was the topic of a of his publications to these subjects. Two of his SUSAN FEAGIN's book Reading wirh Feeling: The panel at the annual meeting of the American theses sta nd out as highly imeresting.The first re­ Aesthetics of Appreciation was published in June Musicological Society in New York City, Novem­ gards the twofold nature of artistic representa­ by Cornell University Press. ber 1995. Speakers included MITCHELL GREEN, tions, i.e., the idea that representing a subject MARION A. GUCK, FRED EVERED MAUS and matter is done through artistic presentation, LAUREN FR IESEN has edited a collection entitled ANTHONY NEWCOMB. through manipulation of artistic material. When Theatre and Religion 2, published by the Associa ­ we recognize a representation's subject matter tion for Theatre in Higher Education.lncluded are JAMES O. YOUNG has published "Inquiry in the we see it in its material orderings. The second essays on theatre and rel igion in Germany, Aus­ Arts and Sciences/ in Philosophy. This article ex­ thesis relates to expression as understood in tralia, Japan, Thailand, England, medieval France plores the differing ways in which the arts and terms of projections on behalf of the beholder. It and the ancient world. sciences contribute to our knowledge. is this projective mechanism which explains why in the aesthetic domain the principle of ac­ RICHARD HENRY's book Prerending and Meaning: quaintance holds, and why we must be Toward a Pragmatic Theory of Fictional Discourse subjectivists regarding aesthetic evaluation. has been published by Greenwood Press. The One problem, however, has been addressed in­ book discusses pretence and meaning, how the Grants & suffiCiently. What is the exact relation between two inform each other, and how it is PJssible to these two processes: between the twofold ness mean seriously and sincerely by purportedly pre­ Fellowships of representation on the one hand, and the pro­ tended acts. jeaive nature of expression on the other? This American Antiquarian Society conference will addresses this problem by KATHLEEN HIGGINS participated in an NEH Sum­ Fellowships fo r Resea rc h by Art ists focussing on Richard Wollheim's Painting as an mer Institute on Chinese Philosophy at St. Mary's Art, ~Seeing-as, Seeing-in, and Pictorial Represen­ College in Maryland. The American Antiquarian Society is accepting tation,ff sections 15 through 19 of Art and its Ob­ applications for fellowships for historical research jects, and ·Correspondence, Projeaive Properties, JENNIFER JUDKINS received the Pauline Turrill by creative and performing artists. The fellow­ and Expression in the Arts: Music Award from UCLA's chapter of Ph i Beta ships may support research projects on virtually Rob van Gerwen, Department of Philosophy, Kappa, for her research proposal titled ·Heeding any subject within the general area of American Utrecht University, PO Box BO.126, 3500 TC the Score: The Demise of Extemporization in the history and culture before 1877. The end prod­ Utrecht Netherlands; phone (30) 2532087; fax Nineteenth-Century Orchestra." ucts of research developed under these fellow­ (30) 2532816; email [email protected] ships include, but are not limited to: historical DONALD KEEFER's garden, created with his wife novels; documentary films and television pro­ Toby Aye rs was one of six regional winners of the grams; rad io broadcasts; nonfiction works of his­ Flower and Garden contest for 1996 and was fea­ tory for genera l audiences of adults or children; tured on the magazine's cover in June. plays, libretti or scree n plays; magazine or news­ A ctive paper articles;costume or set deSigns for theatri­ DOMINIC LOPES presented a paper entitled "Pic­ cal productions, films, and television programs; A estheticians torial Realism: Just a Matter of Rhetorlcr at a book illustration and other graphic arts including panel on Realism and Rhetoric in Pictorial Repre­ book deSign; performance of historical music or MARK STAFF BRANDL's drawings and prints were sentation at the 1997 meeting of the American drama; and scu lpture, painting, drawings, and exhibited in June at the Kaj Forsblom Gallery in Psychological Association. His collection of prov­ other works of fine art. Zurich. erbs from South Asia, A Handful of Grams: Goon John B. Hence, American Antiqua rian Society, Proverbs, which he co-edited with damian lopes, 185 Sal isbury Street,Worcester MA 01609-1634; ELLEN J BURNS has completed her dissertation has been published by Caju Press in Toronto. phone (508) 752-5813. on the dialectical structure of Mozart's Die . Deadline:October 7, 1996. Zauberfloere and has articles scheduled for publi­ MARA MILLER has been awarded a two-year cation entitled ·Opera as Heard: A Libretto Edi­ Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Emory Univer­ tion for Phe nomenological Study,· MAn sity to complete a book on images of women in Columbia Society of Fellows En lightened World on the Stage ofWA Moza rt's 18th century Japanese prints and their implica­ Magic Flu te,~ and ·When 1+1=1: An Intera rt istic tions for feminist theory. The Columbia Soci ety of Fel lows in the Humani­ Aesthetic for Opera. « ties will appoint a nu mber of postdoctorial fel­ DAVID MORGAN, Department of Art, Valparaiso lows in 1997- 98. Applicants must have received MARCIA EATON gave a talk on "Fact and Fiction University, has been awarded a Getty Fellowship the Ph.D. between 1991 and 1997.The fellowship in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Forests·at a con­ in the History of Art and the Humanities for is renewable for a second year and includes ference on The AesthetiCS of the Forest in Lusto, 1996-97 to complete his research for a book on some teaching. Society of Fellows in the Humani­ Finland, in June. 19th and 20th century mass-produced religious ties, MC 5700, Colu mbia University, 2960 Broad­ images in the United States. way, New York NY 10027. Dead li ne:October 15, 1996.

II American Society for Aesthetics BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE 404 C udahy Hall PAID Marquette University Columbus OH Milwaukee WI 53201-1881 PERMIT No. 1213

Getty Fellowships in Art Education OTHER NEWSLETTERS ASA NEWSLETIER Up to eight fellowships will be awarded to stu­ International Newsletter of Aesthetics EDITED BY dents for the final research and writing stages of Ales Erjavec Dominic Lopes & Sarah Fowler their doctoral studies. The program supports Gosposka 13 candidates whose proposals explore the theory 61000 Ljubljana Slovenia ISSN 1OB9- 1668 and the practice of discipline ~ba sed art educa­ fax 386-61 -12-55-253 tion or issues that have significant potential to The Newsletter is published three times a year by contribute to its further evolution. Applicants British Society of AesthetiCS Newsletter the American Society for Aesthetics. Subscrip­ must be enrolled at an accredited university in Richard Woodfield tions are available to non-members at a cost of the United States or Canada and have a disserta~ Nottingham Trent University $15 per year plus postage. For subscription and tion proposal approved by their doctoral com­ Nottingham UK NG 1 4BU membership information: ASA, 404 Cud ahy Hall, mittee. Marquette University, Milwaukee WI 53201- 1881; Ms Elizabeth A. Paul, Getty Center for Educa­ phone (414) 288-7831; fax (414) 288-7889; email tion in the Art s, 401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 950, Santa asastca [email protected]. Monica CA 90401 -1455; email [email protected]. Deadline: November 1,1995. Calls for papers, upcoming events, conference re­ ports, letters. and other items of interest to ASA members are welcome. Submissions on disk or via email are preferred.5end to:

Dominic Lopes Indiana University Kokomo Kokomo IN 46904 -9003

fax ( 317) 455 -9528 [email protected]

( Deadlines. November 1,April 15,August 1