Sensational modernism:, experimental fiction and photography in thirties America
Type
Label
Sensational modernism:, experimental fiction and photography in thirties America
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Sensational modernism:
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Series statement
Cultural studies of the United States
Sub title
experimental fiction and photography in thirties America
Summary
Challenging the conventional wisdom that the 1930s were dominated by literary and photographic realism, Sensational Modernism uncovers a rich vein of experimental work by politically progressive artists. Examining images by photographers such as Weegee and Aaron Siskind and fiction by writers such as William Carlos Williams, Richard Wright, Tillie Olsen, and Pietro di Donato, Joseph Entin argues that these artists drew attention to the country's most vulnerable residents by using what he calls an "aesthetic of astonishment," focused on startling, graphic images of pain, injury, and prejudice. Traditional portrayals of the poor depicted stoic, passive figures of sentimental suffering or degraded but potentially threatening figures in need of supervision. Sensational modernists sought to shock middle-class audiences into new ways of seeing the nation's impoverished and outcast populations. The striking images these artists created, often taking the form of contorted or disfigured bodies drawn from the realm of the tabloids, pulp magazines, and cinema, represented a bold, experimental form of social aesthetics. Entin argues that these artists created a willfully unorthodox brand of vernacular modernism in which formal avant-garde innovations were used to delineate the conditions, contradictions, and pressures of life on the nation's fringes
Target audience
adult
Classification
Creator
Genre
Subject
- Art and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Social problems in literature
- Visual perception in literature
- American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Poor in literature
- Experimental fiction, American + History and criticism
- Electronic books
- Mass media and art -- United States
- Modernism (Literature) -- United States
- Poverty in literature
- Documentary photography -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Content
Is Derivative Of
Is Part Of
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1
Outgoing Resources
- Classification1
- Creator1
- Genre1
- Subject11
- Art and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Social problems in literature
- Visual perception in literature
- American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Poor in literature
- Experimental fiction, American + History and criticism
- Electronic books
- Mass media and art -- United States
- Modernism (Literature) -- United States
- Poverty in literature
- Documentary photography -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Content1
- Is Derivative Of1
- Is Part Of1