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Culture of Hope: A New Birth of the Classical Spirit
As we approach the new millenium, the moral, intellectual,and spiritual crisis of our time is visible most plainly in the sickness of the arts. The "postmodern" cultural establishment is philosophically empty and esthetically corrupt. But no one has been able to explain this decline or give a satisfying answer to the question of the proper role of the arts in our society. Now, in "The Culture of Hope"-- a manifesto for a new vision of culture that is both radical and classical-- Frederick Turner goes beyond the stale dichotomies of Left and Right to take the "third side" in the culture war: the side of art itself. Great art can never be politically correct, Turner reminds us, whether the correction comes from Right or Left, because its sources are deeper than politics. The visionary modernists (Picasso, Joyce, Stravinsky) understood this, but their successors today, as well as their conservative opponents, have forgotten. Turner sharply indicts the bankrupt tribe of venal mediocrities who now infest the arts, citing their naive rejection of morality, their ignorant denial of scientific truth, and their lazy dismissal of the Western cultural heritage. On the other hand, conservatives who call for a return to traditional values seek a socially "safe" vision of art that has never existed and never can.
In the past, the arts have flowered when they drew their inspiration from new scientific visions of the cosmos. Thus Turner argues that the revolution in cosmology that is occurring today in the frontier fields of scientific thought will powerfully invigorate the artists of the future. A new esthetic synthesis arising from the unexpected convergence of religion, art, and science will restore a hopeful vision of the cosmos as intelligent, creative, and self-ordering and provide the missing ground for the recovery of classical values in the arts, such as beauty, order, harmony, and meaning. Turner points to new developments in chaos theory, neurobiology, evolution, and environmental science, among other fields, to offer us a guide to the emerging art of the "radical center" which he predicts will shape the culture of the future.
In the past, the arts have flowered when they drew their inspiration from new scientific visions of the cosmos. Thus Turner argues that the revolution in cosmology that is occurring today in the frontier fields of scientific thought will powerfully invigorate the artists of the future. A new esthetic synthesis arising from the unexpected convergence of religion, art, and science will restore a hopeful vision of the cosmos as intelligent, creative, and self-ordering and provide the missing ground for the recovery of classical values in the arts, such as beauty, order, harmony, and meaning. Turner points to new developments in chaos theory, neurobiology, evolution, and environmental science, among other fields, to offer us a guide to the emerging art of the "radical center" which he predicts will shape the culture of the future.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
298 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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52 people want to read
About the author
Frederick Turner
19 books4 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Frederick Turner was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1943. After spending several years in central Africa, where his parents, the anthropologists Victor W. and Edith L. B. Turner, were conducting field research, Frederick Turner was educated at the University of Oxford (1962-67), where he obtained the degrees of B.A., M.A., and B.Litt. (equivalent to a PhD) in English Language and Literature. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1977.
He is presently Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. From 1978-82 he was editor of The Kenyon Review.
Frederick Turner was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1943. After spending several years in central Africa, where his parents, the anthropologists Victor W. and Edith L. B. Turner, were conducting field research, Frederick Turner was educated at the University of Oxford (1962-67), where he obtained the degrees of B.A., M.A., and B.Litt. (equivalent to a PhD) in English Language and Literature. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1977.
He is presently Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. From 1978-82 he was editor of The Kenyon Review.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 3, 2018
This book came to me at breakfast one morning. At my place I found an article cut from an old Harper's Magazine. When I looked up the book I learned it was published in 1995. Fascinating stuff, which I took to be literary criticism. It's not--it's more philosophy, a philosophy of culture.
Its date may be a bit of an impediment. There have been many upheavals, political and cultural, since 1995. Think about how many lives we've lived since that time. Another weakness may be his leaving the political out of his calculus for the future. His vision is utopian, but watching the news 23 years after the publication of his book may discourage one from believing in a world we'd think utopian.
Generally, Turner sees art and culture in political terms. The avant-garde, or left, is limited in its development. Bankrupt is a word he uses. On the right is modernism calling for a maintenance of the old forms and ideas, also a brake on development. Between the two is the promise of the future, what he calls the radical center. It's a fusion of the classical with technology. The new culture of hope will be brought about by ever-expansive and elegant development of technologies. The new discoveries will eventually fuse with art. He calls the process evolutionary hope, this natural classicism growing from the exhausted wings of modernism and the avant-garde. The result is a new attainment and appreciation of beauty. What we learn is that our perception of beauty is part of the beauty.
Turner's optimism and faith in human cultural progress gives the book its value. His ideas, analysis, and charts of the way forward are convincing, if we can bring them off. It's very knotty reading, though. In some places it's so complex and dense that it beats you up. But when I could see his ideas and arguments clearly I was confident of being well-led and instructed. In the end the bright light he shines doesn't blind but reveals ways to restore meaning to our lives by allowing the fusion of spirit with flesh, mind with matter, and culture with nature, of which we're the most important element.
Its date may be a bit of an impediment. There have been many upheavals, political and cultural, since 1995. Think about how many lives we've lived since that time. Another weakness may be his leaving the political out of his calculus for the future. His vision is utopian, but watching the news 23 years after the publication of his book may discourage one from believing in a world we'd think utopian.
Generally, Turner sees art and culture in political terms. The avant-garde, or left, is limited in its development. Bankrupt is a word he uses. On the right is modernism calling for a maintenance of the old forms and ideas, also a brake on development. Between the two is the promise of the future, what he calls the radical center. It's a fusion of the classical with technology. The new culture of hope will be brought about by ever-expansive and elegant development of technologies. The new discoveries will eventually fuse with art. He calls the process evolutionary hope, this natural classicism growing from the exhausted wings of modernism and the avant-garde. The result is a new attainment and appreciation of beauty. What we learn is that our perception of beauty is part of the beauty.
Turner's optimism and faith in human cultural progress gives the book its value. His ideas, analysis, and charts of the way forward are convincing, if we can bring them off. It's very knotty reading, though. In some places it's so complex and dense that it beats you up. But when I could see his ideas and arguments clearly I was confident of being well-led and instructed. In the end the bright light he shines doesn't blind but reveals ways to restore meaning to our lives by allowing the fusion of spirit with flesh, mind with matter, and culture with nature, of which we're the most important element.
Read
January 20, 2017Though he gets a little wild at times with his belief in technology, I still regard Turner's work as some of the most important I have run into. Using current brain theory, chaos theory and the anthropology he grew up with, Turner presents us with a new paradigm, which takes us both forward and back to classical values. I'm with him!
"Of course we need to use all the computerized weather prediction, all the nonlinear econometric models, all the electroencephalograms, all the careful ecological analysis we can get. But our decisions on the basis of this knowledge must finally be in the service of the greatest beauty: the greatest epistemological beauty, that is, truth; and the greatest ethical beauty, that is goodness. The attractors of these, we can be sure, are in the human breast. We must evoke them, by educating our conscience and our intuition of the truth; most important of all, and for our very survival, we must cultivate our taste."
"Of course we need to use all the computerized weather prediction, all the nonlinear econometric models, all the electroencephalograms, all the careful ecological analysis we can get. But our decisions on the basis of this knowledge must finally be in the service of the greatest beauty: the greatest epistemological beauty, that is, truth; and the greatest ethical beauty, that is goodness. The attractors of these, we can be sure, are in the human breast. We must evoke them, by educating our conscience and our intuition of the truth; most important of all, and for our very survival, we must cultivate our taste."
Want to Read
July 25, 2007Oh my god!! I've been talking about that for a long time--wow I need to find this book asap. Then maybe everyone won't think I'm crazy for being inspired by classic history and revolutions.
November 27, 2008
To learn about the new paradigm in the arts, what is to thankfully follow postmodernism, this is the book to read. Read it with an open spirit, and you will never be the same.
June 17, 2009
I never thought I would find a book detailing my own distaste for contemporary art from an academic standpoint.... it's amazing.
Currently Reading
January 20, 2010Good book and positive reading about real life
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews