Art, Class & Cleavage: A Quantulumcunque Concerning Materialistic Esthetics

by Ben Watson

Addressing the division between art and class (aesthetics and politics), and arguing that cultural impoverishment has been the result of this split, Watson puts forward theories that revive the interconnection and provide a startling reappraisal of Marx, Trotsky, Voloshinov, Freud and Philip K. Dick. This book ranges freely over the cultural options of modern life - rock 'n' roll, avant garde music, poetry, science fiction, jazz, installation art - while keeping its theoretical critique short, sharp and shocking.

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[severyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

You see, I quite like Watson's gonzo Marxist aesthetics rants, even though the final chapter of this book is barely readable.
He's at his best when rabidly slating something like Derrida:
'unreadable piffle', or the Mille Plateaux music label: '...repetitive instrumental pop manufactured by middle-class boffins without the bottle to sing or dance or play in front of actual audiences...'
Not as good as 'The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play'.

[David Melbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleavage!