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Art Contemporary (1945-)

Enchanted Objects

Visual Art in Contemporary Fiction

by (author) Allan Hepburn

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2010
Category
Contemporary (1945-), General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442641006
    Publish Date
    Mar 2010
    List Price
    $85.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442686397
    Publish Date
    Dec 2010
    List Price
    $78.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442698451
    Publish Date
    Mar 2010
    List Price
    $73.00

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Description

Enchanted Objects investigates the relationship between visual art and contemporary fiction, addressing the problems that arise when paintings, deluxe books, porcelains, or statues are represented in contemporary novels. The distinction between objects and art objects depends on aesthetics. While some objects are authenticated through museum exhibits, others are hidden, broken, neglected, coveted, hoarded, or salvaged.

Allan Hepburn asks four broad questions about aesthetics and value: What is a detail in visual art? Is all art ornamental? Does the value of an object increase because it is fragile? What defines ugliness? Contemporary novels, such as Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Barry Unsworth's Stone Virgin, and Bruce Chatwin's Utz offer implicit answers to these questions while critiquing museums and the determination to invest objects with value through display. Addressing current debates in museum studies, cultural studies, art history, and literary criticism, Enchanted Objects develops an extensive theory of how contemporary literature engages with and relates to aesthetic objects.

About the author

Allan Hepburn is the James McGill Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at McGill University.

Allan Hepburn's profile page