Modernism: The Lure of Heresy

There are two ways to approach something of the nature of the subject of Modernism: from the outside, which lends to a text that is more a factual history, and from the inside, which makes for a more ideational history. While the subtitle of the book, "The Lure of Heresy," might give the idea that it is the latter, it is very much the former. For example, Gay opens up the section on Painting and Sculpture with a survey of self-portraiture by Modernist painters, which very much dwells in what I would say is Gay's central idea: that Modernism was a turning in by artists toward an exploration of the self. But the ideational aspect never goes much deeper than demonstrating a general trend. If you are looking for something more toward an engagement with the aesthetics and theories of Modernists, or a more indepth exploration of that idea of turning toward the self, then this might not what you are looking for.This is not what I would consider a "scholarly" text. It is a history presented to a more general audience. (And one of the blurbs above speaks of Gay as a "superior popularizer.") If you are looking for the former, this might not be for you.In fact, the book very much has the feel (and there are moments in the first part that hint at this) that in writing this Gay was confronted with the option of either addressing his central ideas in depth using many pages to do so or more presenting a more cursory and more casually readable exploration, and he chose the latter. Which is not at all a criticism of the book. Nor are the two previous points. I am simply here describing the book for those who are thinking of purchasing it without looking within it first. While this is a very enjoyable book, personally while reading it I was wanting to close it and move to something like Bradbury and McFarlane's book of the same name -- which is much more of a scholarly presentation.Let me be clear, however, I do not mean to say this is a coffee table history. Gay is presenting his idea as to what was/is Modernism. And it is an interesting idea, one that finds its currents more in the psyche of the artists than in the characteristics of the their work, which to me is the correct path. (Though, I am very curious to know what a person who knows little about Modernism would take away from this book. I wonder if the limits of the text create false ideas -- like an undervaluing of the Symbolists.) If you are looking for a lighter introduction to or survey of Modernism, this might be worth the price of admission.If I have one negative, it is that the book seems very uneven in its use of illustrations. The opening section introducing the ideas of the book has many, and then, when the book gets to the meat of the matter, they disappear almost entirely. One would think it would be the other way around. (In fact, it hints to me that the book as published may not be the book for which Gay was aiming.)I give it four stars, though 3 1/2 would be more accurate.

Peter Gay has written a sweeping survey of Modernism that is lucid, highly readable, amply illustrated, beautifully designed, and remarkably complete. He has, essentially, written a survey of 120 years of cultural and aesthetic history. This is not a task for the faint of heart, but Gay has never suffered from that malady, his array of works spanning multiple centuries. His two-volume history of the Enlightenment remains a very important study and his work on Freud and on 19thc sensibility equally so.The problem with Modernism is that there is so much of it, particularly if you set out to write about poetry and fiction, music, architecture, painting, pop culture, and the many movements and sub-movements attending them. And of course, he is not bounded by any national borders. This is history with a capital H. That means that he has relatively little space (4-6 pp., usually at the outside) for each major figure. Thus, the book is a sweeping survey, an excellent introduction to the subject. Theory is kept to a minimum. He focuses on two aspects of Modernism--its penchant for aesthetic heresy and its stress of subjectivism.The book is also scrupulously fair, recognizing silliness and extremism where they are found and recognizing the important realities that work designed to shock the middle class cannot exist without a middle class prepared to consume it and a society sufficiently free and stable to protect the shockers and provide them a safe place in which to work.Personally, I would like to have seen a little more discussion of individuals who distinguished themselves but who did not subscribe to the Modernist agenda, writers such as Graham Greene or George Orwell and any number of individuals who produced magnificent work within the constraints of traditional forms. This is a book about Modernism, of course, but that could be contextualized with sharper contrasts. Gay is a believer, though a balanced one. Still, he sees grandeur in the international style of architecture and tends to overlook the ugliness of fifties' boxes with smudged glass and drip stains from flat roofs. I did not expect him to take Tom Wolfe's stance on the Bauhaus or on abstract expressionism, but Wolfe's (much-maligned) stance is shared by many. The book concludes with a survey of contemporary Modernism, with Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim and Marquez's fiction. Gay sees the world of fiction as relatively flat, though there are many skilled practitioners. It is only flat, in my opinion, if you confine yourself to Modernist writing. Pynchon, e.g., does not fit his template and is thus not considered, though he is a towering figure. This is a small quibble in light of the book's accomplishments, however. I highly recommend it as an introduction to the subject and as an instructive, entertaining, well-written book.

I read this for a class. In the context of the class it was very helpful. I wouldn't recommend this for just general reading. Most everything awful about current culture is a result of the adoption of a modernist mindset. Of course the post modernist are well on their way of making modernist seem rational and Lucid in comparison.

The history of Modernism will never be written; we know too much about it (apologies to L.S.). Yet time and again some intrepid soul takes up the challenge and plunges ahead.I am happy to report that Peter Gay, while by no means having written that elusive definitive opus, acquits himself splendidly and has produced a compulsively readable introduction to this vast topic. Discussing both the usual suspects in concise chapters (Baudelaire, Picasso, Cezanne, Duchamp, Joyce, Schoenberg, etc) and some less so (Ensor, dealer Durand-Ruel, museum curator Lichtwark), Gay weaves multiple stories together to make a seamless whole that carries the reader across Modernism's multiple manifestations: dance, sculpture, architecture, music, film as well as painting and literature.Apt illustrations punctuate the text and the book's production as a whole is lovely. I would only criticize the dearth of illustrations when discussing paintings: verbal description can't do the visual arts justice. And like much of Gay's previous writing, Saint Sigmund hovers over the entire enterprise, thankfully never becoming too intrusive.Having written definitive explorations of European culture in the 18th and 19th Centuries, it is a pleasure that Gay has brought readers into the 20th with this new volume, certain to be one of the most accessible introductions to Modernism for some time to come.

My husband loves this book. So I brought this for him.It only takes two days for me to get it.

»Modernism«, written by Peter Gay, is the best book I ordered in my entire live. And I got it immediately, without any problems and in a perfect conditions. So much things which I didn't know at all, so much informations which i had not yet. I'm so happy! Thank you.