Modernism: The Lure Of Heresy From Baudelaire To Beckett And Beyond

Gay's ambitious endeavor looks at the modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film. Beginning his epic study with Baudelaire, Gay traces the revolutionary path from its Parisian origins to its emergence as the dominant cultural movement. Illustrated.

Peter Gay's most ambitious endeavor since Freud explores the shocking modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film with its assault on traditional forms. Beginning his epic study with Baudelaire, whose lurid poetry scandalized French stalwarts, Gay traces the revolutionary path of modernism from its Parisian origins to its emergence as the dominant cultural movement in world capitals such as Berlin and New York. A work unique in its breadth and brilliance, "Modernism" presents a thrilling pageant of heretics that includes (among others) Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso, and D. W. Griffiths; James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot; Walter Gropius, Arnold Schoenberg, and (of course ) Andy Warhol. Finally, Gay examines the hostility of totalitarian regimes to modernist freedom and the role of Pop Art in sounding the death knell of a movement that dominated Western culture for 120 years. Lavishly illustrated, "Modernism" is a superlative achievement by one of our greatest historians. 92 illustrations, 16 pages of color.