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dc.contributor.author | Hurst, Andrea![]() |
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dc.date.accessioned | 2009-07-03T07:22:05Z | |
dc.date.available | 2009-07-03T07:22:05Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2007 | |
dc.description.abstract | In this article, I investigate the hypothesis that the notions of “the beautiful,” “the ugly,” and “the sublime” articulate the incompatible dimensions of what it means to live the kind of passionate life that most befits humankind. If Plato describes the ultimate object of our passion as a “beautiful cosmos,” a closer look, via Lacanian psychoanalysis, reveals instead an irreducible complexity in its conception, precisely because this ultimate object remains a fundamental delusion. Since humans hope to restore not what they know to be the truly Real, but what they want it to be, one might quite legitimately propose that the truly Real is a state of chaos (the ugly), or paradox (the sublime). The link suggested here between the object of the passions and the notions of “the beautiful,” “the ugly,” and “the sublime” takes some explaining. For this purpose I have drawn upon Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. Taking account of the complexity of both the passion as an act and the passion’s object, I have articulated a Lacanian account of human subjectivity as a complex configuration of passions, which can be applied as a heuristic for making sense of the diversity that goes under the name of “truth-telling” techné today. Thus, while driven by conflicting passions, many contemporary artists exemplify the notion that art is truth-telling techné, and in their various ways offer insight into what it means to live life as a work of art. | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | SKOONHEID EN DIE MONSTER: KUNS EN HAAR PASSIE VIR DIE SKONE, DIE LELIKE, EN DIE SUBLIEME In hierdie artikel word die hipotese ondersoek, dat die gedagte van die skone, die lelike, en die sublieme die onversoenbare dimensies artikuleer, van wat dit beteken om die soort passievolle lewe wat die mensdom toekom, te leef. Waar Plato die uiteindelike voorwerp van ons passie as ’n skone kosmos beskryf, word by nadere ondersoek, aan die hand van Lacaniaanse psigoanalise, gevind dat dit eerder ’n onreduseerbare kompleksiteit vertoon, juis omdat hierdie uiteindelike voorwerp op ’n fundamentele waanbeeld neerkom. Aangesien mense nie die Reële begeer nie, maar wat hulle graag wil hê dit moet wees, kan die Reële tereg as ’n toestand van chaos voorgestel word (die lelike), of as paradoks (die sublieme). Die verband wat hier voorgestel word tussen die voorwerp van die passies en die begrippe van die skone, die lelike, en die sublieme, vereis verduideliking. Met hierdie doel voor öe, word van Lacaniaanse psigoanalitiese teorie gebruik gemaak. Met die kompleksiteit van sowel passie as iets aktiefs, asook van die voorwerp van passie in gedagte, het ek ’n Lacaniaanse weergawe van menslike subjektiwiteit in die vorm van ’n komplekse konfigurasie van passies geformuleer, wat verder op heuristiese wyse aangewend kan word om sin te maak van die uiteenlopendheid van hedendaagse techné “wat die waarheid vertel.” Dus, ofskoon hulle deur botsende passies gedryf word, versinnebeeld vele tydgenootlike kunstenaars die gedagte dat kuns waarheidsgeoriënteerde techné verteenwoordig, en gee op uiteenlopende wyse insig in wat dit beteken on die lewe as ’n kunswerk te leef. | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Hurst, A 2007, 'Beauty and the beast: art and its passion for the beautiful, the ugly, and the sublime', South African Journal of Art History, vol. 22, no 3, pp 17-29. [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_sajah.html] | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0258-3542 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/10627 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.publisher | Art Historical Work Group of South Africa | en_US |
dc.rights | Art Historical Work Group of South Africa | en_US |
dc.subject | Lacanian Psychoanalytic theory | en_US |
dc.subject | Truth-telling techné | en_US |
dc.subject | Object of passion | en_US |
dc.subject | Complexity | en_US |
dc.title | Beauty and the beast : art and its passion for the beautiful, the ugly, and the sublime | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |