Modernism's Mythic Pose: Gender, Genre, Solo Performance (modernist Literature And Culture)
by Carrie J. Preston /
2011 / English / PDF
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The ancient world served as an unconventional source of inspiration
for a generation of modernists. Drawing on examples from
literature, dance, photography, and film,
The ancient world served as an unconventional source of inspiration
for a generation of modernists. Drawing on examples from
literature, dance, photography, and film,Modernism's Mythic
Pose
Modernism's Mythic
Pose argues that a strain of antimodern-classicism permeates
modernist celebrations of novelty, shock, and technology.
argues that a strain of antimodern-classicism permeates
modernist celebrations of novelty, shock, and technology.
The touchstone of Preston's study is Delsartism--the popular
transnational movement which promoted mythic statue--posing, poetic
recitation, and other hybrid solo performances for health and
spiritual development. Derived from nineteenth-century acting
theorist François Delsarte and largely organized by women,
Delsartism shaped modernist performances, genres, and ideas of
gender. Even Ezra Pound, a famous promoter of the "new," made
ancient figures speak in the "old" genre of the dramatic monologue
and performed public recitations. Recovering precedents in
nineteenth-century popular entertainments and Delsartism's hybrid
performances, this book considers the canonical modernists Pound
and T. S. Eliot, lesser-known poets like Charlotte Mew, the Russian
filmmaker Lev Kuleshov, Isadora Duncan the international dance
star, and H.D. as poet and film actor.
The touchstone of Preston's study is Delsartism--the popular
transnational movement which promoted mythic statue--posing, poetic
recitation, and other hybrid solo performances for health and
spiritual development. Derived from nineteenth-century acting
theorist François Delsarte and largely organized by women,
Delsartism shaped modernist performances, genres, and ideas of
gender. Even Ezra Pound, a famous promoter of the "new," made
ancient figures speak in the "old" genre of the dramatic monologue
and performed public recitations. Recovering precedents in
nineteenth-century popular entertainments and Delsartism's hybrid
performances, this book considers the canonical modernists Pound
and T. S. Eliot, lesser-known poets like Charlotte Mew, the Russian
filmmaker Lev Kuleshov, Isadora Duncan the international dance
star, and H.D. as poet and film actor.
Preston's interdisciplinary engagement with performance, poetics,
modern dance, and silent film demonstrates that studies of
modernism often overemphasize breaks with the past. Modernism also
posed myth in an ambivalent relationship to modernity, a halt in
the march of progress that could function as escapism, skeptical
critique, or a figure for the death of gods and civilizations.
Preston's interdisciplinary engagement with performance, poetics,
modern dance, and silent film demonstrates that studies of
modernism often overemphasize breaks with the past. Modernism also
posed myth in an ambivalent relationship to modernity, a halt in
the march of progress that could function as escapism, skeptical
critique, or a figure for the death of gods and civilizations.