Abstract

The title of this collection of studies alludes to the revolt against formalism in modern art, as opposed to the various kinds of formalized analysis to which art is today subjected, both by the critic and by the aesthetician. Although the names of the contributors—Alquié, Zolla, Brun, Dufrenne, Giorgi, Olivetti—are all remembered in connection with outstanding materials in this field, the contributions to this volume are unequal in value. Those of Dufrenne and Giorgi make the book required reading for anyone attempting to go beyond the more heavy-handed formalism of much of the Aristotelian, Kantian and even pragmatist literature on aesthetics. Dufrenne's chapter deals with the a priori of the imagination, which for him is realistic, thanks to the affinity between the expressive power of the cosmic and the semantic core of the word. This affinity crystallizes in what he calls ontological qualities. Four of these latter qualities are studied, viz., elementariness or naturality, potency, depth and purity. Giorgi defends the thesis of the linguistic character of artistic expression. She is well aware of the ambiguity factor in symbols, but this is overcome by the relationality of the latter, a relationality that allows them to act as interpretants of objects in a representative role. In the study of the process of recognition of semantic value in artistic structures, Giorgi shows a resourceful command of suggestions from information theory, linguistics, visual arts and mythical thought. The flexibility acquired through these means of analysis justifies perhaps a critical attitude towards the more formalistic conceptions of metaphor and of artistic categories.—A. M.