Description
Book SynopsisBy contextualizing Walter Pater's aestheticism alongside Alexandre Kojeve's and Georges Bataille's readings of Hegelianism, this book shows that Pater's aestheticism constitutes both a philosophy of death and at the same time a philosophy of the impossibility of death.
Trade ReviewScholars have long been aware of the importance of acknowledging Pater's debt to Hegelian philosophy. And many critics of Pater have performed almost obligatory nods towards Hegel's influence, conceptualized in vague terms, without formulating an understanding of its precise forms. Such critics will now have to engage seriously with Aestheticism and the Philosophy of Death, which contains the most scholarly and detailed account of Pater's Hegelianism to date. -- Modern Language Review Modern Language Review In this meticulously researched monograph Giles Whiteley sets himself the expansive task of reading Pater's entire intellectual project as an extended conversation with Hegel... the case is well made that Pater should be considered a proto-poststructuralist thinker. -- Forum for Modern Language Studies Forum for Modern Language Studies
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Pater's Reading and Rereading of Hegel 1. The Hegelian Structure of Pater's 'Reconsidered' Aestheticism 2. The Philosophy of (the Impossibility of) Death 3. The Imaginary Portraits 4. Autobiography and the Writing of Death 5. Conclusion: The Ideology of Aestheticism
