Description
Book SynopsisThis work offers an analysis of the underlying grammar or logic of culture. Ray argues that the disparate models, ideologies, and ethics that have been advanced in the name of culture derive from a shift in our ways of thinking that occurred before the advent of modernity.
Trade Review"This densely and incisively written book provides a compelling theoretical framework for the understanding of the "logic" of culture in modern times. From the rhetoric of the French Revolution to contemporary museum displays, from Schiller's aesthetics to concepts broached by Matthew Arnold, Foucault and Bourdieu, Ray engages a variety of periods, genres, issues, and regimes of thought with mastery and elegance. A major accomplishment and a fascinating read!" Bernadette Fort, Northwestern University and Editor of
Eighteenth-Century Studies "A tightly argued and coherent account of the conflicting impulses within culture, Ray's study will take its rightful place among the best recent work on the intricacies of culture." John C. O'Neal, Hamilton College
Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface.
Preface.
Introduction: The Paradox of Culture.
1. The Roots of Cultural Logic.
2. Inventing Culture.
3. Instituting Culture.
4. Culture, Critique and Community.
Notes.
Index.
