A classic work on radical aesthetics by one of the great philosophers of the early twentieth century

No work of philosopher and essayist Jos Ortega y Gasset has been more frequently cited, admired, or criticized than his response to modernism, The Dehumanization of Art. The essay, originally published in Spanish in 1925, grappled with the newness of nonrepresentational art and sought to make it more understandable to the public. Many embraced the essay as a manifesto extolling the virtues of vanguard artists and promoting efforts to abandon the realism and the romanticism of the nineteenth century. Others took it as a denunciation of everything that was radical about the avant-garde. This Princeton Classics edition makes this essential work, along with four of Ortega's other critical essays, available in English. A new foreword by Anthony J. Cascardi considers how Ortega's philosophy remains relevant and significant in the twenty-first century.

Sur toute la surface de l'Occident triomphe aujourd'hui une forme d'homog n it qui menace de consumer ce tr sor. Partout l'homme-masse a surgi - l'homme-masse dont ce livre s'occupe - un type d'homme h tivement b ti, mont sur quelques pauvres abstractions et qui pour cela se retrouve identique d'un bout l'autre de l'Europe. C'est lui qu'est d le morne aspect, l' touffante monotonie que prend la vie dans tout le continent. Cet homme-masse, c'est l'homme vid au pr alable de sa propre histoire, sans entrailles de pass , et qui, par cela m me, est docile toutes les disciplines dites « internationales . Plut t qu'un homme c'est une carapace d'homme, faite de simples idola fori. Il lui manque un « dedans , une intimit inexorablement, inali nablement sienne, un moi irr vocable. Il est donc toujours en disponibilit pour feindre qu'il est ceci ou cela. Il n'a que des app tits; il ne se suppose que des droits; il ne se croit pas d'obligations.

Ni ce livre, ni moi nous ne faisons de politique. Le sujet dont je parle ici est ant rieur la politique; il est dans le sous-sol de la politique. Mon travail est un labeur obscur et souterrain de mine. La mission de celui qu'on a nomm « l'intellectuel est en un certain sens oppos celle du politicien. L'oeuvre de l'intellectuel aspire -souvent en vain - claircir un peu les choses, tandis que celle du politicien consiste souvent les rendre plus confuses.

Qu es una naci n? Naci n en el sentido que damos a esta palabra cuando la referimos a los pueblos europeos, significa una unidad de convivencia distinta de lo que entendemos por un ''pueblo''. Un ''pueblo'' es una colectividad constituida por un repertorio de usos tradicionales que el azar o las visicitudes de la historia ha creado. El pueblo vive inercialmente de su pasado y nada m s. Ninguno de esos usos es por s respetable. Se ha originado mec nicamente. Es un modo de tatuarse o de vestirse, un modo de casarse, de ejecutar ritos vagamente religiosos, un modo de hablar y de gesticular. En los pueblos m s primitivos lo m s ''popular'', es decir, lo m s constitutivo y simb lico de su conciencia colectiva, son las danzas en torno a los tambores sagrados. Por eso en Nigeria, donde viven pr ximos unos a otros muchos ''pueblos'' distintos, pr ximos pero muy conscientes de su diferencia, para decir que alguien es un extranjero se dice que '' Ese baila con otro tambor '' No es sino concretar en una palabra, abreviadamente y, por tanto, con deliberada exageraci n (pero exageraci n que sirve precisamente para destacar bien la realidad), decir que un pueblo consiste en puras man as acumuladas por el azar, que lo mismo podr an ser otras cualesquiera.

La Idea de Naci n, que hab a sido hasta ahora una espuela, se convierte en un freno. Incapaz de ofrecer a cada pueblo un programa de vida futura los paraliza y los encierra dentro de s mismos. Pero esto significa que las colectividades europeas han dejado de ser propiamente naciones y por un proceso de involuci n ha retrocedido al estado primitivo de pueblos que no son sino pueblos, ha reca do en la vida propia de sus peque os usos, h bitos, man as. Los peri dicos se ocupan principalmente en conmemorar las glorias caseras, en hablar de sus peque os hombres, como nunca hab an hecho hasta ahora. Al mismo tiempo se cultiva el folklore monumentaliz ndolo de una manera grotesca. El folklore es el prototipo de lo casero.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This book, first published in 1930 and reissued in 1961, examines the Western phenomenon of the rise of the 'mass-man'. Analysing the state of society before the Second World War, acclaimed philosopher Ortega y Gasset lays bare the problems that faced the countries of Europe in a book that resonates today in the imposition of direct action over discussion.

No work of Spanish philosopher and essayist José Ortega y Gasset has been more frequently cited, admired, or criticized than his defense of modernism, The Dehumanization of Art. In the essay, originally published in Spanish in 1925, Ortega grappled philosophically with the newness of nonrepresentational art and sought to make it more understandable to a public confused by it. Many embraced the essay as a manifesto extolling the virtues of vanguard artists and promoting their efforts to abandon the realism and the romanticism of the nineteenth century.

The dehumanization of the title, which was meant descriptively rather than pejoratively, referred most literally to the absence of human forms in nonrepresentational art, but also to its insistent unpopularity, its indifference to the past, and its iconoclasm. Ortega championed what he saw as a new cultural politics with the goal of a total transformation of society.

Ortega was an immensely gifted writer in the best belletristic tradition. His work has been compared to an iceberg because it hides the critical mass of its erudition beneath the surface, and because it is deceptive, appearing to be more spontaneous and informal than it really is.

Princeton published the first English translation of the essay paired with another entitled Notes on the Novel. Three essays were later added to make an expanded edition, published in 1968, under the title The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture and Literature .

This book, first published in 1930 and reissued in 1961, examines the Western phenomenon of the rise of the 'mass-man'. Analysing the state of society before the Second World War, acclaimed philosopher Ortega y Gasset lays bare the problems that faced the countries of Europe in a book that resonates today in the imposition of direct action over discussion.