Three Incidents at the Border of Genre

Authors

  • Stian Grøgaard Academy of Fine Art, Kunsthøgskolen, Oslo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/jmi.v3i2.2492

Keywords:

applied aesthetics, genre, restrictive economy, genre sublation, art versus genre, Edvard Munch, Clint Eastwood, Bob Dylan

Abstract

From a perspective of conceptual economy, rather than the specialized literature on genre, this text discusses what genre divisions can do when applied to cultural artifacts compared to other forms of classification or typology? On which aspect of the artifact is it rewarding for a concept of genre to operate, and what is achieved when extending its use beyond traditional divisions in fine arts, Hollywood movies and popular music? Are there restrictions inherent to the concept of genre itself, explicable in a grammar of the concept? The criteria unfolded by such a grammar seems to be more technical than properly aesthetic, close to the ideal of perfection in traditional normative poetics. With one significant addition, the criteria are always too specific to allow for the perfect example of genre. Perfection belongs to the law of the genre, not to the artifact enforcing the law. Imperfection may indeed explain the resilience of the genre form. What remains is a vertical structure, a model for which even the model example is a fall from grace.

Author Biography

Stian Grøgaard, Academy of Fine Art, Kunsthøgskolen, Oslo

Professor and coordinator of theory at The Academy of Fine Art, Kunsthøgskolen, Oslo

References

Derrida, Jacques. (1978). From restricted to general economy: a Hegelianism without reserve. In Jacques Derrida, Writing and Difference (pp. 251-277). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Derrida, Jacques. (1992). The law of genre. In Jacques Derrida, Acts of Literature (pp. 221-252). London: Routledge.

Dylan, Bob. (1991/1983). Blind Willie McTell, The Bootleg Series, vol. 3, Columbia 02-488100-10.

Dylan, Bob. (1993). World Gone Wrong, Sony BMG, ASIN: B0015RCUSW.

Eastwood, Clint (2002/1992). Unforgiven, 10th Anniversary, Two-Disc Special Edition, Warner Bros., Z12 23457.

Fried, Michael. (1998). Manet’s modernism: Or, the face of painting in the 1860s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,.

Hegel, Georg. (1976/1807). Phänomenologie des Geistes (Phenomenology of the spirit). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag,.

Munch, Edvard. (1885-86). Det syke barn (The Sick Child), The National Museum Oslo, Collection number 839.

Karsten, Ludvig. (1907). Tæring (Tuberculosis), The National Museum Oslo, Collection number 963.

Store norske leksikon (1995). 2nd edit. “genremaleri”, vol. 6, p. 76, “sjanger”. vol. 13 p. 253, Kunnskapsforlaget, Aschehoug & Gyldendal, Oslo.

Downloads

Published

2016-12-30

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).