McLuhan is concerned by the size and the intentions of the North American culture industry. "Ours is the first age in which many thousands of the best-trained individual minds have made it a full-time business to get inside the collective public mind," McLuhan writes in his preface to the book. He believes everyone is kept in a "helpless state endgendered by prolonged mental rutting is the effect of many ads and much entertainment alike." McLuhan hopes Bride can reverse this process. By using artefacts of popular culture as a means to enlighten the public, McLuhan hopes the public can consciously observe the effects of popular culture on them. McLuhan compares his method to the sailor in Edgar Allan Poe''s short-story "A Descent into the Maelstrom." The sailor, McLuhan writes, saves himself by studying the whirlpool and by co-operating with it. Likewise, the book is not interested in attacking the strong currents of advertising, radio, and the press. The book argues anger and outrage are not the proper responses to the culture industry. "The time for anger...is in the early stages of a new process," McLuhan says, "the present stage is extremely advanced." Amusement is the proper strategy. This is why McLuhan uses punning questions that border on silly or absurd after each visual example. On the technique of amusement McLuhan quotes Poe''s sailor, when he''s locked into the whirlpool''s walls looking at floating objects: :"I must have been delirious, for I even sought amusement in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents towards the foam below." [italics original] This amusement, McLuhan argues, born "of his rational detachment as a spectator of his own situation," saved the sailor''s life. By adopting the position of Poe''s sailor, readers of Bride can escape from the whirlpool of popular culture.

The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man

When the beautiful and glamorous Helen is deserted by her lover, she marries the kindly Martin McMahon and moves to the small village of Lough Glass. Although Martin and Helen have two children, Helen still pines for Louis, the man who broke her heart. Helen seems restless and unhappy living in Lough Glass. Then one day, Helen disappears, leaving behind only a note for Martin. Kit, Helen and Martin''s 13-year old daughter, finds this letter, and burns it without opening it. Kit knows that her mother was unhappy and assumes that her mother has committed suicide. A suicide note would mean that her mother could not be buried in ''consecrated'' ground according to Catholic tradition. However, Helen hasn''t committed suicide. Rather, she decided to run away to England with her former lover. Kit McMahon struggles to grow up without her mother and with the stigma of her mother''s death. While Kit has many friends and mentors to help her grow, she forges a close relationship via letters with Lena Gray. Lena Gray claims to be a close friend of Helen. However, Lena Gray is really Helen herself. The story then traces the fallout of Kit finding out that her mother isn''t dead and is Lena Gray.

The Glass Lake

Chapman''s Byron, a formidable soldier and commander, is marred by one major fault, his overweening pride. He loves to compare himself to the heroes of antiquity&mdash;Hercules, Alexander the Great, Curtius, even Orpheus. His vanity leaves him deeply vulnerable to manipulation by enemies of the King of France, who want to exploit Byron for their own schemes; and Byron allows himself to be drawn in. The King becomes aware of Byron''s treason; yet valuing his past service and his great potential, the King attempts to reform Byron, even sending him to England so that the Marshall can witness firsthand a properly functioning monarchical state. At the end of The Conspiracy, Byron manages to curb his pride and submit to the King. Yet his ego is too great to remain restrained indefinitely; Byron returns to plotting, and in the conclusion of The Tragedy he is apprehended, tried, convicted, and executed. As is usual with Chapman, the two parts of Byron are rich with allusions to classic literature. In addition to those noted above, the French courtier and plotter Picoté uses the rebellion of Catiline as a precedent for Byron''s planned uprising against his king. References to Augustus, Nero, and other ancient figures abound. Later scenes in The Tragedy twice compare Byron''s plotting with the rebellion of the Earl of Essex against Elizabeth in 1601. It has been suggested that the face-slapping scene that caused so much trouble was inspired not by anything in French monarchical history, but by a rumored incident in which Elizabeth struck Essex.

The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron

In this novel, Mia must learn to deal with public life, beginning with a primetime interview Mia is instructed to attend by her Grandmère, despite Mia''s protests. When Mia gets a sore throat, she thinks that the interview will be cancelled, but she is drawn out of her sickbed by the entice of a "secret admirer", and cannot avoid the interview. During the interview itself, Mia accidentally says a number of embarrassing things, including that her mother is pregnant with the baby of her fiancé, Mr. Gianini (who is also Mia''s algebra teacher). The pregnancy revealed, Grandmère organizes for the Royal Genovian Event Planner to be flown to New York from Genovia to plan an elaborate, elitist wedding. Mia has to deal with the unwanted attention brought on by the interview, along with the knowledge that a secret admirer has been sending her emails. On the day of the wedding, Mia discovers that her mom and Mr. G have eloped in Mexico with the help of her father. Mia herself manages to escape the wedding extravaganza in her bridesmaid gown to attend the Halloween screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with her friends, where she discovers that her secret admirer is her biology partner Kenny Showalter. Mia is disappointed, as she has been hoping that it would be Michael, her own crush and Lilly''s older brother. The book ends with Mia philosophically reflecting that what doesn''t kill us makes us stronger, and that she cannot hurt Kenny''s feelings and accepts a date with him. fr:Journal d''une princesse tome 2 it:The Princess Diaries: Una corona per Mia

The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight

In November 1963, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Peter Miller, a German freelance crime reporter, follows an ambulance to the apartment of Salomon Tauber, a Jewish Holocaust-survivor who has committed suicide. The next day, Miller is given the dead man''s diary by a friend in the police. After reading Tauber''s life story and learning that Tauber had been in Riga Ghetto commanded by Eduard Roschmann, "The Butcher of Riga", Miller resolves to search for Roschmann. Miller''s attention is especially drawn to one diary passage in which Tauber describes having seen Roschmann shoot a German Army Captain who was wearing an unusual military decoration. Miller pursues the story and visits the State Attorney General''s office and other offices where he learns that no one is prepared to search for or prosecute former Nazis. But his investigations take him to the famed war-criminal investigator Simon Wiesenthal, who tells him about the society "ODESSA". Miller is approached by a group of Mossad agents who have vowed to search for German war criminals and kill them and have been attempting to infiltrate Odessa. Miller is asked to infiltrate ODESSA and agrees. A former SS member who is working with the team of Israeli agents trains him to pass for a former SS sergeant. Miller visits a lawyer working for ODESSA and after passing a severe scrutiny is sent to meet a passport forger who supplies those members who wish to escape. Slowly Miller unravels the entire system. But Miller''s identity has been compromised, in part by his ill-advised decision to use his own car; the impoverished SS man he is impersonating would not have been able to afford a sports car, and ODESSA sets its top hit man on Miller''s trail. Miller escapes one trap by sheer luck; the hit man then installs a bomb in Miller''s car, but because the sports car has a very stiff suspension the bomb is not triggered while Miller is driving it. Eventually Miller confronts Roschmann at gunpoint and forces him to read from Tauber''s diary. Roschmann admits to killing the German Army captain, now revealed to have been Miller''s father, and attempts to justify his actions. Miller tells Roschmann that he doesn''t care about Roschmann''s Jewish victims; he is there to avenge the death of his father. Miller, momentarily off guard, is disarmed and knocked unconscious by another ODESSA man who leaves in Miller''s car but is killed when he drives over a snow-covered pole and detonates the bomb. Roschmann manages to escape, eventually flying to Argentina. The hit man who has been sent to kill Miller is instead killed by an Israeli agent. While Miller is recovering in hospital, he is told what happened while he was unconscious. Josef, his contact, warns him not to tell anyone the story. He does disclose that with Roschmann (code-named "Vulkan") in Argentina, West German authorities (at the urging of the Israelis) will close Roschmann''s radio factory where a rocket guidance system is being secretly developed for the Egyptian army. ODESSA''s plan to obliterate the State of Israel by combining German technological know-how with Egyptian biological weapons has been thwarted. Josef, in reality Uri ben Shaul, an Israeli army officer, returns to Israel to be debriefed, and performs one final duty. He has taken Tauber''s diary with him and per the last request in the diary, Uri visits Yad Vashem and says Kaddish for the soul of Salomon Tauber.

The Odessa File

The Moon, Mars and Venus have been explored and found unsuitable for colonization. Back on the Earth, two very different factions compete to determine the future of humanity: the Free Scientists, who refuse to accept political, racial and religious divisions, and the nationalists. Armed men seize control of one of the space stations orbiting the planet, convert it into a weapon, and (perhaps accidentally) devastate most of the world''s heavily-populated areas. A fanatic named Arturo Renzi rises up, blaming the catastrophe on the scientists and "techneers" and espousing a return to a simpler, less technological life. When he is assassinated, the Free Scientists are hunted down. Within a period of three days, most are killed; the few remaining survivors are either enslaved by the ruling Peacemen of the Company of Pax or go into hiding, to be tracked down one by one in the following years. Society is structured into three classes, the Peacemen nobility and their landsmen overseers, a vast peasantry, and the work-slaves, composed of actual or suspected scientists. Most technology is rejected and civilization ebbs. Chemist Lars Nordis, his daughter Dessie, and younger brother Dard, are among the lucky ones. They escape the great purge (though Lars is crippled as a result) and find a precarious refuge on a small farm. There, Lars continues his research as best he can and stays in touch with an underground network of scientists working on some great project. One day, Lars finishes his work and notifies his contacts. As a precaution, he makes Dard and Dessie memorize what seems to them to be meaningless words and patterns. But before they can be taken to the last secret stronghold of the scientists, the suspicious local landsman, Hew Folley, calls in the Peacemen to raid their home. Dard and Dessie escape, but Lars is killed. Dard contacts Sach, an agent of the scientists, who agrees to guide them to the refuge. Once inside, Dard learns that the scientists and their supporters are feverishly building a starship to escape the tyranny. They desperately need what Lars was working on - suspended animation. Only it can bring the stars within reach, for the journey will take many, many years. The information that Dard and Dessie had memorized turns out to be what they have been waiting for. But the scientists are racing against time, for the Peacemen are hunting for them. Before they can leave, there is one more task. They need to plot a course using a computer. The only one they know of that still works is located in Pax headquarters. Dard volunteers to lead pilot-astrogator Simba Kimber to it, since he visited the place years ago. They succeed, though they barely avoid capture, and manage to return with the priceless calculations. Then the refuge is found and comes under attack. Fighting a desperate rearguard action, the defenders manage to hold off the Peacemen long enough to blast off. Then, trusting in Lars'' invention, they set their course and undergo suspended animation. When they awaken (though a few never do), they find themselves near a star with a hospitable planet. They land and begin to build their new colony. While exploring the surroundings, they discover a cargo container; though they detected no signs of technology from orbit, the planet may still be inhabited by an intelligent race. Dard goes along on a scouting expedition. The explorers find the remains of a road, which leads to a war-wrecked, abandoned city. While travelling in their rocket sled, they barely survive being shot down by decrepit, automated anti-aircraft guns. The sled can barely fly, so some of the explorers have to walk back. When they return, they find a thriving settlement. Soon afterwards, Dessie protects a "sea baby" from small flying "dragons". It turns out that the creature is intelligent. Its parents appear out of the ocean and retrieve their offspring. Seeing that the humans are friendly, their tribe or clan is soon trading goods and information. They are telepathic and can communicate with the newcomers if they hold hands. They reveal that they were once the slaves of the species that built the city. They escaped when the Others warred with each other. Now there are none of the Others left on the continent, but they still live across the sea. But that is a problem for another day. For now, the humans have found a new home.

The Stars are Ours!

Abner Marsh, a remarkably unattractive but highly skilled steamboat captain, is grappling with a financial crisis in 1857 when he is contacted by Joshua York, a rich, soft-spoken gentleman. They become unlikely business partners, with Joshua winning Abner over by promising to finance the construction of a magnificent new steamboat that will be larger, faster, and more opulent than any other riverboat ever constructed: the pride of the Mississippi River. When finally completed, she is everything Abner has ever dreamed of piloting. The large white, blue, and silver paddle steamer is christened Fevre Dream, for Abner''s previously-failing company, the Fevre River Packet Company; Joshua and Abner co-captain the new vessel, with Abner being solely responsible for her actual command and navigation. Many questions are soon raised by both the crew and passengers about Joshua York and his circle of unusual friends, who hardly ever venture out of their cabins during daylight hours. Abner''s own suspicions about his mysterious partner begin to grow when he finds scrapbooks in Joshua''s cabin containing newspaper clippings detailing many mysterious, unexplained deaths. He confronts Joshua, who reveals that he and his friends are vampire hunters; they are using the Fevre Dream as their base of operations to investigate a trail of unusual deaths and disappearances along the mighty river. In time, however, Joshua finally reveals the whole truth: he and his friends are themselves vampires, very humanlike living beings specialized to and recurrently dependent upon hunting humans, characterized by Joshua as "... a different race." Many of Joshua''s kind consider him the "Pale King" lord (or "bloodmaster") to all vampires, and all of his traveling companions have submitted to him as such. Joshua has developed a potion, using ancient alchemy and the rudiments of the chemistry of the day, which controls the blood-fever of all vampires; he is on a personal crusade to free his people of their need to feed on the warm, living blood of humanity. The evil and amoral Damon Julian, a rival bloodmaster, formerly of New Orleans, soon learns of Joshua''s efforts; he boards the Fevre Dream with his own entourage of vampire followers and manages to overpower and depose Joshua, becoming the new Pale King of all vampires aboard the riverboat. Damon forces Abner out and begins to use the Fevre Dream for his own nefarious purposes, eventually disappearing down the river, never to be seen or heard from again. Abner becomes obsessed with his lost, now demonic ship, and spends his remaining fortune searching up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries, until he is finally forced to give up the search. Marsh later serves as a naval officer during the American Civil War, all the while being haunted by the memory of his lost riverboat. Some years later, after receiving a surprising letter from Joshua, a much older Abner Marsh returns and vows to help Joshua finally depose of the evil bloodmaster who has ruined both of their dreams. But this proves to be a very difficult task; the vampires eventually square-off, and with Abner''s aid, Joshua finally overpowers Damon and becomes the Pale King once again. In the process, Marsh finally discovers the horrible fate that has befallen his beloved Fevre Dream. The novel closes many decades later by suggesting that all vampires, though still effectively immortal, were eventually freed from their blood addiction by Joshua''s potion and Abner''s brave efforts on their behalf; they make nighttime pilgrimages to Abner''s grave overlooking the Mississippi, continuing to honor his heroic contribution to their cause of freedom.

Fevre Dream

The Art of Keeping Cool deals with the difficulties of childhood during WWII. in 1942, making sense of his family is especially difficult for thirteen-year-old Robert, whose father has been deployed in Europe with the Royal Canadian Air Force for more than six months. After Pearl Harbor, Robert and his family moved from their farm in Ohio to live with his father''s parents in Rhode Island. This living situation is strange to Robert, who has never met his grandparents or his cousin Elliot who also lives in Rhode Island. He finds it even more odd that neither his mother or his extended family ever discuss his father. Robert must search to find reason for the unexplainable family dynamic. With the help of Elliot and an exiled German painter named Abel Hoffman, Robert uncovers with the dark history of his father''s family. After a little time elliot starts going to abel hoffman''s house to sketch.One day when elliot didn''t go to abel''s Robert asks why.Elliot said abel was beat up by some people just because he was German. *Scott O''Dell Award for Historical Fiction, winner, 2001 *Riverbank Review Book of Distinction, winner, 2001 *ALA Notable Children''s Book *Horn Book Fanfare *Junior Library Guild Selection *Scholastic Book Club Selection

The Art of Keeping Cool

The book is set in a large house called Warings near the village of Derne. It was once a grand countryside mansion, but has since fallen into disrepair and decay. Joseph Hooper has inherited the house, and lives with his son Edmund Hooper. They have a cold, formal relationship which lacks compassion. Joseph announces that a housekeeper will be moving in, who will also bring her son who is of a similar age to Edmund. Mrs. Helena Kingshaw, and her son Charles Kingshaw arrive at Warings. Hooper becomes defensive of his house, and instantly takes a disliking to Kingshaw. He mocks him about his social class and father, and a small fight ensues where Kingshaw punches Hooper. Kingshaw then attempts to escape Warings, but is attacked by a vicious crow. The crow is thought to symbolize Hooper, who is very protective of his territory. Animalistic symbolism is used throughout the novel. Hooper proceeds to taunt and bully Kingshaw, who acts as the weak victim in their relationship. They venture to Hang Wood together, where Hooper''s weaknesses become apparent and Kingshaw seems to retrieve some kind of power. However, it is apparent that Kingshaw does not have the capacity to be cruel. This pattern of cruelty continues throughout the book within the isolated setting of Warings. Both parents seem oblivious to their fights, and lack an understanding of their children''s antics. They travel to Hang Wood on a few more occasions. It appears that Hooper is vulnerable in this setting, away from his home. The family decide to take a trip to Leydell Castle. Here, Kingshaw further exploits Hoopers fears as they climb the ancient monument. Hooper falls by accident, and badly injures himself. Even though Kingshaw tried to save him Hooper accuses Kingshaw of pushing him and is believed by the adults. Kingshaw is convinced that he has killed Hooper. As Hooper recovers, it appears that Kingshaw gains independence and meets a local boy by the name of Fielding. Fielding appears confident and well-rounded, and takes Kingshaw to his farm where he witnesses the birth of a calf. This is in stark contrast to Warings, which is full of death morbidity. Glass cabinets filled with moths are used to symbolize the decay of the Hooper dynasty. Fielding offers Kingshaw hope away from the manipulative clutches of Hooper. However, once Hooper returns to health, the normal regime of taunting resumes. Hooper''s cruelty climaxes, and Kingshaw is devastated when he discovers that Helena and Joseph have agreed to marry, and that Hooper and Kingshaw will attend school together. The novel ends with Kingshaw committing suicide by drowning himself in a river in Hang Wood and Mrs. Kingshaw comforting Hooper who is described as feeling a sense of triumph.

I''m the King of the Castle

The novel begins in the final days of Nazi Germany with Hitler sheltering in his bunker. Hitler officially commits suicide along with Eva Braun. However, after Eva kills herself, a preselected double takes Hitler''s place and is disposed of along with Braun in the Chancellery yard for the Russians to find. The real Hitler escapes the bunker along with Colonel Günther Brumm, a German commando officer and together with a rag tag team, escape Berlin. Stalin meanwhile has intuitively deduced that the psychological make-up of Hitler is not that of a man who would commit suicide. Hence he sets up a special team of five operatives with wide ranging powers to round up Hitler and bring him back for Stalin''s personal revenge. The novel soon becomes both a thrilling chase and a ruthless game of cat and mouse. Hitler and his protectors make their way across Germany, a charred wasteland where Hitler''s dreams of glory lie in ruins and ashes. Their ultimate goal is Italy (where they have been promised sanctuary) but the Russian team is in hot pursuit. Along the way, Heywood provides an unforgettable historical snapshot of the aftermath of World War II. It is worth noting that many of the German survivors are depicted as admirable, while Red Army and even United States Army personnel are shown to be either timid, short-sighted, or corrupt. In one particularly chilling sequence, US Army Major Rosemary Wilson, a rich older woman, stumbles upon Waller, the beautiful German girl who is carrying the plans for Hitler''s escape. Instead of interrogating the girl or turning her over to the American MP''s, Major Wilson insists on renting a room for Waller and taking her to dinner at a small, dimly lit restaurant nearby. Wholly intent upon a classic lesbian seduction, Rosemary Wilson proves no match for the highly-disciplined German girl. She drinks far too much at dinner and falls into bed in a state of blissful anticipation, only to be found dead the next morning with an SS dagger buried in her breast. The Russians ultimately catch Hitler and bring him back to Stalin. Hitler is secretly imprisoned in a hanging cage in a sub-basement of the Kremlin which is too small for Hitler to either stand or lie fully. He is fed scraps through the bars of the cage and allowed no toilet facilities. Over the years, Hitler changes to a filthy, senile beast who has his right leg amputated above the knee and his left leg amputated above the ankle as gangrene sets in. He is finally executed by Petrov when Stalin is on his death bed and the sub-basement in which Hitler was kept is walled off forever.

The Berkut

The play telescopes most of Edward II''s reign into a single narrative, beginning with the recall of his favourite, Piers Gaveston, from exile, and ending with his son, Edward III, executing Mortimer Junior for the king''s murder. Marlowe''s play opens at the outset of the reign, with Edward''s exiled favourite, Piers Gaveston, rejoicing at the recent death of Edward I and his own resulting ability to return to England. In the following passage he plans the entertainments with which he will delight the king: :Music and poetry is his delight; :Therefore I''ll have Italian masques by night, :Sweet speeches, comedies, and pleasing shows; :And in the day, when he shall walk abroad, :Like sylvan nymphs my pages shall be clad; :My men, like satyrs grazing on the lawns, :Shall with their goat-feet dance an antic hay. :Sometime a lovely boy in Dian''s shape, :With hair that gilds the water as it glides, :Crownets of pearl about his naked arms, :And in his sportful hands an olive tree :To hide those parts which men delight to see, :Shall bathe him in a spring; and there, hard by, :One like Actaeon, peeping through the grove, :Shall by the angry goddess be transformed, :And running in the likeness of a hart :By yelping hounds pulled down and seem to die. :Such things as these best please his majesty. (I.i.53-70) Upon Gaveston’s re-entry into the country, Edward gives him titles, access to the royal treasury, and the option of having guards protect him. Although Gaveston himself is not of noble birth, he maintains that he is better than common people and craves pleasing shows, Italian masques, music and poetry. However much Gaveston pleases the king, however, he finds scant favour from the king''s nobles, who are soon clamouring for Gaveston''s exile. Edward is forced to agree to this and banishes Gaveston to Ireland, but Isabella of France, the Queen, who still hopes for his favour, persuades Mortimer, who later becomes her lover, to argue for his recall, though only so that he may be more conveniently murdered. The nobles accordingly soon find an excuse to turn on Gaveston again, and eventually capture and execute him. Edward in turn executes two of the nobles who persecuted Gaveston, Warwick and Lancaster. Edward now seeks comfort in a new favourite, Spencer, and his father, decisively alienating Isabella, who takes Mortimer as her lover and travels to France with her son in search of allies. France, however, will not help the queen and refuses to give her arms, although she does get help from Sir John of Hainault. Edward, both in the play and in history, is nothing like the soldier his father was — it was during his reign that the English army was disastrously defeated at Bannockburn — and is soon outgeneralled. Edward takes refuge in Neath Abbey, but is betrayed by a mower, who emblematically carries a scythe. Both Spencers are executed, and the king himself is taken first to Kenilworth. His brother Edmund, Earl of Kent, after having initially renounced his cause, now tries to help him but realizes too late the power the young Mortimer now has. Arrested for approaching the imprisoned Edward, Edmund is taken to court, where Mortimer, Isabella, and Edward III preside. He is executed by Mortimer, who claims he is a threat to the throne, despite the pleading of Edward III. The prisoner king is then taken to Berkeley Castle, where he meets the luxuriously cruel Lightborn, whose name is an anglicised version of "Lucifer". Despite knowing that Lightborn is there to kill him, Edward asks him to stay by his side. Lightborn, realizing that the king will not fall for deception, kills him. Maltravers and Gurney witness this before Gurney kills Lightborn to keep his silence. Later, however, Gurney flees, and Mortimer sends Maltravers after him, as they fear betrayal. Isabella arrives to warn Mortimer that Edward III, her son with Edward II, has discovered their plot. Before they can plan accordingly, her son arrives with attendants and other lords, accusing Mortimer of murder. Mortimer denies this, but eventually is arrested and taken away. He tells Isabella not to weep for him, and the queen begs her son to show Mortimer mercy, but he refuses. Edward III then orders Mortimer''s death and his mother''s imprisonment, and the play ends with him taking the throne.

Edward II

"Against Interpretation" is Sontag''s seminal essay within Against Interpretation and Other Essays that discusses the divisions between two different kinds of art criticism and theory: that of formalist interpretation, and that of content-based interpretation. Sontag is strongly averse to what she considers to be contemporary interpretation, that is, an overabundance of importance placed upon the content or meaning of an artwork rather than being keenly alert to the sensuous aspects of a given work and developing a descriptive vocabulary for how it appears and how it does whatever it does. She believes that interpretation of the modern style has a particular “taming” effect: reducing the freedom of a subjective response and placing limitations or certain rules upon a responder. The modern style of interpretation is particularly despised by Sontag in relation to the previous classical style of interpretation that sought to “bring artworks up to date”, to meet modern interests and apply allegorical readings. Where this type of interpretation was seen to resolve conflict between past and present by revamping an art work and maintaining a certain level of respect and honour, Sontag believes that the modern style of interpretation has lost sensitivity and rather strives to “excavate...destroy” a piece of art. Sontag asserts that the modern style is quite harmful; to art and to audiences alike, enforcing hermeneutics- fallacious, complicated “readings” that seem to engulf an artwork, to the extent that analysis of content begins to degrade, to destroy. Reverting back to a more primitive and sensual, almost magical experience of art is what Sontag desires; even though that is quite impossible due to the thickened layers of hermeneutics that surround interpretation of art and that have grown to be recognised and respected. Sontag daringly challenges Marxian and Freudian theories, claiming they are “aggressive and impious”. Sontag also refers to the contemporary world as one of “overproduction... material ”, where one''s physical senses have been dulled and annihilated by mass production and complex interpretation to the extent that appreciation of the form of art has been lost. To Sontag, modernity means a loss of sensory experience and she believes (in corroboration with her theory of the damaging nature of criticism) that the pleasure of art is diminished by such overload of the senses. In this way, Sontag asserts that inevitably, the modern style of interpretation separates form and content in a manner that damages an artwork and one''s own sensorial appreciation of a piece. Though she claims that interpretation can be “stifling”, making art comfortable and “manageable” and thus degrading the artist’s original intention, Sontag equally presents a solution to the dilemma she sees as an abundance of interpretation on content. That is, to approach art works with a strong emphasis on form, to “reveal the sensuous surface of art without mucking about in it.”

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man

By Marshall McLuhan

The Glass Lake

By Maeve Binchy

The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron

By George Chapman

The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight

By Meg Cabot

The Odessa File

By Frederick Forsyth

The Stars are Ours!

By Andre Norton

Fevre Dream

By George R. R. Martin

The Art of Keeping Cool

By Janet Taylor Lisle

I'm the King of the Castle

By Susan Hill

The Berkut

No Author Listed

Edward II

By Christopher Marlowe

Against Interpretation

By Susan Sontag