
Modernism: The Lure of Heresy - From Baudelaire to Beckett and Beyond
Peter Gay
In his most ambitious endeavour since Freud, acclaimed cultural historian Peter Gay traces and explores the rise of Modernism in the arts, the cultural movement that heralded and shaped the modern world, dominating western high culture for over a century.
He traces the revolutionary path of modernism from its Parisian origins to its emergence as the dominant cultural movement in world capitals such as Berlin and New York, presenting along the way a thrilling pageant of hereitcs that includes Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Walter Gropius and Any Warhol. The result is a work unique in its breadth and brilliance.
Lavishly illustrated, Modernism is a superb achievement by one of our greatest historians.
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About Peter Gay
Reviews for Modernism: The Lure of Heresy - From Baudelaire to Beckett and Beyond
Stephen Greenblatt Superbly researched and well recounted. The extent to which many [modernists] "sold out" to their wealthy patrons, adopting the values they once scorned, makes for some engrossing reading
Scotsman
Highly readable, well-illustrated...an intelligent and exciting account of creative individuals and the times in which they worked... An enormous achievement
New Statesman
An exhaustive and lively summary
James Urquhart
Financial Times
Written... with a polymathematical verve which carried me with him to the end
Nicholas Bagnall
Sunday Telegraph
An absorbing account of how international artistic rebellion became mainstream and lucrative
Christopher Hirst
Independent
Peter Gay has outdone himself. In his hands Modernism adds up to more than the sum of its subversive, sensational, unsettling parts. This is cultural history of the highest magnitude, a work as astute in its analyses as it is massive in its ambition. And as ever, it is written with stunning lucidity. A splendid, invigorating achievement
Stacy Schiff A wonderful book. You can be sure that students and journalists and teachers will be stealing from Modernism for years to come. Bravo!
Hilton Kramer