Read more
A Critical Theory of Creativity argues that a Utopian drive is aesthetically encoded within the language of form. But coupled with this opportunity comes a very human obligation which cannot be delegated to God, to nature or to market forces. As Ernst Bloch declared: 'Life has been put into our hands.'
List of contents
Introduction 1. Visions -and Derisions- of Utopia 2. Ernst Bloch and Utopian Critical Theory 3. Homo Aestheticus 4. Case Study: Navajo Design, Culture and Theology 5. Archetypes, the Unconscious and Psychoanalysis 6. Roger Fry and the Language of Form 7. From Genesis to Job 8. Homo Absconditus 9. Conclusion: The Republic of Heaven
About the author
Richard Howells is Professor of Cultural Sociology at King's College London, UK, where he specialises in visual and popular culture, together with cultural and critical theory. He studied at Harvard and Cambridge universities and lives in London and West Sussex with his wife, the designer Sarah Howson.
Summary
A Critical Theory of Creativity argues that a Utopian drive is aesthetically encoded within the language of form. But coupled with this opportunity comes a very human obligation which cannot be delegated to God, to nature or to market forces. As Ernst Bloch declared: 'Life has been put into our hands.'
Additional text
“The great strength of Howells’s book is that it is, in the very best sense of the word, interdisciplinary. … his A Critical Theory of Creativity is a celebration of the human spirit and the ‘Christ-impulse’ that compels us all to hope even in the face of the inhuman. It is absolutely indispensable reading especially for scholars of Bloch who want to better understand how his ideas relate to the creative and the visual.” (Duncan Reyburn, English Academy Review, Vol. 33 (1), April, 2016)
Report
"The great strength of Howells's book is that it is, in the very best sense of the word, interdisciplinary. ... his A Critical Theory of Creativity is a celebration of the human spirit and the 'Christ-impulse' that compels us all to hope even in the face of the inhuman. It is absolutely indispensable reading especially for scholars of Bloch who want to better understand how his ideas relate to the creative and the visual." (Duncan Reyburn, English Academy Review, Vol. 33 (1), April, 2016)
