Aestheticizm, Anti-aestheticizm, Unaestheticizm - the Reflection of Pluralism of Values of Modern Aesthetics in the Style of Polish Prose at the Turn of the 20th Century

Abstract

The author argues for the necessity of considering the cultural context in research of modern literature and points out the category of pluralism or "non-hierarchical diversity", typical of the modern culture in the most recent decade. Within the style of Polish prose of the 1990's she discovers opposing tendencies: aestheticization, intellectualizaion and emphasis of ugliness, banalization, as vulgarization of language on the one hand and its intellectualization on the other. The author compares these to similar phenomena in the present-day culture: aestheticization of reality, aesthetics of nostalgia and "new brutality", anti-aesthetics, and crossing the limits of traditional value canon.