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Theory of the Gimmick
Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form
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See moreAcclaimed critic Sianne Ngai theorizes the gimmick as an aesthetic category reflecting the fundamental laws of capitalism. Gimmicks make promises of saving labor and increasing value that we distrust but also find attractive. Exploring the use of this form, Ngai shows how its aesthetic dissatisfactions reflect deeper anxieties about capitalism.
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Description
Christian Gauss Award Shortlist
Winner of the ASAP Book Prize
A Literary Hub Book of the Year
"Makes the case that the gimmick is of tremendous critical value. Lies somewhere between critical theory and Sontag's best work."
- Los Angeles Review of Books
"Ngai exposes capitalism's tricks in her mind-blowing study of the time- and labour-saving devices we call gimmicks."
- New Statesman
"One of the most creative humanities scholars working today. My god, it's so good."
- Literary Hub
"Ngai is a keen analyst of overlooked or denigrated categories in art and life. Highly original."
- 4Columns
"It is undeniable that part of what makes Ngai's analyses of aesthetic categories so appealing is simply her capacity to speak about them brilliantly."
- Bookforum
"A page turner."
- American Literary History
Deeply objectionable and yet strangely attractive, the gimmick comes in many guises: a musical hook, a financial strategy, a striptease, a novel of ideas. Above all, acclaimed theorist Sianne Ngai argues, the gimmick strikes us both as working too little (a labour-saving trick) and working too hard (a strained effort to get our attention).
When we call something a gimmick, we register misgivings that suggest broader anxieties about value, money, and time, making the gimmick a hallmark of capitalism. With wit and critical precision, Ngai explores the extravagantly impoverished gimmick across a range of examples: the fiction of Thomas Mann, Helen DeWitt, and Henry James; the video art of Stan Douglas; the theoretical writings of Stanley Cavell and Theodor Adorno. Despite its status as cheap and compromised, the gimmick emerges as a surprisingly powerful tool in this formidable contribution to aesthetic theory.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Sianne Ngai's Theory of the Gimmick is praised for its insightful and critical examination of the gimmick as a vital aesthetic and economic category in capitalist society. Critics laud Ngai's ability to merge aesthetic theory with Marxist critique, offering a broad exploration of art, literature, and cultural phenomena. Her work is celebrated for its creativity, depth, and originality, drawing connections between economic value, aesthetic judgment, and cultural production, showcasing Ngai as one of the leading cultural theorists of the present day.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674278745
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 06 December 2022
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Illustration: 38 photos, 4 illus.
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 235.0mm
Weight: 522g
Pages: 416
About the Author
Sianne Ngai is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of English at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Ugly Feelings and Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting, winner of the Modern Language Associationβs James Russell Lowell Prize. Her work has been translated into multiple languages.
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Our Aesthetic Categories
The zany, the cute, and the interesting saturate postmodern culture. They dominate the look of its art and commodities as well as our discourse about the ambivalent feelings these objects often inspire. In this radiant study, Sianne Ngai offers a theory of the aesthetic categories that most people use to process the hypercommodified, mass-mediated, performance-driven world of late capitalism, treating...Paperback$4999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Ugly Feelings
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