| Toward an Ethical Aesthetics describes, through the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, the ethical imagination that animates avant-garde jazz and New York School poetry. These two arts exhibit a radically subjective turn. Critics have misunderstood, misrepresented, or ignored the subjective method because it demands more engagement from audiences. The philosophy, music and poetry have been marginalized, especially in academic discussions, as a result. This work seeks to repair previous critical misunderstandings and to point toward a more ethically aware aesthetic that is implied in the two subject areas.;While the music and poetry are not presented as more ethical ways to create than others, their place in their respective historical traditions and their major innovations can be heard as ethical reactions to their traditions. For this reason, it is important to see avant-garde jazz and New York School poetry as part of larger traditions as opposed to breaks from those traditions. Because this has been a particular problem with avant-garde jazz, a large amount of space is given to jazz history as an increasing movement toward subjective expression. The first step toward a more ethical aesthetic is for critics to have a more inclusive approach per Levinas, avant-garde jazz, and New York School poetry with regard to academic tradition. They cannot continue to be obscured just because they challenge more "objectively" determined criteria.;In the end, Toward an Ethical Aesthetics calls for a collapse of fixed roles among artists and critics. Because the artists' approaches are interdisciplinary, the criticism must be so as well. Each subject area informs the others, but there is so much restorative work needed for critical approaches to these subjects that this work can only be a point of departure for more ambitious studies. |
