Concetti Chiave
- The term 'sublime' in aesthetics represents noble and elevated expressions and has been debated by scholars for centuries.
- Burke emphasized the impact of the sublime on the perceiver, prioritizing the experiencer's emotions over the object's qualities.
- Burke's sublime involves a profound encounter with nature and art, causing astonishment and a suspension of the soul's motions.
- In art, sublimity is associated with magnitude, difficulty, and dark colors, evoking feelings of fear and horror rather than pleasure.
- Burke's idea of 'horrible beauty' influenced late 18th-century literature, focusing on themes of obscurity, terror, and introspection.
The concept of the sublime
Scholars have debated the term sublime in the field of aesthetics for centuries.
The term, of Latin origin, refers to a to a linguistic, literary or artistic form which expresses noble or elevated feelings and behaviour.
The writing of Burke contained two themes which are particularly important to conceptions of the sublime.
The first was that the sublime should be discussed in terms of its effects upon the perceiver.
For the first time the person who enjoys sublimity became more important than the qualities of the pleasing object.
Burke's conception of the sublime
In his Philosophical Enquiry Burke generates a conception of the sublime in connection with our encounter with nature as well as art.
The sublime now becomes what causes astonishment,"that state of the soul in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror".
In lesser degrees, the sublime produces admiration, reverence and respect.
In greater degrees, the sublime is that which produces
Objectively, we are terrified by the vastness of the
Characteristics of the sublime in art
In relation to art, Burke lists as sources of sublimity: magnitude, for example of a building; difficulty; magnificence and colour, the sublime excludes white, green, yellow, blue, violet and requires sad and fuscous colours like black, brown or deep purple.
The.sublime does neither arise from the pleasure produced by beautiful forms nor from the detached contemplation of the object, but has its roots in the feeling of fear and horror created by what is infinite and terrible.
The horrible beauty and literature
For example, void, obscurity and silence are sublime. This horrible beauty, identified by Burk, affected the literature of the end of the 18th century.
The taste for obscurity, terror and introspection became the distinguishing feature of the
Domande da interrogazione
- What is the central theme of Burke's conception of the sublime?
- How does Burke describe the characteristics of the sublime in art?
- How did Burke's idea of "horrible beauty" influence literature in the 18th century?
Burke's conception of the sublime focuses on the effects it has on the perceiver, emphasizing the emotional response over the qualities of the object itself. It is associated with feelings of astonishment and horror, as well as admiration and reverence in lesser degrees.
Burke identifies sources of sublimity in art as magnitude, difficulty, magnificence, and specific colors like black, brown, or deep purple. The sublime is rooted in feelings of fear and horror, rather than pleasure from beauty or detached contemplation.
Burke's concept of "horrible beauty," characterized by void, obscurity, and silence, influenced 18th-century literature by fostering a taste for obscurity, terror, and introspection, becoming a distinguishing feature of the period's literary works.
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