Moveable Designs, Liminal Aesthetics, and Cultural Production in America since 1772

The book Moveable Designs explores the liminal aesthetics of U.S. cultural and literary practice, arguing that inner conflict, divisiveness, and contradiction are integral to the nation's cultural designs, themes, and motifs. It suggests that U.S. literary and cultural practice is permeated by 'moveable designs' that constitute an integral element of American national self-fashioning, and that the pervasive liminality of U.S. cultural production is the key to understanding the resilience of American culture.

Format: Hardback
Length: 297 pages
Publication date: 01 December 2022
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG

The book delves into the enigmatic realm of U.S. cultural and literary practices, challenging the notion of a presumed unity of the American experience. Through its exploration, Moveable Designs posits that inner conflict, divisiveness, and contradiction are fundamental to the nation's cultural designs, themes, and motifs. The study suggests that U.S. literary and cultural practice is permeated by "moveable designs," flexible yet constant features of hegemonial practice that constitute an integral element of American national self-fashioning. The inherently pervasive liminality of U.S. cultural production holds the key to understanding the resilience of American culture. Moveable Designs examines artistic expressions across various media types, seeking to shed light on critical phases of U.S. American literature and culture, spanning from the revolutionary years to the movements of romanticism, realism, and modernism, up to the postmodern era. It employs a diverse range of approaches, including cultural history, social anthropology, and phenomenology. By connecting an analysis of literary and cultural texts with design theory, the book proposes a novel perspective on understanding American culture as design. It is a distinctive feature of American culture that it harnesses potency from its inner conflicts and apparent disunities. What we perceive as an identifiable "American identity" is, in reality, the outcome of highly vulnerable, alternating processes of dissolution and self-affirmation.

Weight: 536g
Dimension: 217 x 155 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783031136108
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022