On Art and War and Terror - Softcover

Danchev, Alex

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748642595 ISBN 13: 9780748642595

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2011

Synopsis

This book, a collection of Alex Danchev's essays on the theme of art, war and terror, newly available in paperback, offers a sustained demonstration of the way in which works of art can help us to explore the most difficult ethical and political issues of our time: war, terror, extermination, torture and abuse.It takes seriously the idea of the artist as moral witness to this realm, considering war photography, for example, as a form of humanitarian intervention. War poetry, war films and war diaries are also considered in a broad view of art, and of war. Kafka is drawn upon to address torture and abuse in the war on terror; Homer is utilised to analyse current talk of 'barbarisation'. The paintings of Gerhard Richter are used to investigate the terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof group, while the photographs of Don McCullin and the writings of Vassily Grossman and Primo Levi allow the author to propose an ethics of small acts of altruism.This book examines the nature of war over the last century, from the Great War to a particular focus on the current 'Global War on Terror'. It investigates what it means to be human in war, the cost it exacts and the ways of coping. Several of the essays therefore have a biographical focus.

About this title

About the Author

Alex Danchev (1955–2016) was Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, and the recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for 2014-17. He was the author of a number of internationally acclaimed biographies, most recently Cézanne (2012), and an influential collection of essays, On Art and War and Terror (2009). He was also the editor of the best-selling 100 Artists’ Manifestos (2011).

From the Back Cover

AUTHOR APPROVEDFront cover:On Art and War and TerrorAlex Danchev'The range of these beautifully crafted essays is often dazzling. At his best, Danchev reveals himself to be a gifted and profound essayist.'Bryan Cheyette, /The Independent/Back cover:A /Sunday Telegraph/ Book of the Year'Alex Danchev's series of essays remind us why he is one of the most perceptive and witty scholars writing in Britain today.'Andrew Roberts, /The Sunday Telegraph/A /Times Higher Education/ Book of the Week'A powerful, united and beautifully strange book.'Robert Eaglestone, /Times Higher Education/'One of the most important books I have had the pleasure to read in a long time... lucid, illuminating, mesmerizing… a profound reading experience.'/Millennium: Journal of International Studies/'Beautifully lucid and thoughtful essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict.'Karen Shook, /Times Higher Education/The nobility of poetry, says Wallace Stevens, is a violence from within that protects us from a violence without. This is a book about violence of both kinds. It traffics in war poetry, war photography, war films, war stories, war diaries and the like, but also in war itself: in blood - blood like a carwash, as Christopher Logue's Homer has it - and therefore in political legitimacy, moral authority, civility, depravity, terror, torture, honour and conscience; not to speak of strange things like active passivity and senseless kindness. The violence within is illuminating. The violence without is unrelenting. We need all the protection we can get.Alex Danchev is Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of a number of widely acclaimed biographies, of Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Oliver Franks, Basil Liddell Hart and Georges Braque, and co-editor of the bestselling War Diaries of Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke. His latest book is /100 Artists' Ma

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0748642595
• ISBN 13: 9780748642595
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256