Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 9 Number 3, December 2008
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Hagberg, Gary. Art and Ethical Criticism. New York: Wiley Blackwell Publishing, 2008. 304 pages, ISBN: 9781405134835, hardcover $89.95
Reviewed by
Saint Vincent College
If cleanliness is next to godliness, Jeff Lewis, star of Bravo TV’s hit reality show “Flipping Out,” is one of the saintliest people among us. Each week, viewers are privy to the trials and tribulations of this masterful home decorator and renovation guru. But while his design sensibilities are beyond repute, his employees and friends - and now the viewing audience - know the man a bit more intimately. He can be cold, removed, paranoid (at times justifiably) and mean. He even went so far as to install a nanny cam in his home office to catch an employee not working. Though it turned out he was right, his actions were extreme. One wonders in fact, if Jeff Lewis is not as saintly as his perfect homes suggest. There is more to the immaculate interiors and beautiful furnishings then first meets the eye.
“Art and Ethical Criticism,” a collection of essays edited by Garry L. Hagberg, examines similar questions. As Hagberg describes the book and defines ethical criticism as the “task of elucidating the ethical content of the arts, the character and viability of our ethical responses to them, and the nature of the moral benefit provided by a serious engagement with literature, the visual arts, and music…” From this beginning he offers a series of essays that create a palimpsest of approaches to his question.
For example, Paul Guyer, in “Is Ethical Criticism a Problem? A historical perspective,” places Kant’s disinterestedness back into historical context. Beginning with a survey of the common aesthetic approaches, Guyer quotes Diderot from 1765, “One should inscribe upon the door of one’s studio: Here the unfortunate will find eyes that will weep for them.” Not only should the artist be affected by hardship, Guyer argues, but his work should inspire such a response in others. “…The arousal of morally significant and appropriate emotions by the vivid and engaging depiction of characters is an essential aim of art,” Guyer writes. Therefore, a work is to be judged on how well it performs this task. Later in the essay, Guyer discusses Kant who agreed that moral content of a work of art is as much a part of it as its aesthetic merits. Therefore ethical criticism is at play as much as aesthetics. Guyer’s discussion enriches our current understanding of Kant’s theories.
In “Narrative and the Ethical Life,” Noel Carrol writes about ethical questions as presented in novels. For him it is clear that narrative influences judgment. What complicates the issue is the level of detail attainable in a novel. Historical setting, character and many other components that enrich the text also affect the kinds of moral decisions made by the players and our judgment of them. More specifically, once an author sets up the setting and mood of the book, be it historical, fantastical, etc., all elements within the novel must align themselves to that form. Just as Jeff Lewis would not accept anything out of place in one of his homes, so too should the reader reject a spaceship landing in the middle of an Elizabethan novel. What is permitted, Carroll calls, “critical prefocusing,” elements that guide the reader to accept or reject certain decisions made by the characters even if those decisions seem immoral. Ultimately, all decisions must fall within the realm of possibility allowed by the setting.
Where as Carroll discusses the complexity of novels and how they present rich moral questions because of their form, Joshua Landy questions the effect of literature with regard to moral decision-making. In his witty account of teaching Chaucer’s “Nun’s Priests Tale” in which the interpretation of dreams is a possible moral position, his class, in apathetic surprise thinks their teacher is crazy because dreams do not tell the future. Landy continues the story of the misguided teacher and the disaffected students to analyze the power of tales to instruct. Ultimately, He leaves the persuasive power of fables in doubt.
One thing that a tour of a Jeff Lewis house reveals is his impeccable taste. Vases of flowers and perfectly aligned centerpieces break up the monotony of angular furniture. One wonders what Paisley Livingston, who discusses Virginia Woolf’s “Solid Objects,” would think of this obsession abotu minutia. He might think that like the character in Woolf’s story, Mr. Lewis is too attentive to such things. He describes the common interpretation of “Solid Objects” as a caution against “aesthetic absorption” that ignores all other worldly things in favor of obsessive collecting. Livingston, however, has another motive for this story, one that may enliven interpretation of Woolf’s work. He suggests that John, the obsessive collector in the story, is a critique of the aesthetician, Clive Bell. Using letters written to Bell by Woolf, Livingston’s work enriches our understanding not only of this one story, but of all of Woolf.
There are many other essays, including one by the editor entitled “Jazz Improvisation and Ehtical Interaction: A Sketch of Connections,” that analyze how the tension between the arts and ethics create instructive models for ethical thinking. It is through this expansive and enjoyable exploration of the affect of the arts that ethical criticism is both thoughtfully examined and playfully illustrated.