The Sublime and the Subliminal: Modern Identities and the Aesthetics of Combat

Ferguson, H. (2004) The Sublime and the Subliminal: Modern Identities and the Aesthetics of Combat. Theory, 21(3), pp. 1-33.

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Abstract

The article considers some aspects of the problem of both individual & collective identity in the context of the development of different kinds of warfare in modern western society. The elucidation of these relations requires an unexpected application of aesthetic ideas; in particular the notion of the sublime. It is argued that the experience of combat is one possible 'real' form of the sublime. It is further suggested, paradoxically, that sublime combat cannot actually be experienced; it is an 'inexperience'. The historical significance of modern western war literature, thus, is just that it fills the 'gap' left by the destructive inexperience of combat & it allows those who endured it, as well as those who did not, to construct a 'memory' of the events themselves.

Item Type:Articles
Keywords:Aesthetics, Collective Memory, Combat, Identity, Modernity, War
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Ferguson, Prof Harvie
Authors: Ferguson, H.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
Journal Name:Theory
ISSN:0263-2764

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