Page numbers refer to the print edition but are hyperlinked to the appropriate location in the e-book.
Abstract commodity form, 128–37, 142, 156
Abstract formalism, 135, 142; in political life and political violence, 124, 126, 128, 155; of value, 137
Abstract forms, 123; damaged materiality violent schism with, 124, 126, 129, 155, 157, 178, 188; of life, 145; of mediation, 135
Adorno, Theodor, 91, 125; aesthetic theory of, 4, 11–13, 44, 46–49, 55–56, 74, 78, 101, 172–78, 183, 246n37; Aesthetic Theory of, 44, 74, 78; on art as revolution, 47, 87; on commodification, 131–33; Dialectic of Enlightenment of, 13, 81–82, 236n26; on experimental art, 113–14; feminist aesthetics and, 12–13, 175, 180; on heteronomous autonomy of art, 12, 42–44, 47, 50, 54–55, 73–74, 80, 84, 89, 101, 198; modernism theory of, 12–13, 45, 79, 175; on political art, 55–56; on sensibility, 81; on suffering, 71–72; suffrage militancy and aesthetic theory of, 48
Aesthetic forms: female bodies, political violence, and, 123; materiality, body and, 170, 172; materiality of, 158, 170–72, 174, 176; overview, 124–25; political forms and, 14, 171, 245n24
Aesthetic freedom, 237n10; destruction of women’s art and, 93, 98; female anger and, 95–96; femininity and, 93–94; genius and, 91–92; as negative, 44; political freedom and, 42–45, 47, 49, 92–93; women’s community and, 101–2; women’s political freedom struggles and, 88–91, 97, 100–102; Woolf on, 87–98, 100–102
Aesthetic innovation: damaged materiality in political struggles and, 157–89; materiality and form in, 170–89; see also Experimental literature; Women’s aesthetic innovation
Aestheticism, 9
Aesthetic novelty: in art, 44, 45; destruction of women’s art and, 49; freedom of, 45–46; revolution and, 44, 45
Aesthetics: call for return to, 9–10; cultural studies debates about, 8–9, 11, 230n13; Larsen, racial politics, sexuality and, 194–200; Larsen’s trespassing, 151, 200, 203, 208, 211, 213, 215, 219, 225, 226; Marx on practice and, 56–58; passion and, 115–16; political critiques of, 9, 230n14; race and gender perspective of, 10–11; racial and gender politics and, 10, 14–15, 231n20; sensibility and, 6, 56–57, 81–83, 171; see also Art; Feminist aesthetics; specific aesthetics topics
Aesthetics and politics, 196; debates about, 3–4, 124; Larsen’s experimental, 200–10; in Marxist theory, 54, 56, 197–98; melancholia, end of art, and limits of, 52–58; in modernism, 8; see also Art and politics; Feminist aesthetics and politics
Aesthetics of female potentiality: commodity production and, 104–6; of Woolf, 86, 103–19, 238n27, 238n29; see also Feminist aesthetics of potentiality
Aesthetic theory: of Adorno, 4, 11–13, 44, 46–49, 55–56, 74, 78, 101, 172–78, 183, 246n37; of Hegel, 49, 53–58, 89, 171, 173, 180–87, 245n23; modernism and, 51; of modernity, and melancholia, 51–52; new in, 45; see also Feminist aesthetics
Aesthetic Theory (Adorno), 44, 74, 78
Africa: Egypt and, 185–86, 246n40; Hegel on, 141, 185–86; see also Slavery
Agamben, Giorgio, 29, 95, 218, 239n34; biopolitics of bare life of, 6, 109, 126, 142–52, 156, 158, 162, 163, 166, 214, 240n1, 242n27, 243n39; on homo sacer, 142–45, 150–51, 156, 226; on potentiality, 107–10, 115, 116
Anger: melancholia and, 95, 96, 99; overcoming, 99–100; see also Female anger; Resentment
Antiaestheticism, 9
Arendt, Hannah, 142, 242n26; British suffrage militancy and, 20–39; on constituting and constituted power, 29–30; On Revolutionof, 24; revolution theory of, 4, 24–26, 32, 36, 37, 39, 44, 47
Aristotle, 124, 142, 149–50, 242n25
Art: Adorno on political, 55–56; Adorno on revolution and, 47, 87; aesthetic novelty in, 44, 45; Egyptian, 180–83, 185–87; enigma of, 181, 183–87, 246n37; experimental, 46, 55, 112, 113–14, 119; freedom in, 42–47, 49; monstrosity of, 180, 183, 185, 187; new in, 46; race and gender domination in, 75, 81; race and gender exclusion from, 74–75; radically darkened, 55, 69–85; spirit and, 178–86; symbolic, 180–87; women’s suffering in, 71, 82–83; Woolf on, 114–15, 176; see also Aesthetics; Autonomy of art; Black art; End of art; Experimental art; Western art; Women’s art
Art and politics, 196; Adorno on, 55–56; feminist debates about modernism, 7–8; freedom and domination contradiction, and, 49; Western modernity and contradiction between revolutionary and melancholic, 4, 19; see also Aesthetics and politics
Art and propaganda: black, 8, 196–99; freedom and, 197; Harlem Renaissance and, 195, 247n9; Larsen and, 6, 193–200, 203, 205
Artistic practice: female anger and, 96; melancholic crisis of, 53
Art on My Mind: Visual Politics (hooks), 8
Art production: subjugated groups and, 74; of suffragettes, 40–42
Attridge, Derek, 125
Autonomy of art: modernism and, 80–81; sensibility and, 80–82; Western, 74, 75; women’s literature and, 80; see also Heteronomous autonomy of art
Baker, Houston A., Jr., 10, 167, 211, 214, 238n27
Bare life: abstract human rights split with, 127, 159; biopolitics of race and gender, and, 141–56; commodity form and, 240n1; differentiation of, 147; political forms’ separation from, 128–29, 142, 143, 146, 147, 157; in political praxis, 170; political struggles for freedom and, 147–48, 158, 159, 164, 165, 167; production of, 143, 154; resistance and, 148; sovereign decision on, 147, 148, 152, 155, 156; sovereign violence and, 127, 142, 143, 144, 146, 152, 158, 161, 162–63, 165; see also Biopolitics of bare life
Benediction: curse and, 194, 200, 210, 213–15, 218, 222, 223, 225, 226; Larsen and, 194, 200, 210, 213–15, 218, 219, 222, 223, 225–27
Bible: laughter in, 219–20; Noah’s curse in, 194, 210–20, 222, 225; racist interpretations of, 212–13, 216, 219, 221, 222; slavery in, 210–15, 219, 220
Billington-Greig, Teresa (TBG), 23, 27, 29, 35–37
Biopolitics: commodity form and, 126–27; of sovereignty, 128, 142, 146, 149, 157
Biopolitics of bare life, 127, 155; of Agamben, 6, 109, 126, 142–52, 156, 158, 162, 163, 166, 214, 240n1, 242n27, 243n39; social death and, 142
Biopolitics of race and gender: bare life and, 141–56; female body commodification and, 6
Black art: Larsen on, 200, 201; propaganda and, 8, 196–99; racial politics of, 196–99
Black femininity: and black renaissance, 6–7, 77, 84, 85, 194; bodily violence against, 141; commodification of, 135, 139, 141; in Larsen, 6–7, 77, 81, 84, 194, 200, 204, 206, 209–10, 213, 216, 226; political freedom struggles, 168
Black literature: racial politics of, 196; textuality of, 194–95, 246n6
Black political freedom struggles: against racism, 158; black femininity, 168; white parasitism, “commodity scream” and, 165–70
Black subjectivities: commodification of, 139, 241n17; femininity of, 134, 139–40, 165, 168; and renaissance, 77, 209; see also Race
Body: aesthetic forms, materiality and, 170, 172; damaged materiality, literary forms, and violated, 127, 158, 188; feminist aesthetics and form, materiality and, 170, 179–80, 187, 188; feminist aesthetics on sensibility and, 171, 245n27; form, matter and, 127, 157, 170; matter and, 124, 126, 130, 131, 141, 147; see also Female bodies
Body commodification, 139; see also Female body commodification
British Renaissance, 75
British suffrage militancy, 19; Arendt and, 20–39; class in, 30–31; destruction of, 22, 26–27, 33; feminist historians on, 21; feminist theory and, 20, 23; freedom and, 35–37, 42, 47–48; hunger strike in, 158–65; language redefinitions in, 33–34; on militancy, 33–34; novelty of, 28–29, 32, 34; political and public speech in, 32–33; politics of sexuality, and, 37–38; race in, 30, 31; revolutionary praxis of, 28, 29, 33, 34–37, 39, 234n35; right to vote as right to revolt of, 4, 21–24, 26–28, 32, 39–40; see also Women’s Freedom League; Women’s Social and Political Union
Burton, Antoinette, 31, 233n27
Butler, Judith, 20, 62, 63, 116, 123, 124, 133–34
Capitalism: commodity production and, 104–5, 157; femininity and, 105–6; labor in, 57–58, 60, 130–33; Marx on, 57–58; modernism and, 45; political formalism of, 126; praxis limits of, 57; women’s experimental literature, race and gender, and, 12; Woolf on, 104–6
“Character in Fiction” (Woolf), 103–7, 111–12
Commodification: Adorno on, 131–33; of black subjects, 139, 241n17; Irigaray on, 129–33, 136–42, 152, 156, 241n11; Marxist theory of, 129–34, 137, 139, 152, 169; sexual differences and, 137–39; slavery and, 139, 140, 241n17, 241n19; see also Body commodification
Commodity: fetishism, 131, 134, 136, 137, 138; social construction and, 130; value, 130, 131, 133, 138, 142; white parasitism, black political freedom struggles, and scream of, 165–70
Commodity form: abstract, 128–37, 142, 156; bare life and, 240n1; biopolitics and, 126–27; see also Female body commodification
Commodity production, 129–30, 155; aesthetics of female potentiality and, 104–6; capitalism and, 104–5, 157; Woolf on, 104–6
Curse: benediction and, 194, 200, 210, 213–15, 218, 222, 223, 225, 226; biblical, 194, 210–20, 222, 225; Harlem Renaissance and, 211; jokes and, 219; Larsen and, 194, 200, 210–26; patriarchy and, 211, 217–20, 222; of racism, 194, 200, 210–18, 222; of slavery, 210–15, 219–20; trespassing and, 210, 211, 226
Damaged materiality: abstract forms violent schism with, 124, 126, 129, 155, 157, 178, 188; political forms and, 157; in political struggles and aesthetic innovation, 157–89; things and, 224; violated bodies, literary forms, and, 127, 158, 188
Davis, Thadious, 193, 195, 201, 247n7
Death, 136, 145, 153, 154; see also Social death
Destruction: of British suffrage militancy, 22, 26–27, 33; feminist aesthetics, women’s exclusion from politics and literary production, and, 5
Destruction of women’s art: aesthetic freedom and, 93, 98; aesthetic novelty and, 49; female poet and, 90, 94, 99; Larsen and, 48, 49–50, 75–78, 209, 210; transformation into possibility, 48–50, 79, 100, 102; Woolf and, 48, 49–50, 75–76, 78, 90, 93–95, 98–100, 119
Dialectic of Enlightenment (Adorno), 13, 81–82, 236n26
Domination: melancholia as symptom of, 62–63; Woolf and, 94; see also Freedom/domination contradiction; Race and gender domination
Du Bois, W. E. B., 62, 186, 195–201, 203, 216
Egypt: Africa and, 185–86, 246n40; art of, 180–83, 185–87; Hegel on, 180–83, 185–86; Sphinx of, 180–81, 185–87
End of art: Hegel on, 49, 53–55, 58, 89; Larsen on, 209; melancholia, political aesthetics limits, and, 52–58; race and gender in, 54; as radically darkened art, 55; see also Destruction of women’s art
Enigma: of art, 181, 183–87, 246n37; Hegel on, 183–87; of Larsen’s literature, 184, 194, 199, 201, 204, 206, 207, 219–22, 226, 246n4; in literature, 184; of racial and sexual differences, 181, 185, 186, 187; textuality, 194; of women’s modernism, 184
Essentialism: feminist theory of, 136; mediation and, 133; social construction and, 129–32, 135
Experimental aesthetics, 106, 158; feminist politics of sexual differences and, 87; politics of Larsen’s, 200–10; racial and gender politics of, 14
Experimental art, 46, 55, 112, 119; Adorno on, 113–14
Experimental literary forms, 3, 113–14
Experimental literature, 158, 174, 239n34; female potentiality and, 106, 112; gender politics and, 86, 87; Larsen and, 200–10; and opposition to material injuries, 3–4; Woolf and, 87, 103–4, 106, 108, 110–14, 116–19; see also Aesthetic innovation; Women’s experimental literature
Felski, Rita, 10–11
Female: domination and Woolf, 94; renaissance, 210; sexuality in Larsen, 81; see also specific women topics
Female anger: aesthetic freedom and, 95–96; artistic practice and, 96; female melancholia and, 95, 96, 99; in women’s literature, 96; women’s political freedom struggles, and, 97; Woolf on, 95–97, 99–100
Female bodies: aesthetic forms, political violence, and, 123; commodification, violence and, 137, 141; naturalized, 117–18; political forms and, 165; violence in political life, 124, 128; see also Sexist violence
Female body commodification, 128, 142, 155; biopolitics of race and gender, and, 6; of black female, 135, 139, 141; feminist analyses of, 135–36; Larsen on, 139, 200–5, 208, 209; race in, 139–41; violence and, 137; women’s literature and, 134
Female melancholia: female anger and, 95, 96, 99; Woolf on, 94–96; see also Melancholia
Female poet: destruction of, 90, 94, 99; resurrection of, 98–101; women’s community and, 101–2; Woolf on, 90, 92, 94, 97–102
Female potentiality: experimental literature and, 106, 112; see also Aesthetics of female potentiality
Female subjectivity, 7, 11, 67, 81, 84; black, 200; political theory of revolution and, 4; see also Femininity; Women
Feminine: exploitation of, 171; invention of hunger strike, 159–65; matter and, 123, 124; sensibility and, 171
Femininity: aesthetic freedom and, 93–94; black, 134, 139–40, 165, 168; capitalism and, 105–6; genius and, 91; Larsen and, 6–7, 77, 81, 84, 194, 200, 204, 206, 209–10, 213, 216, 226; revolutionary freedom and, 25, 233n16; slavery and, 91; white, 140, 165; Woolf on, 91–94, 105–6
Feminist aesthetics: Adorno and, 12–13, 175, 180; on body and sensibility, 171, 245n27; destruction, women’s literature and exclusion from politics, and, 5; diverse literary practices and, 15; feminist analyses of philosophical aesthetics and, 1–2; feminist debates about impossibility of, 10–11; form, materiality and body in, 170, 179–80, 187, 188; freedom/domination contradiction and, 49; heteronomous autonomy of art and, 84; literary modernism and, 1; loss, invention and dilemmas of, 1–15; melancholic forms and, 63–65; modernism and, 7, 181, 184, 185; modern women writers and, 1; paucity of theories of, 8; possibilities and impossibilities of, 3; racial and gender politics of modernism, and, 15; racial and sexual differences, and, 180; of renaissance, 191; spirit in, 178; suffrage militancy and, 40, 43
Feminist aesthetics and politics, 14; form/matter divide in, 123–27, 172–73, 187–88; in modernism, 4; of Woolf, 87–88
Feminist aesthetics of potentiality, 3, 5; modernism and, 123; of Woolf, 106
Feminist analyses: of female body commodification, 135–36; of philosophical aesthetics and feminist aesthetics, 1–2; of racial and gender politics, 13
Feminist debates: about art and politics in modernism, 7–8; about feminist aesthetics impossibility, 10–11
Feminist historians, on British suffrage militancy, 21
Feminist politics: of sexual differences, and experimental aesthetics, 87; suffrage militancy in philosophy of, 20–21; see also Feminist aesthetics and politics
Feminist theory: British suffrage militancy and, 20, 23; on essentialism, 136; of heteronomous autonomy of art, 39–50; sensibility in, 11, 80; see also Feminist aesthetics; Race and gender
Fetishism: commodity, 131, 134, 136, 137, 138; terminology of, 139; time and, 131, 241n7
Forcible feedings: hunger strike and, 159–63; as rape, 161, 162
Form: aesthetic innovation, materiality and, 170–89; dialectic of content and, 124–26; feminist aesthetics and materiality, body and, 170, 179–80, 187, 188; feminist aesthetics and melancholia, 63–65; materiality, violence and, 123, 127; materiality and, 123, 124, 126, 127, 157–58, 170, 240n6; matter, body, and, 127, 157, 170; value and, 129, 130–31, 135, 137, 138; see also Abstract forms; Aesthetic forms; Commodity form; Literary forms; Political forms
Formalism, 9, 11, 43, 56; materialism and, 72, 188–89; new, 8, 125–26, 188; see also Abstract formalism; Literary forms; Political formalism
Form/matter divide: in feminist aesthetics and politics, 123–27, 172–73, 187–88; political struggles and, 182, 187–88; race and gender, and, 173, 180, 188, 189; violence and, 124
Freedom: aesthetic novelty and, 45–46; in art, 42–47, 49; art as propaganda and, 197; British suffrage militancy and, 35–37, 42, 47–48; jokes and, 220; melancholia relation to loss of, 63; right to vote as right to revolt, and, 26; see also Aesthetic freedom; Political freedom
Freedom/domination contradiction: art and politics, and, 49; feminist aesthetics and, 49; women’s experimental literature and, 14
Freud, Sigmund, 38; The Ego and the Id of, 64–66; on jokes, 219–21, 223; on melancholia, 52, 62–66, 69
Gandhi, Mahatma, 31, 160, 233n27
Gender and race, see Race and gender
Gender politics: experimental literature and, 87; Woolf on, 86, 87; see also Racial and gender politics
Genius: aesthetic freedom and, 91–92; femininity and, 91; slavery and, 91; Woolf on, 90–92, 100
Harlem Renaissance, 5, 10, 14, 43, 48, 52, 77, 78; art and propaganda, and, 195, 247n9; curse and, 211; Larsen and, 76, 141, 172, 193, 194, 202; racism and, 195, 216
Hegel, G. W. F., 61, 132, 133, 139, 141, 187; aesthetic theory of, 49, 53–58, 89, 171, 173, 180–87, 245n23; on Africa, 141, 185–86; on Egypt, 180–83, 185–86; on end of art, 49, 53–55, 58, 89; on enigma, 183–87; on slavery, 61, 141, 166, 180; on spirit, 132–33, 141, 180–86
Heteronomous autonomy of art: Adorno on, 12, 42–44, 47, 50, 54–55, 73–74, 80, 84, 89, 101, 198; feminist aesthetics and, 84; feminist theory of, 39–50; melancholia and, 84
History: British suffrage militancy and feminist, 21; melancholia as psychoanalytic genealogy of bad side of, 62–64, 66, 67, 69; Woolf on, 93
Homo sacer, 146; Agamben on, 142–45, 150–51, 156; slavery compared to, 148–51, 154
Human rights, 26–28, 34; bare life split with abstract, 127, 159
Hunger strike: in British suffrage militancy, 158–65; feminine invention of, 159–65; forcible feedings and, 159–63; overview of, 160, 244n7; in political struggles for freedom, 163–64
Irigaray, Luce, 6, 80, 105, 119, 123, 124; on commodification, 129–33, 136–42, 152, 156, 241n11
Jokes: curse and, 219; freedom and, 220; Freud on, 219–21, 223; Larsen and, 219–23, 226; laughter and, 219–23, 226; politics and, 219–21, 248n41; race and, 219–22, 248n41
Kaplan, Carla, 200
Kaulbach, Wilhelm von, 66–67
Kristeva, Julia, 24, 38, 67, 68, 71–72, 83
Labor: in capitalism, 57–58, 60, 130–33; concrete, 131, 132, 136; division of, 5, 12, 42, 44, 48, 74, 76, 81, 84, 89, 92, 105, 141; Marx on, 124, 130, 133, 134; movements, 22, 23, 30; slavery and, 60; social, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 138; sovereignty of, 132; see also Workers
Language: melancholia, negation, disavowal, and, 68–69; redefinitions in British suffrage militancy, 33–34; see also Literary forms
Larsen, Nella, 1; aesthetics, sexuality and racial politics in, 194–200; art and propaganda, and, 6, 193–200, 203, 205; benediction and, 194, 200, 210, 213–15, 218, 219, 222, 223, 225–27; on black art, 200, 201; black female renaissance of, 6–7, 77, 84, 194; black femininity in, 6–7, 77, 81, 84, 194, 200, 204, 206, 209–10, 213, 216, 226; curse and, 194, 200, 210–26; destruction of women’s art, and, 48, 49–50, 75–78, 209, 210; endings of literature of, 195, 247n7; on end of art, 209; enigma of literature of, 184, 194, 199, 201, 204, 206, 207, 219–22, 226, 246n4; experimental modernism of, 194, 199; on female body and commodification, 139, 200–5, 208, 209; and female sexuality, 81; Harlem Renaissance and, 76, 141, 172, 193, 194, 202; jokes and, 219–23, 226; laughter and, 219–26; letters of, 77–78, 174, 178, 193, 200, 201, 203–13, 218, 219, 221, 224, 226, 227; literature of, 2, 74, 84, 140, 174, 175, 177, 193–95, 203, 246n2, 247n7; overview of, 193–94; Passing of, 75, 77–78, 178, 194, 200, 202, 205–12, 218–19, 221–22, 224, 226–27; politics of experimental aesthetics, of, 200–10; Quicksand of, 75, 77, 134–35, 141, 153, 196, 199, 202, 205, 214; racial and gender politics of, 195; on racism, 194, 196, 203–6, 208, 209, 212–13, 217, 218, 220–22, 225, 226; on racist violence, 2–3, 75, 77, 194, 200, 205, 207, 210, 211, 219, 224, 225; renaissance and, 75, 77, 218; on sexist violence, 2–3, 200, 225; things and, 219, 223–25; trespassing aesthetics of, 151, 200, 203, 208, 211, 213, 215, 219, 225, 226; on white supremacy, 140, 193–94; women’s aesthetic innovation of, 2–3; “The Wrong Man” of, 203–4
Laughter: in Bible, 219–20; jokes and, 219–23, 226; Larsen and, 219–26; patriarchy and, 219–20, 222; race and, 219–22; things and, 224
Lesbian relationships, in Woolf’s literature, 116–17, 119
Life: abstract forms of, 145; political life and natural, 142–43, 242 n n25–27; potentiality and Woolf, 110–11, 238n29; see also Bare life; Political life
Literary forms: damaged materiality, violated bodies, and, 127, 158, 188; experimental, 3, 113–14; materiality of, 172, 176, 177, 184; women’s suffering and, 83; see also Form
Literature: feminist aesthetics and modernism in, 1; of Larsen, 2, 74, 84, 140, 174, 175, 177, 193–95, 203, 246n2, 247n7; passion in, 116, 239n36; politics of, 125, 175; race and gender domination and negativity in, 73; Woolf on revolution and, 86–90; see also Black literature; Experimental literature
Locke, Alain, 48, 77, 78, 195, 214, 216
Lytton, Constance, 161–64
McDowell, Deborah E., 139, 241n18
Marx, Karl, 54; on capitalism, 57–58; on labor, 124, 130, 133, 134; on practice and aesthetics, 56–58; on workers, prostitution, and slavery, 58–61
Marxist theory, 124–26; aesthetics and politics in, 54, 56, 197–98; Balibar on, 52; of commodification, 129–34, 137, 139, 152, 169
Masculinity, 137–38, 241n11; and maternal body, 167–68
Material injuries: experimental literature opposition to, 3–4; see also Damaged materiality; Violence
Materialism: formalism and, 72, 188–89; Woolf on, 105
Materiality: of aesthetic forms, 158, 170–72, 174, 176; aesthetic forms, body and, 170, 172; aesthetic innovation, form and, 170–89; feminist aesthetics and form, body and, 170, 179–80, 187, 188; form, violence, and, 123, 127; form and, 123, 124, 126, 127, 157–58, 170, 240n6; of literary forms, 172, 176, 177, 184; matter and, 124; political forms and, 170; of production, 124, 126; terminology of, 124; value and, 126–27, 132; see also Body; Damaged materiality
Maternal body, 61, 169; masculinity reclamation of, 167–68; separation from, 67
Matter: body and, 124, 126, 130, 131, 141, 147; femininity and, 123, 124; form, body and, 127, 157, 170; materiality and, 124; passivity of, 123, 124, 130; spirit and, 132, 133, 141, 178–79; see also Body; Form/matter divide; Materiality
Mediation: abstract forms of, 135; essentialism and, 133; social, 135, 136, 138
Melancholia, 236n20; aesthetic notions of revolt, and, 4–5; in aesthetic theories of modernity, 51–52, 58; anger and, 95, 96, 99; condition of modernity, 69; contradictory approaches to, 52–53; domination and, 62–63; end of art, the limits of political aesthetics and, 52–58; excluded women’s experimental literature, and, 5; feminist aesthetics and forms of, 63–65; Freud on, 52, 62–66, 69; heteronomous autonomy of art, and, 84; as hybrid concept, 51; language, negation, disavowal, and, 68–69; loss of freedom relation to, 63; modernism and, 3, 71, 80; overview, 84; in political theories of modernity, 51–53; psychoanalytic genealogy of bad side of history and, 62–64, 66, 67, 69; race, gender and, 53, 73; revolution and, 25–26, 51, 62; as separation from maternal body, 67; social death association with, 66; suffering and, 59, 62, 69–71, 84; women’s suffering and, 70; see also Female melancholia; Suffering
Melancholia in women’s literature, 5, 52, 84–85; overview, 70–71; women’s suffering and, 71–72, 79–80, 83; Woolf and, 80
Melancholic crisis: of artistic practice, 53; of political praxis, 63; in women’s modernism, 71
Melancholic modernism: revolutionary modernism and, 51, 69, 86, 102, 123; women’s revolutionary and, 69
Militancy: British suffrage militancy on, 33–34; see also Political struggles; Suffrage militancy
“Modern Fiction” (Woolf), 87, 103, 113
Modernism: aesthetics and politics in, 8; aesthetic theory and, 51; autonomy of art, and, 80–81; capitalism and, 45; dissonance in, 79; feminist aesthetics, and racial and gender politics of, 15; feminist aesthetics and, 7, 181, 184, 185; feminist aesthetics and politics in, 4; feminist aesthetics of potentiality and, 123; feminist debates about art and politics in, 7–8; Larsen’s experimental, 194, 199; melancholia and, 3, 71, 80; new in, 45; suffrage militancy and, 39–50; Woolf on, 86, 87, 102, 112; see also specific modernism topics
Modernism and theory of Adorno, 12–13, 45, 79, 175
Modernity: emancipatory possibilities of, 146, 242n32; melancholia and aesthetic theories of, 51–52; melancholia and political theories of, 51–52; melancholic condition of, 69; revolution and, 158; see also Modernism; Western modernity
“Modern Novels” (Woolf), 87, 103, 111
Monstrosity: of art, 180, 183, 185, 187; Spillers on, 168, 169, 173, 183, 185, 187
Moten, Fred, 168, 169, 170, 177–78, 248n26
“Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown” (Woolf), 87, 103–7
Musgrave, Lisa Ryan, 8
New: in aesthetic theory, 45; in art, 46; in modernism, 45
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 95
Novelty: of British suffrage militancy, 28–29, 32, 34; revolutionary freedom and, 24, 25, 28–29; see also Aesthetic novelty; Experimental aesthetics
On Revolutio n(Arendt), 24
Orlando (Woolf), 92, 105–9, 116, 117, 118
Pankhurst, Christabel, 22, 23, 28–29, 33
Pankhurst, Emmeline, 22, 23, 27, 29, 32, 33–34
Parasitism, slavery as human, 166
Passing (Larsen), 75, 77–78, 178, 194, 200, 202, 205–12, 218–19, 221–22, 224, 226–27
Passion: aesthetics and, 115–16; in literature, 116, 239n36; potentiality and, 115–16; in Woolf’s work, 115–17, 119
Patriarchy: curse and, 211, 217–20, 222; laughter and, 219–20, 222; racism of, 216–18; Woolf on, 105–6
Patterson, Orlando: on slavery, 126, 128, 148–51, 153–54, 166, 167, 215; on social death, 60–61, 129, 142, 150, 153, 166
Philosophical aesthetics, feminist aesthetics and feminist analyses of, 1–2
Political critiques: of aesthetics, 9, 230n14; melancholia and, 53
Political formalism, 127, 158; of capitalism, 126; violence of, 126, 129, 142, 143
Political forms, 126; aesthetic forms and, 14, 171, 245n24; bare life separation from, 128–29, 142, 143, 146, 147, 157; damaged materiality, 157; female bodies and, 165; materiality and, 170; violence and, 6, 125, 157
Political freedom, 24–25; aesthetic freedom and, 42–45, 47, 49, 92–93; see also Political struggles for freedom; Revolutionary freedom
Political life: female bodily violence in, 124, 128; natural life and, 142–43, 242n n25–27; political violence and abstract formalism in, 124, 126, 128, 155
Political praxis: bare life in, 170; melancholic crisis of, 63; see also Revolutionary praxis
Political struggles, 4, 20, 29, 63; damaged materiality in aesthetic innovation and, 157–89; form/matter divide and, 182, 187–88; race and gender, 157; of subjugated groups, 3, 14, 32, 43, 101, 161; see also Militancy; Resistance
Political struggles for freedom: bare life and, 147–48, 158, 159, 164, 165, 167; hunger strike in, 163–64; see also Black political freedom struggles; Women’s political freedom struggles
Political theory: of female subjectivity and revolution, 4; of modernity, and melancholia, 51–52; on suffrage militancy, 20; see also Revolution theory
Political violence: abstract formalism in political life, and, 124, 126, 128, 155; female bodies, aesthetic forms, and, 123
Politics: feminist aesthetics, destruction, and women’s exclusion from, 5; jokes and, 219–21, 248n41; of literature, 125, 175; rape as weapon of, 147–48, 161, 162–63; of sexuality and British suffrage militancy, 37–38; suffragettes on women’s equality in, 27–28; see also Aesthetics and politics; Art and politics; Biopolitics; Feminist politics; Gender politics
Potentiality: Agamben on, 107–10, 115, 116; feminist aesthetics of, 3, 5; passion and, 115–16; subjugated groups and, 106, 109, 110; Woolf on life, 110–11, 238n29; see also Female potentiality
Poverty of being: prostitution, social death, and, 58–62; workers as universal figures of, 58–60
Power: Arendt on, 29–30; constituting and constituted, 29–30, 35, 36, 39, 234n33; national sovereignty and constituting, 29–30; resistance to, 146, 169
Practice: Marx on aesthetics and, 56–58; see also Artistic practice; Praxis
Praxis: capitalism and limits of, 57; see also Political praxis; Practice
Primitivism: racism and, 81–82, 198; sexuality and, 81–82
Production: of bare life, 143, 154; and materiality, 124, 126; metaphysics of, 132, 136, 141, 241n9; social, 132, 136, 138, 141; see also Art production; Commodity production
Proletariat; see Workers
Propaganda: and race, 196, 197, 199; see also Art and propaganda
Prostitution: Marx on workers, slavery, and, 58–61; social death, poverty of being, and, 58–62
Quicksand (Larsen), 75, 77, 134–35, 141, 153, 196, 199, 202, 205, 214
Race: in British suffrage militancy, 30, 31; female body commodification and, 139–41; jokes and, 219–22, 248n41; laughter and, 219–22; see also Black subjectivities; White
Race and gender: aesthetics from perspective of, 10–11; art and exclusion of, 74–75; in end of art, 54; form/matter divide and, 173, 180, 188, 189; melancholia and, 53, 73; subjectivities, 158; women’s experimental literature, capitalism, and, 12; Woolf on, 92; see also Biopolitics of race and gender; Black femininity
Race and gender domination: in art, 75, 81; literary negativity and, 73; women’s experimental literature negation of, 73
Racial and gender politics: aesthetics and, 10, 14–15, 231n20; of experimental aesthetics, 14; feminist analyses of, 13; of Larsen, 195; of modernism, and feminist aesthetics, 15; political struggles, 157
Racial politics: of black art, 196–99; of black literature, 196; Larsen, aesthetics, sexuality, and, 194–200
Racial and sexual differences: destruction of, 137; enigma of, 181, 185, 186, 187; feminist aesthetics and, 180; Sphinx and, 186, 187
Racism, 158; biblical justification of, 212–13, 216, 219, 221, 222; black political freedom struggles against, 158; curse of, 194, 200, 210–18, 222; Harlem Renaissance and, 195, 216; Larsen on, 194, 196, 203–6, 208, 209, 212–13, 217, 218, 220–22, 225, 226; of patriarchy, 216–18; primitivism and, 81–82, 198; in propaganda, 196, 197, 199; of Western art, 186, 196, 197
Racist violence: Larsen on, 2–3, 75, 77, 194, 200, 205, 207, 210, 211, 219, 224, 225; renaissance and, 200; women’s aesthetic innovation and, 2–3; Woolf on, 2–3; see also Slavery
Rape: forcible feedings as, 161, 162; as political weapon, 147–48, 161, 162–63
Renaissance, 53; black, 77, 209; black female, 6–7, 77, 84, 85, 194; British, 75; cultural, 75; female, 210; feminist aesthetics of, 191; Larsen and, 75, 77, 218; racist and sexist violence, and, 200; see also Harlem Renaissance
Resentment, see Anger
Resistance, 166, 169; bare life and, 148; to power, 146, 169; to slavery, 167–68; see also Militancy; Political struggles
Revolt: melancholia and aesthetic notions of, 4–5; right to vote as right to, 4, 21–24, 26–28, 32, 39–40
Revolution: Adorno on art as, 47, 87; aesthetic novelty and, 44, 45; melancholia and, 25–26, 51, 62; modernity and, 158; political theory of female subjectivity and, 4; in Western modernity, 24; Woolf on literature as, 86–90
Revolutionary freedom: femininity and, 25, 233n16; novelty and, 24, 25, 28–29
Revolutionary modernism: melancholic modernism and, 51, 69, 86, 102, 123; women’s melancholic and, 69
Revolutionary praxis, 25, 43, 158; of British suffrage militancy, 28, 29, 33, 34–37, 39, 234n35; women’s art and, 88; women’s literature and, 89
Revolution theory: of Arendt, 4, 24–26, 32, 36, 37, 39, 44, 47; of suffrage militancy, 21
Right to vote as right to revolt: British suffrage militancy of, 4, 21–24, 26–28, 32, 39–40; freedom and, 26
A Room of One’s Ow n(Woolf), 2, 41, 74, 75, 81, 86, 90–93, 96–98, 103, 105, 107–10, 112, 114, 175
Schiesari, Juliana, 53
Sensibility: Adorno on, 81; aesthetics and, 6, 56–57, 81–83, 171; autonomy of art and, 80–82; feminine and, 171; feminist aesthetics on body and, 171, 245n27; in feminist theory, 11, 80
Sexist violence: Larsen on, 2–3, 200, 225; renaissance and, 200; women’s aesthetic innovation and, 2–3; Woolf on, 2–3; see also Female bodies; Material injuries
Sexual differences, 130; commodification and, 137–39; experimental aesthetics and feminist politics of, 87; see also Racial and sexual differences
Sexuality: British suffrage militancy and politics of, 37–38; Larsen and racial politics and, 194–200; Larsen on female, 81; primitivism and, 81–82; of slavery, 166n15, 249n44
Slavery: Aristotle on, 149–50; in Bible, 210–15, 219, 220; commodification and, 139, 140, 241n17, 241n19; curse of, 210–15, 219–20; femininity and, 91; genius and, 91; Hegel on, 61, 141, 166, 180; homo sacer compared to, 148–51, 154; as human parasitism, 166; labor as, 60; Marx on workers, prostitution, and, 58–61; Patterson on, 126, 128, 148–51, 153–54, 166, 167, 215; resistance to, 167–68; sexuality and, 166n15, 249n44; social death as, 60–61, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 166, 167; Spillers on, 148, 151–53, 155; Woolf on, 75, 91, 92
Social construction, 156; commodity and, 130; essentialism and, 129–32, 135
Social death: biopolitics of bare life and, 142; melancholia association with, 66; Patterson on, 60–61, 129, 142, 150, 153, 166; prostitution, poverty of being, and, 58–62; slavery as, 60–61, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 166, 167
Social labor, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 138
Social mediation, 135, 136, 138
Social production, 132, 136, 138, 141
Social value, 130, 131, 133, 136, 138, 140, 141, 168, 169
Sovereign decision: on bare life, 147, 148, 152, 155, 156; on state of exception, 143, 144, 148, 154, 156
Sovereignty, 150; biopolitics of, 128, 142, 146, 149, 157; constituting power and national, 29–30; of labor, 132
Sovereign violence, 148, 149; bare life and, 127, 142, 143, 144, 146, 152, 158, 161, 162–63, 165
Speech: British suffrage militancy and political and public, 32–33; deeds, not words, 32–33
Sphinx: of Egypt, 180–81, 185–87; racial and sexual differences, and, 186, 187
Spillers, Hortence J., 128, 131, 140–42, 167–69; on monstrosity, 168, 169, 173, 183, 185, 187; on slavery, 148, 151–53, 155
Spirit: art and, 178–86; Hegel on, 132–33, 141, 180–86; matter and, 132, 133, 141, 178–79
Subjectivities: marginalized, 158; race and gender, 158; see also Female subjectivity
Subjugated groups, 28, 59, 94; art production and, 74; political struggles of, 3, 14, 32, 43, 101, 161; potentiality and, 106, 109, 110; see also Women’s subjugation
Suffering: Adorno on, 71–72; Kristeva on, 71–72, 83; melancholia and, 59, 62, 69–71, 84; see also Melancholia; Women’s suffering
Suffragettes, 232n5; art production of, 40–42; on women’s political equality, 27–28
Suffrage militancy: Adorno aesthetic theory and, 48; feminist aesthetics and, 40, 43; in feminist political philosophy, 20–21; modernism and, 39–50; political theory on, 20; revolution theory of, 21; women’s experimental literature and, 42; see also British suffrage militancy
TBG; see Billington-Greig, Teresa
Textuality: black, 194–95, 246n6; enigma, 194
Things: damaged materiality and, 224; Larsen and, 219, 223–25; laughter and, 224
To the Lighthouse (Woolf), 76, 80, 82, 92, 100, 105–7, 112, 114
Trespassing: aesthetics of Larsen, 151, 200, 203, 208, 211, 213, 215, 219, 225, 226; curse and, 210, 211, 226
Value: abstract formalism of, 137; commodity, 130, 131, 133, 138, 142; form and, 129, 130–31, 135, 137, 138; materiality and, 126–27, 132; social, 130, 131, 133, 136, 138, 140, 141, 168, 169
Violence: form, materiality, and, 123, 127; form/matter divide and, 124; of political formalism, 126, 129, 142, 143; political forms and, 6, 125, 157; sovereign, 127, 142, 143, 144, 146, 148, 149, 152; see also Political violence; Racist violence; Sexist violence
Voting rights; see Right to vote as right to revolt; Suffragettes
Weheliye, Alexander, 152, 205, 244n15, 249n44
Western art, 49, 52, 53; autonomy of, 74, 75; hegemony of, 54, 77; racism of, 186, 196, 197
Western modernity: contradiction of revolutionary and melancholic art and politics in, 4, 19; revolution in, 24
WFL; see Women’s Freedom League
White: femininity, 140, 165; parasitism, commodity scream, and black political freedom struggles, 165–70; see also Race
White, Walter, 201, 202, 247n18
White supremacy, 12, 13, 141, 152, 156, 167–68, 196; Larsen on, 140, 193–94
Wiegman, Robyn, 167
Williams, Patricia, 139, 241n17
Women: modern writers and feminist aesthetics, 1; suffragettes on political equality of, 27–28; Woolf on inferiority of, 93–94; see also specific topics on femininity, race and gender
Women’s aesthetic innovation: of Larsen, 2–3; racist and sexist violence, and, 2–3; of Woolf, 2–3, 87
Women’s art: revolutionary praxis and, 88; see also Destruction of women’s art
Women’s community: aesthetic freedom and, 101–2; female poet and, 101–2; women’s political freedom struggles, and, 98; Woolf on, 98, 99, 101–2, 109
Women’s experimental literature, 6; capitalism, race, and gender, and, 12; democratic struggles’ innovative relation to, 14; freedom and domination contradiction, 14; Larsen and, 200–10; melancholia and excluded, 5; and negation of race and gender domination, 73; suffrage militancy and, 42; Woolf and, 103, 106; see also Feminist aesthetics; Women’s modernism
Women’s Freedom League (WFL), 22, 23, 30, 232n11
Women’s literature: autonomy of art, and, 80; female anger in, 96; female body commodification and, 134; feminist aesthetics, destruction, and exclusion from, 5; revolutionary praxis and, 89; see also Melancholia in women’s literature; Women’s
experimental literature
Women’s modernism, 15; enigma of, 184; formal experimentation in, 6; melancholic crisis in, 71; revolutionary and melancholic, 69; see also Women’s experimental literature
Women’s political freedom struggles, 28, 42, 45, 48, 49; aesthetic freedom and, 88–91, 97, 100–102; female anger and, 97; women’s community and, 98; Woolf on, 88–91, 97–98, 100–102; see also Suffrage militancy
Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), 22, 23, 29, 30, 232n6, 232n11
Women’s subjugation, 28, 31–32, 74, 92, 96, 106, 110
Women’s suffering: in art, 71, 82–83; literary forms and, 83; melancholia and, 70; melancholia in women’s literature, and, 71–72, 79–80, 83
Woolf, Virginia, 1; on aesthetic freedom, 87–98, 100–2; aesthetics of female potentiality of, 86, 103–19, 238n27, 238n29; on art, 114–15, 176; on capitalism, 104–6; “Character in Fiction” of, 103–7, 111–12; on commodity production, 104–6; destruction of women’s art, and, 48, 49–50, 75–76, 78, 90, 93–95, 98–100, 119; essays of, 86–87, 103; experimental literature and, 87, 103–4, 106, 108, 110–14, 116–19; on female anger, 95–97, 99–100; on female melancholia, 94–96; on female poet, 90, 92, 94, 97–102; on femininity, 91–94, 105–6; feminist aesthetics and politics of, 87–88; feminist aesthetics of potentiality of, 106; on gender domination, 94; gender politics of, 86, 87; on genius, 90–92, 100; on history, 93; lesbian relationships in literature of, 116–17, 119; on life potentiality, 110–11, 238n29; To the Lighthouse of, 76, 80, 82, 92, 100, 105–7, 112, 114; on literature as revolution, 86–90; on materialism, 105; melancholia in women’s literature, and, 80; “Modern Fiction” of, 87, 103, 113; modernism and, 86, 87, 102, 112; “Modern Novels” of, 87, 103, 111; “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown” of, 87, 103–7; Orlando of, 92, 105–9, 116, 117, 118; passion in works of, 115–17, 119; on patriarchy, 105–6; on race and gender, 92; on racist violence, 2–3; A Room of One’s Ow nof, 2, 41, 74, 75, 81, 86, 90–93, 96–98, 103, 105, 107–10, 112, 114, 175; secrecy in works of, 117–18; on sexist violence, 2–3; on slavery, 75, 91, 92; women’s aesthetic innovation of, 2–3, 87; on women’s community, 98, 99, 101–2, 109; women’s experimental literature and, 103, 106; on women’s inferiority, 93–94; on women’s political freedom struggles, 88–91, 97–98, 100–102
Workers: Marx on prostitution, slavery, and, 58–61; as universal figures of poverty of being, 58–60; see also Labor
Writing; see Literature
“The Wrong Man” (Larsen), 203–4
WSPU; see Women’s Social and Political Union