The Gay Science [Paperback]

An analysis of the boundaries between poetry and science, the issue of criticism, and the ethics of artistic production.Eneas Sweetland (E. S.) Dallas (18281879) was a journalist whose love of poetry led to his writing the two-volume The Gay Science, published in 1866. The title comes from an expression used by Proven?al troubadours to describe composing poetry. Volume 1 looks at the historical context of artistic criticism.Eneas Sweetland (E. S.) Dallas (18281879) was a journalist whose love of poetry led to his writing the two-volume The Gay Science, published in 1866. The title comes from an expression used by Proven?al troubadours to describe composing poetry. Volume 1 looks at the historical context of artistic criticism.Eneas Sweetland (E. S.) Dallas (18281879) was a journalist who worked for The Times among other publications and whose interest in psychology and love of poetry led to his writing the two-volume  though he originally intended four  The Gay Science, published in 1866. The work takes its title from an expression used by Proven?al troubadours to describe the art of composing poetry, and the volumes are concerned with the unclear and often shifting boundaries between art and science and whether they can be reconciled. Volume 1 examines the wider issue of the practice of artistic criticism itself, and 'to show how alone it can be raised to the dignity of a science'. Dallas reaches back to classical times, examining Plato and Aristotle in this context before considering differing schools of criticism within Europe. The final chapters examine the role of imagination and the 'secrecy' of art.Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The science of criticism; 3. The despair of a science; 4. The corner stone; 5. The agreement of the critics; 6. On imagination; 7. The hidden soul; 8. The play of thought; 9. The secrecy of art.