“Feminist Aesthetics and the Politics of Modernism is a brilliant, unique, and original work. Ewa Ziarek’s Z i sensitive and critical analysis of the ‘multiple possibilities of what literature and femininity might a r mean and might become’ asks us to rethink the ways in which the relations between aesthetics and e politics, race and critical theory, feminism and modernism have been commonly understood. This k e wa vital and valuable book demonstrates how from literature written by white and black women new f P Ł o n ow s k a forms of knowledge, transformation, and aesthetic possibility can emerge, and new kinds of political e and psychic sensibility.” DaviD Marriott, author of Haunted Life: Visual Culture and Black Modernity m Z i a r e k i n “An impressive display of erudition and incisive analysis. An absolutely original and brilliantly con- i ceived book.” tina Chanter, DePaul University s t “In her rich, persuasive, and provocative new book, Ewa Ziarek moves between Virginia Woolf and a Nella Larsen, negotiates between Theodor Adorno and feminist theory, plays off Giorgio Agamben e s and Jacques Rancière against Julia Kristeva and Rita Felski, to develop one central argument: that, to t paraphrase Karl Marx, whereas aestheticians have only interpreted the world, now the time has come c o h v feminist to change it, and this will happen when the revolutionary potential of art is unleashed by allying itself e r e with feminist critique.” Jean-MiChel rabaté, University of Pennsylvania im t a g i “Feminist Aesthetics and the Politics of Modernism reminds us that modernism provided the context for e: © c aesthetics P s an unprecedented engagement by black and women writers. But Ewa Ziarek’s elegant readings of a u Nella Larson and Virginia Woolf form just a part of her complex and groundbreaking case for a new lin a a O n and the means of integrating aesthetic and political theory. From Adorno to Arendt and Agamben, she recon- lo w d figures the theorists available to analyze the right to revolt and its relation to aesthetic production. sk Through her innovative approach, Adorno and Agamben undergo not commentary nor critique but a, P t a a compelling and surprising transformation—as when they become resources for revisiting the hun- rty h politics of -K greevro slttr iaknedr sr eosf irsatadniccael Bwritithi sbha srue flfirfaeg, er afceem ainndis mge.n Rdeecro wnfiitghu trheed ,s tohceiayl a croen rdesitoiounrcse os fa tllhoew hinegte urosn too mthyi nokf leid, 20 e p 0 modernism art. Ziarek is a virtuoso voice amongst the Continental theorists contributing to the new directions in 7, G o aesthetics.” PeneloPe DeutsCher, Northwestern University ou l ac i he t “Elegantly argued and often brilliant in its handling of diverse theoretical traditions, Ewa Ziarek’s book on i p c will speak equally to those interested in the longer history of post-Kantian art philosophy and to those ap e s working in the more recent discourses of critical theory. A major contribution to several scholarly r, 19 finie lwdhs iacnhd m liokdeelyr ntois bme ccoomntei nau teosu tcoh mstoanttee rf.o” r t h o s e s eDeakinn gb rliagonrtoousn y, eUt neinvaebrsliintyg o lfa nCgauliafogren fioar, Btheer kwealeyys 7 x 139 of cm m ewa Ziarek is Julian Park Professor of Comparative Literature at the State University of New York, c o Buffalo. She is the author of An Ethics of Dissensus: Feminism, Postmodernity, and the Politics of Radical ov d e Democracy and coeditor of Revolt, Affect, Collectivity: The Unstable Boundaries of Kristeva’s Polis and Inter- r d e e r medialities: Philosophy, Art, Politics. sig n n : C i h s Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts an g m Ja e L columbia university press new york cup.columbia.edu ee c o l prin um ted in th bia e u.s.a. feminist aesthetics and the politics of modernism feminist aesthetics and the politics of modernism Ewa Płonowska Ziarek Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2012 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ziarek, Ewa Plonowska, 1961– Feminist aesthetics and the politics of modernism / Ewa Plonowska Ziarek. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-16148-0 (cloth: alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-16149-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-53090-3 (e-book) 1. Feminist criticism. 2. Aesthetics. 3. Moder- nism (Aesthetics) 4. Feminist theory. I. Title HQ1190.Z556 2012 2012006808 305.4201—dc23 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. For Halina Płonowska and Łukasz Ziarek Contents Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction: On Loss, Invention, and the Dilemmas of Feminist Aesthetics 1 I. Revolutionary Praxis and Its Melancholic Impasses 1. On Suff rage Militancy and Modernism: Femininity and Revolt 19 2. Melancholia, Death of Art, and Women’s Writing 51 3. Woolf’s Aesthetics of Potentiality 86 II. Female Bodies, Violence, and Form Introduction: Rethinking the Form/Matter Divide in Feminist Politics and Aesthetics 123 4. Abstract Commodity Form and Bare Life 128 viii contents 5. Damaged Materialities in Political Struggles and Aesthetic Innovations 157 III. Toward a Feminine Aesthetics of Renaissance 6. The Enigma of Nella Larsen: Letters, Curse, and Black Laughter 193 Notes 229 Index 251 Acknowledgments I t is my pleasure to acknowledge many colleagues and friends who read or discussed various parts of my book. I am indebted to Kalliopi Nikolopoulou, Devonya N. Havis, Alison Ross, Andrew Benjamin, Barbara Green, Kelly Oliver, Elizabeth Presa, and Krzysztof Ziarek for their helpful comments, suggestions, and support. I am especially grateful to Penel- ope Deutscher and Graham Hammill, who read the manuscript in its en- tirety and off ered invaluable suggestions for revisions. I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of Columbia University Press for their thought- ful engagement with my work and Wendy Lochner for her patience and support of this project. I am especially grateful to James Kurt for his expert help in the fi nal preparation of the manuscript for production. M y mother Halina Płonowska’s help and support was invaluable in the last stages of the manuscript preparation . Conversations with my son, Łukasz, about his dissertation was a source of loving companion- ship and inspiration for my own work. Krzysztof’s patience, support, and intellectual insights made it a better book. Earlier versions of several sections of this book have already appeared in print and I am grateful for permissions to use these materials in their revised form: