The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities

233 Pages·2014·2.02 MB·English

by  Doris Sommer

The Work of Art in the World

The Work of Art in the World
Civic Agency and Public Humanities
Doris sommer
Duke University Press Durham and London 2014
© 2014 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ♾
Designed by Courtney Leigh Baker and typeset in Arno Pro
by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sommer, Doris, 1947–
The work of art in the world : civic agency and
public humanities / Doris Sommer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8223-5572-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-5586-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Arts and society. 2. Arts—Political aspects. 3. Creation
(Literary, artistic, etc.)—Social aspects. I. Title.
nx180.s6s623 2014
700.1ʹ03–dc23
2013029330
In memory of Julius Sommer, my first and most memorable maestro.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue. Welcome Back 1
one. From the Top 15
Government- Sponsored Creativity
Two. Press Here 49
Cultural Acupuncture and Civic Stimulation
Three. Art and Accountability 81
Four. Pre- Texts 107
The Arts Interpret
Five. Play Drive in the Hard Drive 135
Schiller’s Poetics of Politics
Notes 157  Bibliography 193  Index 215

Acknowledgments
For their generous advice and forbearance with an evolving project, I am
indebted to Ken Wissoker and the readers for Duke University Press, Alice
Flaherty, Francesco Erspamer, James Chandler, Carrie Lambert- Beatty,
Carlo Tognato, Paolo Vignolo, Toril Moi, Srinivas Aravamudan, Francisco
Ortega, Virginie Greene, Diana Taylor, J. Lorand Matory, Kay Shelemay,
Evelyn Higginbotham, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Michael Fisher, Amrita Basu,
Jackie Bhabha, Jennifer Leaning, Lani Guinier, Jeffrey Schnapp, James
Honan, Michele Stanners, Dean Williams, Ute Mehta Bauer, Natalya Su-
kharnos, Gediminas Urbonas, Nomeda Urbonas, Helen Molesworth, Mar-
cela Mahecha, Jose Falconi, Anitra Grisaldes, Betsy Bard, Alexis Kusy, Co-
druta Morari, Clara Schejtman, Michael Fisher, Annie S. Kaufman, Sara S.
Kaufman, María Acosta López, Kathleen Woodward, Marshall Brown, Jane
Brown, Sara Guyer, Ian Baucom, Ángela Pérez Mejía, Celia María Vélez,
Laura Hagopian, Julia Leifert, George Lipsitz, and Eben Werber.