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book
In The Aesthetics of
Decay (New York: Peter Lang, 2006), Dylan Trigg confronts the remnants from the fallout of
post-industrialism and postmodernism. Through a considered analysis of
memory, place, and nostalgia, Trigg argues that the decline of reason
enables a critique of progress to emerge. In this ambitious work, Trigg
aims to reassess the direction of progress by situating it in a spatial
context. In doing so, he applies his critique of rationality to modern
ruins. The derelict factory, abandoned asylum, and urban alleyway all
become allies in Trigg's attack on a fixed image of temporality and
progress. The Aesthetics of Decay offers a model of post-rational
aesthetics in which spatial order is challenged by an affirmative ethics
of ruin.
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table of contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
(Sample chapter)
Part One: Memories Unbound
1 Tarrying with the Nothing
2 Silence, Violence, and Nothingness
3 An Uncanny Memory
4 The Specter of Exile
5 Dark Night of the Soul
6 An Impossible Nostalgia
7 The Decline of Postmodernism?
8 The Revolt of Reason
Part Two: Succumbing to Dissolution
9 A Short History of Decay
10 An Uncanny Place: Modern Ruins
11 The Post-Industrial Sublime
12 The Phenomenology of the Alleyway
13 Aesthetic Revulsion: Staircases and Rust
14 Transgressing Place: Urban Exploration
15 Space and Center: Ruins as Home
16 Memories
in Ruin
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reviews
From Frieze magazine
‘Between sublimity and the dissolute, we discover the aesthetics
of revulsion’, writes the philosopher Dylan Trigg in his recent book The
Aesthetics of Decay (2006). Trigg is the latest in a venerable line of
thinkers to turn his attention to decay in general and garbage in
particular. His book’s contention – that the ruin or remnant embodies a
mode of ‘critical memory’ at odds with the sanctification of official
monuments and sites of collective recall – may be argued at the level of
contemporary cultural theory, but its terms and tone are actually
ancient. There seems to be something in the study of ruins, rubbish,
junk and trash that means its enthusiasts can’t help reverting to awed
lists of defunct artefacts. They may begin with more rigorous and
abstract ambitions, but time and again it is the details of decay that
fascinate its theorists.
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/down_in_the_dump/
Advanced review
The Aesthetics of Decay' challenges the common assumption that
progress is rational. With analytical rigor and eloquence of argument,
Dylan Trigg's book takes the reader on a journey through metaphysics,
psychoanalysis, aesthetics, ethics, theology, and music to suggest the
opposite: that the modern ruin redefines progress by embodying decline.
A remarkable display of erudition and creativity, and written in an
engaging and accessible style, this book is an exceptional foray into
intriguing subject matter. (Sally Macarthur, Senior Lecturer in
Musicology, University of Western Sydney; Author of 'Feminist Aesthetics
in Music')
links
Background interview on the themes and ideas of
the book:
http://www.readysteadybook.com/Article.aspx?page=dylantrigg
Information from the publisher’s:
http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?vID=68646&vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=2&vUUR=1
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