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About this book
A Critical Theory of Creativity argues that a Utopian drive is aesthetically encoded within the language of form. But coupled with this opportunity comes a very human obligation which cannot be delegated to God, to nature or to market forces. As Ernst Bloch declared: 'Life has been put into our hands.'
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“The great strength of Howells’s book is that it is, in the very best sense of the word, interdisciplinary. … his A Critical Theory of Creativity is a celebration of the human spirit and the ‘Christ-impulse’ that compels us all to hope even in the face of the inhuman. It is absolutely indispensable reading especially for scholars of Bloch who want to better understand how his ideas relate to the creative and the visual.” (Duncan Reyburn, English Academy Review, Vol. 33 (1), April, 2016) “A brilliant and magisterial overview of Bloch’s continued importance for today’s dystopian world. Howells combines breadth and depth in his analysis to show that whilst two or three are gathered in the name of critical thought, there is indeed hope for the future of us all ...” (Slavoj Žižek, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities)
“In a time when critical and open debate about the role of religion in society has declined to one of name-calling and insult, what Richard Howells has done with this excellent book is to paint out that the intangible activities of the human animal are still both extremely important and up for grabs.” (Peter Thompson, Director of the Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies, University of Sheffield, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Richard Howells is Professor of Cultural Sociology at King's College London, UK, where he specialises in visual and popular culture, together with cultural and critical theory. He studied at Harvard and Cambridge universities and lives in London and West Sussex with his wife, the designer Sarah Howson.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A Critical Theory of Creativity
Book Subtitle: Utopia, Aesthetics, Atheism and Design
Authors: Richard Howells
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137446176
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-44616-9Published: 26 June 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-68579-0Published: 27 July 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-44617-6Published: 29 June 2015
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 204
Topics: Sociology of Culture, Cultural and Media Studies, general, Arts, Media Studies, Children's Literature, Critical Theory