Bourdieu and aesthetics

Heer, Jeet (National Post) JHeer at nationalpost.com
Wed Apr 24 18:58:48 PDT 2002


I'm reading a book entitled READING IN: ALICE MUNRO'S ARCHIEVES by JoAnn McCaig. Making heavy use of Pierre Bourdieu's theories of cultural production, McCaig looks at how cultural middlemen (agents and editors) shaped the career of Canadian writer Alice Munro. I've been struck by the fact that McCaig carefully avoids making any aethetic judgements, about either the merits of Munro's work compared to other writers or her development as a writer. (For example, McCaig says the terms "early" and "mature" stories only have chronological significance, and she does not endorse the common critical consensus that Munro's more recent books are better than her early ones.) The reason I'm bringing all this up is that I want to know if McCaig's anti-aesthetics derives from Bordieu or if it is her own peculiarity. From my own readings, I don't get a sense that Bourdieu was unwilling to make judgements about whether art is good or not but I perhaps I've misread him. Can you be a cultural materialist and still have value judgements on aesthetics?



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