Season 6: ”All About Aesthetics”: Isaiah Berlin Lectures, Romanticism and its Effects on Art and Culture

In this, the 21st episode of All About Aesthetics I will begin a miniseries on Isaiah Berlin's theory of Romanticism, taken from his important lectures in the 1960s at the National Gallery and elsewhere, and starting from his unequivocal assertion that Romanticism was "the single greatest shift in the consciousness of the West that has occurred".More on this livestream event, here:“Isaiah Berlin, Romanticism and it's effects in Art and CultureEpisode 1, an Introduction”In this, the 21st episode of “All About Aesthetics” I will begin a miniseries on Isaiah Berlin’s theory of Romanticism, taken from his important lectures in the 1960s at the National Gallery and elsewhere, and starting from his unequivocal assertion that Romanticism was “the single greatest shift in the consciousness of the West that has occurred” I will inquire into the many effects of this shift, most of which are taken for granted and have been indispensable to forming the works of art, both popular and high, that we have most enjoyed or given importance.I return to our good friend and inspiration for the podcast Isaiah Berlin, covered in my book lunch on Kei Hiruta from Season Three and elsewhere.The series will include discussion of MGM musicals in Hollywood, melodrama films, novels, standup comedy, improvised jazz performances and much more. This will be the beginning of a series of episodes on Berlin’s innovative theory of “The Roots Of Romanticism” that Berlin explored in lectures delivered at the National Gallery Of Art in Washington DC 1966.Berlin was quite explicit in his assessment: “the largest recent movement to transform the lives and thought of the Western world and seems to me the greatest single shift in the consciousness of the West that has occurred, and all the other shifts which have occurred in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century appear to me in comparison lessimportant and at any rate influenced by it.” Starting from the premise that there is a great deal of truth in Berlin’s theory, I will examine in these episodes not only the beauty of Berlin’s oratory but also the many world of art and culture that seem to be made possible by this shift in consciousness - even in areas not normally thought of of as in any way Romantic, as well as in vastly diverse mediums of expression, including music, stand-up comedy, performance art, movies and much more.#History #literature #movies #love #Hollywood #comedy #tragedy #freedom #liberty #classical #modern #postmodern #religion #spirituality #wordsworth #coleridge #keats #brightstar #lyricalballads #verse #isaiahberlin #russia #germany #France #uk #greatbritain #england #jazz #rock #africanamerican #existentialism #standupcomedy #tradition #thirtyyearswar #communism #fascism #ecology #environmentalism #intellectualhistory #culturalstudies #authenticity #sincerity #annaakhmatova #poetry #brontesisters #lordbyron #painting #caspardavidfriedrich #eletricguitar #powerballad #romance #feminism #democracy #liberalism #immanuelkant #rousseau #diderot #socialcontract #civility #manners #civillization #anarchism