November 30, 2007

Modernism and America

By RICHARD PELLS

Anyone who writes about the history of modernism is asking for trouble. Modernism is notoriously hard to define. The cast of characters is huge. So you will be criticized not only for your interpretations but also for your inevitable omissions.

Peter Gay, the distinguished author of books on the Enlightenment, Sigmund Freud, and Weimar culture, is undeterred. In his new book, Modernism: The Lure of Heresy (Norton, 2007), Gay has written a sweeping history of literature, painting,

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