The neo-sublime: modem interpretations of classical aesthetics

This article addresses the aesthetic category of the sublime as a research tool. Having sketched the main facets of the classical theory - the work of Pseudo-Longinus, E. Burke and I. Kant - the article focuses on such modern ideas as technical sublime, urban sublime, theological sublime and postmodern sublime. The choice of the ideas has been motivated by their pertinence and connection with some of the most topical issues of contemporary humanities, including the category of experience, historical narrative and postsecular thought. These connections help understand the renewal of interest in the aesthetic category of the sublime, which shaped European aesthetics and culture in the 18th century. The main aim of the article, however, is to show how the traditional theories of the sublime have been modified so that the category would be relevant beyond aesthetics and applicable to the study of ideological and social dimensions of art and culture. Accordingly, the technical sublime, which is typically understood as an identity factor, determining American culture (D.E. Nye), is here given a universal treatment and related to the urban sublime. As such, it is applicable to the study of the Moscow underground. The theological sublime, in turn, is analysed as part of the ideological programme of a conservative think tank called Radical Orthodoxy. It is contrasted with the postmodern sublime, putting forward the ideal of free speculation (J.-F. Lyotard).