Music, Rhythm and
Kathak dance visa-a-vis aesthetics of Susanne K. Langer
Author: Sushil
Kumar Saxena
Pages: 363.
Hard-cover price: Rs. 600.00
Publisher: DK
Printworld Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.
This book is
decidedly the first of its kind. It seeks to weigh some basic facts and
concepts of Hindustani
Sangeet (music, rhythm and dance) against the art theories of the influential modern aesthetician, Susanne K.
Langer, and with consistently meticulous attention to the text of her writings.
The expression
theory of art has for long dominated the history of aesthetics. At the hands of
Langer,however, the
theory takes a new turn. She conceives of art not as a direct self-expression
of the artist’s immediate
affective state, but as a symbolic expression of his knowledge of what she
terms variously as felt
life, sentience, or forms of feeling.
Drawing freely upon examples from the
region of Hindustani
Sangeet, the author accepts Langer’s protest against the popular view of
artistic expression. But,
he also contends that there is a good deal in our music and dance which has
nothing to do with
feeling, and is admired simply because of its sweetness, clarity, shapeliness,
and accordance with grammatical
norms.
Perhaps the most
two most striking features of this book are: first, a lucid exposition of the
essentials of Langer’s
aesthetics, and second, abounding illustrative references to the manifestation
and assumptions of
Hindustani Sangeet.
Sushil Kumar
Saxena (1920-2013), formerly Professor of Philosophy at Delhi University, was amongst the most
respected and original thinkers on the aesthetics of Hindustani music, rhythm
and Kathak dance, with
several pioneering works to his credit. He was a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak
Akademi and of the Indian
Council of Philosophical Research.