Bookshelf

| browse books |
books
 

| book details |

This is Not New: Art, Culture, and the Promise of Change

By (author) David Balzer





This book is currently unavailable. Enquire to check if we can source a used copy


| book description |

What does it mean to call something 'new'? Why is Western culture, even after postmodernism, still so obsessed with the concept? What are the political consequences of relying on this culture to bring about social change? In this provocative book, David Balzer argues that Western culture was never designed to produce truly new or original artefacts. Rather, the West moves from fixation to fixation, trend to trend—a cycle of creation and destruction with deep origins in Judeo-Christianity and the paganism that preceded it. The culture industry is rooted in a resource-scarce economy, which promises its own form of change while preserving many other things exactly as they are. From the New Jerusalem to the New Left, Vannevar Bush to Kate Bush, This Is Not New takes a dynamic approach, asking difficult questions about the role of culture not in making change, but in delaying—even preventing—it. Balzer urges us to look at the Western culture industry for what it is, lest it become all there is.

| product details |



Normally shipped | Enquiries only
Publisher | Pluto Press
Published date | 20 May 2025
Language |
Format | Digital download
Pages | 192
Dimensions | 0 x 0 x 0mm (L x W x H)
Weight | 0g
ISBN | 978-0-7453-4277-1
Readership Age |
BISAC | art / criticism


| other options |


| your trolley |

To view the items in your trolley please sign in.

| sign in |

| specials |

Exiles: Times book of the month 'Stanley Kubrick meets MR James'

Mason Coile
Paperback / softback
224 pages
was: R 520.95
now: R 468.95
Forthcoming

A terrifying locked-room mystery set in a remote outpost on Mars.

Broken Country: AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR - THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER

Clare Leslie Hall
Paperback / softback
320 pages
was: R 395.95
now: R 355.95
Usually dispatched in 6-12 days

An epic love story with the pulse of a thriller that asks: what would you risk for a second chance at first love?

The Correspondent

Virginia Evans
Hardback
288 pages
was: R 552.95
now: R 525.95
Available from overseas. Usually dispatched in 14 days


Theory & Practice

Michelle de Kretser
Hardback
192 pages
was: R 415.95
now: R 373.95
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock