Yeats's revolving gyres

pp. 15-31

in: Tudor Balinisteanu, Violence, narrative and myth in Joyce and Yeats, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

I shall begin by outlining a theoretical perspective on the role of art in the production of material reality derived from the anarchist tradition, that may serve as an alternative to Marxist analyses. The anarchist perspective is based on the theorisation of labour as an artisan's work kindred with the creative labour of artists. This kinship prompts the consideration of the view that art is actively implicated in the production of material reality, whereas the Marxist perspective dissociates between the alienated work of the proletariat and its reflection in art in the cultural superstructure. In keeping with the anarchist tradition, I regard art as a means of production of material reality and social subjects.