Surveying 100 years of writing on art, 20th Century Aesthetics explores five major themes that, in Perniola's view, have been central to European aesthteic theory: Life, Form, Consciousness, Action and Feeling. During the course of this exploration, he takes in many of the most important thinkers of the century, from Foucault, Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty, through Agamben, Jung and Adorno, to McLuhan and Rorty.
Originally published in 1997 and fully updated for its first English translation, the book also includes a new conclusion by Perniola in which he outlines his own aesthetic theory of feeling.
