The Sublime: BBC podcast from 2004

These are my notes from listening to Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time on Radio 4. Available from BBC podcasts.

Longinus first introduced the concept of sublime, in the context of literature. It is not known who he was, although seems to have been influenced by travelling (Wikipedia). He probably lived in first century AD. Words should be 'rapturous', 'have a pleasing rape on the soul', go beyond the mundane. Longinus emphasised the incompleteness of works as being key to understanding sublime.

John Dennis - The Grounds of Criticism - introduced sublime to 17th century. He was mocked by some such as Swift and Pope, but words such as excitability, enthusisam, elasticity of mind, entered common parlance. Dennis introduces nature into the sublime concept.

18th century thinkers used sublime as technical - strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling (Burke) - as well as distinct from beauty. Burke tried to understand the cause and nature of sublime. Question that perplexed the most was whether sublime was 'out there', is it a 'quality of something', or is it 'in me'? There is no rule, principle, behind sublime, there is no object or mental process that creates the feeling of sublime.

Burke's distinction between sublime and beauty had a gender overtone; sublime was a masculine quality, beauty feminine. Feminist writers such as Wolstencroft would define the distinction as men subjecting women to gaze and therefore a masculine concept.

Medically, the mind and body work together, and the stimuli from outside work on the mind. Burke's beauty is pleasing and pleasant, sublime is terrifying and painful. 

To Burke, representation and the real are different in terms of emotional response. A gunfight on screen adduces a lot less fear than one in real time. Sublime is almost the feeling of being terrified, yet safe.

Landscapes are simply one prompt for sublime, but as the concept introduces aesthetics there are other phrases that are adduced in much the same way: picturesque notably. 

Kant defines sublime as part of the concept of reflective judgement (as opposed to determined judgement, those things defined by rules and laws). There is not rule of cause and effect, but there is an effect. Helps us think about transcendence or awe.

This podcast was useful to put the sublime in a philosophical context, and helps to emphasise that the concept is much wider than visual aesthetics (which actually receives minimal coverage in the 42 minutes).