Introduction: Retrospection and Revision in Contemporary Art, Literature, and Music

The introduction to the interdisciplinary collection Retrospection and Revision in Modern and Contemporary Art, Literature and Music delineates the book’s goal of investigating the various ways in which North American and European modern and contemporary artists, authors, and musicians have returned to earlier works of their own, engaging in inventive revivals and transformations of the past in the present. It expounds on the book’s themes of retrospection and revision; the ways in which rewriting, revision, and the concepts of late and old-age style have been taken up in scholarly analyses; and the editors' chosen approach within the field of revision studies. In addition to an outline of methodological and theoretical concerns, the introduction offers an overview of the book’s different sections as well as brief summaries of the seventeen case studies, in the fields of art, literature, criticism, film, popular music, and philosophy.