All 3 Uses of
phenomenon
in
Avant-garde and Kitsch
- We must not be deceived by superficial phenomena and local successes.†
*
- True enough -- simultaneously with the entrance of the avant-garde, a second new cultural phenomenon appeared in the industrial West: that thing to which the Germans give the wonderful name of Kitsch: popular, commercial art and literature with their chromeotypes, magazine covers, illustrations, ads, slick and pulp fiction, comics, Tin Pan Alley music, tap dancing, Hollywood movies, etc., etc. For some reason this gigantic apparition has always been taken for granted.†
- The neatness of this antithesis is more than contrived; it corresponds to and defines the tremendous interval that separates from each other two such simultaneous cultural phenomena as the avant-garde and kitsch.†
Definition:
-
(phenomenon) something that exists or happened -- especially something of special interest -- sometimes someone or something that is extraordinaryeditor's notes: "Phenomenons" and "phenomena" are both appropriate plural forms of this noun. "Phenomena" is generally used in scientific or philosophical contexts.