This is the case in Renaissance art, for example. Even for a theory of society, there is ultimately no history independent of the continual reactualization of that history. This is why the text presented here can offer neither a structuralist de scription of the system of modern art, nor a structured evolutionary his tory of the differentiation of the art system. The reader will find both per spectives interwoven. Each chapter is conceived in terms of its factual theme.
Repetitions are inevitable.
One should not expect a linear order, progressing from important to less important issues or from prior to subsequent events. I hope that the reader's understanding will benefit from the recognition that conceptual or historical materials reappear in different contexts. An extensive index should facilitate such a nonlinear reading. Gene H. Bell-Villada examines writings by critics, philosophers, and other writers from Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Gene H. Bell-Villada is a professor and chair in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Williams College.