After the Avant-Gardes is a rallying call for all those who challenge artistic modernism. This is a collection of ten provocative essays on the arts by writers of varied orientations who share a skepticism about the exaggerated role of modernism and the successive avant-gardes in shaping what is accepted as valid contemporary art. The essays cover painting and other visual arts, literature, music, and general observations. Not an exercise in hand-wringing, it looks for different directions in which the arts may fruitfully evolve.

Paul A. Cantor contributes a study of the Norwegian...