| 释义 |
‖ kitsch|kɪtʃ|
Also Kitsch.
[G.]
Art or objets d'art characterized by worthless pretentiousness; the qualities associated with such art or artifacts. Also attrib., Comb., and transf.
1926B. Howard Let. in M. J. Lancaster Brian Howard (1968) ix. 166 A healthy week..riding, chasing dogs and listening to ‘Kitsch’ on his wireless. 1939Partisan Rev. VI. 40 Kitsch is mechanical and operates by formulas. Kitsch is vicarious experience and faked sensations. Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times. 1941Auden New Year Let. iii. 59 Reason's depravity that takes The useful concepts that she makes As universals, as the kitsch. 1949Koestler Insight & Outlook 410 The more romantic a work of art, or a landscape, the quicker its repetitions are perceived as kitsch or ‘slush’. 195520th Cent. June 541 In a time of crassness and stridency perhaps unique in history, a time when an alternative civilization of kitsch is not only available to all but clamantly thrust upon them, it is imperative to strive for agreement, order, and coherence in the ranks of the cultivated. 1958Observer 23 Feb. 14/1 What is so extraordinary about some of these kitsch masterpieces is the way they can be enjoyed on two planes, both as themselves and as their own parodies. 1958Times 4 July 13/4 Few attempts are made in England to mount productions of plays of the commedia dell' arte tradition; and such attempts are in danger of being dismissed as ‘art theatre kitsch’. 1961Times 11 May 10/4 There are the same highbrows as in England, who consider that the quality of the pure entertainment as such is generally kitsch or trash. 1962Times 6 Apr. 17/3 Their attitude to this kitsch-culture is highly equivocal. 1965Spectator 22 Jan. 108/1 If leaders of the state choose their job..they must choose to be the victims of the kitsch and whitewash and balderdash. 1967Ibid. 29 Dec. 812/2, I have never seen such kitsch, not even in French provincial towns or Irish church bazaars. 1972Listener 24 Aug. 236/1 A galloping fancy for Victoriana, a sophisticated and uncritical taste for Kitsch and the cute. 1972New Yorker 30 Sept. 24/3 This is one of the liveliest and most popular of their kitschfests.
So kitsch v. trans. (rare), to render worthless, to affect with sentimentality and vulgarity; ˈkitschy a., possessing the characteristics of kitsch.
1951W. Sansom Face of Innocence ii. 16 Situations that have for many become unendurably hackneyed, spoiled by bad artists or kitsched by politics. 1967Time 17 Feb. 104 The kitschy existential slogan: ‘Things just happen. No reason, no reason, just a happening.’ 1969R. Petrie Despatch of Dove i. 19 Her family owned a furniture factory. ‘We make..mostly kitschy bits fit to furnish Grimm's fairy tales.’ 1973Times 27 Aug. 5/6 Costumed in a distressingly ‘kitschy’ manner.
Add: Hence ˈkitschily adv.; ˈkitschiness n.
1977Washington Post 10 Oct. c1/2 A more harmless butt of his..kitschiness than many subjects. 1987Times 12 Sept. 19/4 The Old Vienna [a restaurant]..is bound to..conform to and confirm British ideas of the country it kitschily represents. 1994This Mag. Nov. 10/3 She's playing with a look that is so out it's in, revelling in the kitschiness of the way some people, other people, dress. This isn't a case of fashion nostalgia. This is fashion slumming. |