subject-matter

is a false distinction that treats a work of art as a ‘statement’; as the answer to a question.

The great task which remains to critical theory is to examine in detail the formal function of subject-matter. Until this function is acknowledged and properly explored, it is inevitable that critics will go on treating works of art as “statements.” (Less so, of course, in those arts which are abstract or have largely gone abstract, like music and painting and the dance. In these arts, the critics have not solved the problem; it has been taken from them.) Of course, a work of art can be considered as a statement, that is, as the answer to a question.

subject matter, n.Definitions

subject matter