Aesthetic experience and the question of “difficulty”: A note

Abstract

This note of commentary explores some of the ways in which “difficulty” figures in aesthetic experience and how these relate to broader factors of social and cultural organisation. Having examined some ideas about the variety and character of difficulty, drawing on previous writing, it suggests that forms of empirical inquiry combined with a refreshed analytic agenda offer the possibility of understanding better its nature as both a negative and a positive factor of encounters with the arts. Such investigation would be complementary to those approaches to specific forms of artistic practice (rather than to user experiences) taken by academic work in the arts specialisms.

Keywords

• aesthetics
• comprehension
• cultural capital
• cultural policy
• bourdieu