KITSCH AND THE ORIGINS OF ITS SEMANTIC DIVERSITY
KITSCH AND THE ORIGINS OF ITS SEMANTIC DIVERSITY

Summary/Abstract: The variety of the meanings the word Ŗkitschŗ implies is well-known. At its most famous, kitsch designates the garden gnomes, souvenirs, all sorts of decorative objects or popular novels. Initially connected to cheap paintings, popular literature, or the culture industry, kitsch has come to be an object of study in a variety of domains, from architecture to management. The aim of this paper is to review the common features ascribed to kitsch, and to account for them in terms of the etymological research it has undergone and in terms of its most profound analyses written by Walter Benjamin, Clement Greenberg, Theodor Adorno and Hermann Broch.

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