Baudelaire defined modernity as half transient and half eternal

Evidence

‘Modernity,’ wrote Baudelaire in his seminal essay ‘The painter of modern life’ (published in 1863), ‘is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is the one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immutable.’ — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 105

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core working definition of modernity that Harvey uses as the axis of his whole argument.
• XREF: connects to: Baudelaire’s celebrated definition of modernity was contextually specific, not universal. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 136; Modernity is defined by an permanently unfinished, self-transcending orientation toward the unrealized — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 430; Modernity is the permanent urge to modernize, not a destination (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Modernity is defined by an permanently unfinished, self-transcending orientation toward the unrealized #qualifies (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 430
• Modernity is the permanent urge to modernize, not a destination #expands (0.75)