“Meditation on the Frame”: Ortega’s Dialogue with Modernity and Postmodernity

Abstract

My essay on Meditación del marco (1921) [Meditation on Frames] will explore two essential issues. First of all, it will demonstrate how Meditación already contains in microcosm the central ideas of Ortega’s aesthetic thinking throughout the1920’s. These aesthetics are closely related to the critical thinking of the Russian Formalists, as well as to the cultural and philosophical discourse of Modernity. Second, the paper will show how Ortega’s treatment of frames in Meditacion is also closely connected with the philosophical concerns of Postmodernity, this through an examination of its close links with Derrida’s argument and objectives in his essay on frames entitled “Parergon” (La vérité en peinture, 1978). Thus, my comparative analyses will affirm that the ideas and rhetoric of Meditación del marco place Ortega simultaneously in a dialogue with both Modernity and contemporary Postmodern culture.