Current Project: The Good Art

Brian's current writing project is a book-length essay tentatively called The Good Art. The following essays are initial attempts to grapple with the ideas in that larger investigation.

An essay sequence appeared in Dappled Things, setting up the initial questions the book will tackle:

• "Maybe to Perfect a Thing Is to Destroy It: Searching for the End of Art (Part I)"

• "A Fast that is Pleasing to the Eyes: Searching for the End of Art (Part II)" *Winner of the 2020 Jacques Maritain Prize for Criticism

Two essay sequences appeared in Genealogies of Modernity:

Tom Break, "Modern Art and Truth"

1. "The Possibility of True Art: On Modern Art"

2. "Seeing in the Spirit: On Modern Art"

3. "What Truth can Be Found There: On Modern Art"

Tom Break, "Art and Value"

1. "Art and the Restoration of Value"

2. "Art and the Work of Holding onto Hope"

3. "The Value in a Foreign Song"

4. "Waiting on Value"

Some of the ideas for the book were also explored in the MFA thesis, "The Ocean Is What I Meant By / Theory for Art" and an essay for Micah Bloom's book, Codex, "Micah Bloom's Books."

Recent Shorter Essays

Tom Break, "Letter to the Editor" about the border between art & life at Fare Forward

Tom Break, "What Does That Still Small Voice Sound Like?" at Slant Books' Close Reading blog

Tom Break, "Divine Providence" at Lydwine

Tom Break, "Love and Reason" at Slant Books' Close Reading blog

Tom Break, "Poetry as a Finding through a Falling Away" at Genealogies of Modernity

Tom Break, "Notes on the Vocation of Being a Teacher" at Circe Institute

Tom Break, "Susan Rothenberg's Search for the Real" at The New Criterion

writing

Brian Prugh published work under the pen name "Tom Break" from 2020 - 2024.