Abstract
The book presents an aesthetic analzsis of the phenomenon of kitsch and suggests a definition of the concept 'kitsch' which is formulated by three necessary c onditions which jointly provide also the sufficient condition. It demonstrates that kitsch is parasitic on the emotional charge of its subject matter and shows what its 'aesthetic badness' consists of.
It is also shown that despite the fact that kitsch pictures may have all the formal properties of artistic pictures, their aesthetic function differs dramatically from that of works of art. Kitsch functions as a quasi-transparent symbol.
This is why kitsch should not be considered as continuous with bad and mediocre art but rather as a sui generis category which o0nly ac companies art.