aesthetic distance

noun

1. a degree of detachment from or nonidentification with the characters or circumstances of a work of art, permitting the formation of judgments based on aesthetic rather than extra-aesthetic criteria.

Word History and Origins

Origin of aesthetic distance¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

But Johnson of Cheshire lacked the aesthetic distance required of sustained irony and had a grander purpose in mind.

From Project Gutenberg