autotelism, the belief that a work of art, especially a work of literature, is an end in itself or provides its own justification and does not exist to serve a moral or didactic purpose. It was adopted by proponents of New Criticism in the 1920s and is similar to the “art for art’s sake” doctrine of the Aestheticism movement of the late 19th century. The word is from the Greek autotelḗs, “complete in itself.”