Instant Ruins

Author : Nicholas B. Dirks
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0816631239

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In Near Ruins by Nicholas B. Dirks Pdf

If culture is suspect, what of cultural theory? At a moment when culture's traditional caretakers -- humanism, philosophy, anthropology, and the nation-state -- are undergoing crisis and mutation, this volume charts the tensions and contradictions in the development and deployment of the concept of culture. A genuinely interdisciplinary venture, In Near Ruins brings together respected writers from the fields of history, anthropology, literary criticism, and communications. Together their essays present an intriguing picture of "culture" at the edges of humanism, of the politics of critical inquiry amid current social transformations, of the status and practice of historical knowledge in an age of theory. Skeptical of the concept of culture but fascinated with cultural forms, the authors take up diverse topics, from debates over sexuality in the contemporary United States to relations between empire, capitalism, and gender in nineteenth-century Britain; from poverty in U.S. inner cities to violence in war-torn Sri Lanka; from the operation of nostalgia on cultural practices in Japan to anthropological forms of state power in Indonesia and the writing of history in India. Linked by a common urge to think through the aesthetics and politics of particular social relations amid a variety of globalizing forces -- revolution, colonialism, nationalism, and the disciplinary institutions of the academy itself -- these writers contribute to the ongoing work of remapping the terrain of cultural analysis and reevaluating the stakes in such a daunting effort.

Author : Miles Orvell
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2021-01-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780190491611

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Empire of Ruins by Miles Orvell Pdf

Once symbols of the past, ruins have become ubiquitous signs of our future. Americans today encounter ruins in the media on a daily basis--images of abandoned factories and malls, toxic landscapes, devastating fires, hurricanes, and floods. In this sweeping study, Miles Orvell offers a new understanding of the spectacle of ruins in US culture, exploring how photographers, writers, painters, and filmmakers have responded to ruin and destruction, both real and imaginary, in an effort to make sense of the past and envision the future. Empire of Ruins explains why Americans in the nineteenth century yearned for the ruins of Rome and Egypt and how they portrayed a past as ancient and mysterious in the remains of Native American cultures. As the romance of ruins gave way to twentieth-century capitalism, older structures were demolished to make way for grander ones, a process interpreted by artists as a symptom of America's "creative destruction." In the late twentieth century, Americans began to inhabit a perpetual state of ruins, made visible by photographs of decaying inner cities, derelict factories and malls, and the waste lands of the mining industry. This interdisciplinary work focuses on how visual media have transformed disaster and decay into spectacles that compel our moral attention even as they balance horror and beauty. Looking to the future, Orvell considers the visual portrayal of climate ruins as we face the political and ethical responsibilities of our changing world. A wide-ranging work by an acclaimed urban, cultural, and photography scholar, Empire of Ruins offers a provocative and lavishly illustrated look at the American past, present, and future.

Author : Peter Brooks
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2017-04-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9780465096077

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Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris by Peter Brooks Pdf

From the summer of 1870 through the spring of 1871, France suffered a humiliating defeat in its war against Prussia and witnessed bloody class warfare that culminated in the crushing of the Paris Commune. In Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris, Peter Brooks examines why Flaubert thought his recently published novel, Sentimental Education, was prophetic of the upheavals in France during this “terrible year,” and how Flaubert's life and that of his compatriots were changed forever. Brooks uses letters between Flaubert and his novelist friend and confidante George Sand to tell the story of Flaubert and his work, exploring his political commitments and his understanding of war, occupation, insurrection, and bloody political repression. Interweaving history, art history, and literary criticism—from Flaubert's magnificent novel of historical despair, to the building of the reactionary monument the Sacré-Coeur on Paris's highest summit, to the emergence of photography as historical witness—Brooks sheds new light on the pivotal moment when France redefined herself for the modern world.

Author : Vincent Arthur De Luca
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2014-07-14
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781400861781

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Words of Eternity by Vincent Arthur De Luca Pdf

William Blake called himself a "sublime Artist" and acknowledged his own power to create "the Most Sublime Poetry." Words of Eternity reveals the fundamental importance of the term "sublime" in a defining of Blake's poetic achievement. This first full-length study of Blake and the sublime demonstrates that a sophisticated theory of sublimity permeates his writings, serving him as a personal poetics, a framework in which the difficulties and unusual strategies of the works find their rationale. Vincent De Luca combines historically grounded source study with insights from modern critical theories of textuality to identify Blake's two opposing conceptions of sublimity--a sublime of obscurity, terror, and material power and one of determinate, concentrated intellectual design. De Luca examines the interplay between these two modes from differing perspectives--theoretical, stylistic, and thematic. As the perspectives widen, they embrace many of the speculative systems of Blake's time and reveal these systems as various displaced modalities of an underlying sublime discourse. "Words of Eternity is one of the dozen or so most important books ever written about Blake's poetry. De Luca provides a wealth of new insights on every page."--Robert N. Essick, University of California, Riverside "With the context that this book supplies, we take a quantum leap in the sense we can make of Blake's project. De Luca opens our eyes to a Blake, and a sublime, that will never again be the same for us."--Nelson Hilton, University of Georgia Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Author : Stephen Kite
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2022-11-17
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781350320680

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Shaping the Surface by Stephen Kite Pdf

Shaping the Surface explores the history of modern British architecture through the lens of surface, materiality and decoration. Picking up on a trait that art historian Nikolaus Pevsner first identified as a 'national mania for beautiful surface quality', this book makes a new contribution to architectural history and visual culture in its detailed examination of the surfaces of British architecture from the middle of the 19th century up to the turn of the 21st century. Tracing this continuing sensibility to surface all the way through to the modern era, it explores how and why surface and materiality have featured so heavily in recent architectural tradition, examining the history of British architecture through a selection of key cultural moments and movements from Romanticism and the Arts and Crafts, to Brutalism, High-Tech, Post-Modernism, Neo-Vernacular, and the New Materiality. Embedded within the narrative is the question of whether such national characters can exist in architecture at all – and indeed the extent to which it is possible to identify a British architectural consciousness in an architectural tradition characterised by its continuous importation of theories, ideas, materials and people from around the globe. Shaping the Surface provides a deep critique and meditation on the importance of surface and materiality for architects, designers, and historians everywhere - in Britain and beyond - while it also serves as a thematic introduction to modern British architectural history, with in-depth readings of the works of many key British architects, artists, and critics from Ruskin and William Morris to Alison and Peter Smithson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Rogers and Caruso St John.

Author : Terence Martin
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 592 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 1995-01-05
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0231504624

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Parables of Possibility by Terence Martin Pdf

Parables of Possibility

Author : Constantin-François Volney
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1855
Category : Ethics
ISBN : UCAL:$B284469

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Volney's Ruins; Or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires by Constantin-François Volney Pdf

Author : Jeanne M. Dams
Publisher : Severn House Publishers Ltd
Page : 188 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2013-02-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781448300754

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Malice in Miniature by Jeanne M. Dams Pdf

When Dorothy Martin gets a call from her friend Ada Finch, whose gardener son has been arrested for the attempted theft of an antique dolls’ tea set from the Miniatures Museum at the imposing Brocklesby Hall, she doesn’t hesitate to offer her services to clear his name. But when theft leads to murder, Dorothy discovers there are big secrets hidden in the rooms filled with miniatures.

Author : Robert Ginsberg
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 573 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2021-08-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789004495937

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The Aesthetics of Ruins by Robert Ginsberg Pdf

This book constructs a theory of ruins that celebrates their vitality and unity in aesthetic experience. Its argument draws upon over 100 illustrations prepared in 40 countries. Ruins flourish as matter, form, function, incongruity, site, and symbol. Ruin underlies cultural values in cinema, literature and philosophy. Finally, ruin guides meditations upon our mortality and endangered world.

Author : Simon Murray
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2020-08-17
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9783030406431

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Performing Ruins by Simon Murray Pdf

This book engages with the relationship between ruins, dilapidation, and abandonment and cultural events performed within such spaces. Following the author’s fieldwork in the UK, Bosnia Herzegovina, Poland, Germany, Greece, and Sicily, chapters describe, investigate, and reflect upon live performance events which have taken place in sites of decay and abandonment. The book’s main focus is upon modern economic ruins and ruins of warfare. Each chapter provides several case studies based upon the author’s own site visits and interviews with actors, directors, producers, curators, writers, and other artists. The book contextualises these events within the wider framework of Ruin Studies and provides brief summaries of how we might understand the ruin in terms of time, politics, culture, and atmospheres. The book is particularly preoccupied with artists’ reasons and motivations for placing performance events in ruined spaces and how these work dramaturgically.

Author : Tanya Whitehouse
Publisher : Springer
Page : 122 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2018-11-30
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783030030650

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How Ruins Acquire Aesthetic Value by Tanya Whitehouse Pdf

This book provides the first recent philosophical account of how ruins acquire aesthetic value. It draws on a variety of sources to explore modern ruins, the ruin tradition, and the phenomenon of “ruin porn.” It features an unusual and original combination of philosophical analysis, the author’s photography, and reviews of both new and historically influential case studies, including Richard Haag’s Gas Works Park, the ruins of Detroit, and remnants of the steel industry of Pennsylvania. Tanya Whitehouse shows how the users of ruins can become architects of a new order, transforming derelict sites into aesthetically significant places we should preserve.

Author : James Anthony Froude
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 654 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 1875
Category : Great Britain
ISBN : HARVARD:HN249R

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History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada by James Anthony Froude Pdf

Author : Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 150 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2012-01-13
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9780199921058

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Modern Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria Pdf

This Very Short Introduction chronicles the trends and traditions of modern Latin American literature, arguing that Latin American literature developed as a continent-wide phenomenon, not just an assemblage of national literatures, in moments of political crisis. With the Spanish American War came Modernismo, the end of World War I and the Mexican Revolution produced the avant-garde, and the Cuban Revolution sparked a movement in the novel that came to be known as the Boom. Within this narrative, the author covers all of the major writers of Latin American literature, from Andrés Bello and José María de Heredia, through Borges and García Márquez, to Fernando Vallejo and Roberto Bolaño.

Author : Reid Bramblett
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 650 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2005-01-28
Category : Travel
ISBN : 9780764583551

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Europe For Dummies by Reid Bramblett Pdf

Lively and engaging, this invaluable handbook puts the continent's great cities and regions at your fingertips, and includes all the highlights plus the very best off-the-beaten-path experiences that make any visit to Europe memorable. Packed with experienced insider tips, Europe For Dummies offers: Essential information on London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich & the Bavarian Alps, Vienna, Prague, Rome, Florence & Tuscany, Venice, Barcelona, and Athens A select choice of favorite hotels and eateries in every destination and price category Indispensable foreign language glossaries Advice on everything from planning a sensible itinerary and getting the best deals to using public transit and catching must-see sights Helpful tips on converting currencies, overcoming language barrier, avoiding crowds, and sampling local cuisine

Author : Stephen Browning,Daniel Tink
Publisher : Pen and Sword History
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2020-03-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781526708458

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Visitors' Historic Britain - Norwich and Norfolk by Stephen Browning,Daniel Tink Pdf

This unique study traces the history of Norwich and Norfolk from the time of earliest life to the outbreak of the First World War. It is designed to appeal to the travellers, both single and in family groups, who wish to explore the host of fascinating places on offer in what the Norfolk-born authors believe to be the most unspoilt and mysterious county in England. Norwich has its own section along with three possible walks taking in many of the recommended sites. The vast coast is presented next and finally the book travels to central Norfolk: at all times, places of interest are grouped as much as possible so that travellers can make the most of the time available. Everywhere, legends and stories relating to an area are woven into the narrative. A final chapter considers Norwich and Norfolk through time using rare archive and archaeological material to give a taste of life in days gone by. Top Norfolk photographer Daniel Tink has taken 100 photographs especially for the book and presents these where appropriate alongside some wonderful contrasting old prints and etchings. The book concludes with a comprehensive index and bibliography designed to facilitate further study.Throughout, telephone numbers and websites of attractions are given, providing readers with a ‘toolkit’ to unlock the secrets, history, sites and stories of this vast county.