Space in America : theory, history, culture / edited by Klaus Benesch and Kerstin Schmidt.

Title & Author:

Space in America : theory, history, culture / edited by Klaus Benesch and Kerstin Schmidt.

Publication:

Amsterdam ; New York, NY : Rodopi, 2005.

Description:

588 pages, 52 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm.

Series:

Architecture, technology, culture ; 1

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references.
Concepts of Space in American Culture: An Introduction; Theory; Landscape / Nature; Technoscape / Architecture / Urban Utopia; Literature; Performance / Film / Visual Arts; Contributors.

Summary:

"America's sense of space has always been tied to what Hayden White called the "narrativization" of real events. If the awe-inspiring manifestations of nature in America (Niagara Falls, Virginia's Natural Bridge, the Grand Canyon, etc.) were often used as a foil for projecting utopian visions and idealizations of the nation's exceptional place among the nations of the world, the rapid technological progress and its concomitant appropriation of natural spaces served equally well, as David Nye argues, to promote the dominant cultural idiom of exploration and conquest. From the beginning, American attitudes towards space were thus utterly contradictory if not paradoxical; a paradox that scholars tried to capture in such hybrid concepts as the "middle landscape" (Leo Marx), an "engineered New Earth" (Cecelia Tichi), or the "technological sublime" (David Nye). Not only was America's concept of space paradoxical, it has always also been a contested terrain, a site of continuous social and cultural conflict. Many foundational issues in American history (the dislocation of Native and African Americans, the geo-political implications of nation-building, immigration and transmigration, the increasing division and "clustering" of contemporary American society, etc.) involve differing ideals and notions of space. Quite literally, space and its various ideological appropriations formed the arena where America's search for identity (national, political, cultural) has been staged."--Cover.

Resources:
Table of contents
Klappentext

ISBN:

9042018763 (hd. bd.)
9789042018761 (hd. bd.)

Subject:

Space (Architecture)
Space and time.
Arts, Modern Themes, motives.
Espace (Architecture)
Kultur
Gesellschaft
Raum
Raumwahrnehmung
Landschappen.
Ruimte (algemeen)
Nationale identiteit.
Cultuur.
USA
7.150.

Added entries:

Benesch, Klaus, 1958-
Schmidt, Kerstin, 1971-
Architecture, technology, culture ; 1.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 240658
Call No.: BIB 170577
Status: Available

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