Urban Amazement
Urban Amazement
Contributor(s): Monika Kowalczyk-Piaseczna (Editor), Marta Mamet-Michalkiewicz (Editor)
Subject(s): Philosophy, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Sociology of Culture, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: urban studies; urban culture; city; cultural studies; journey
Summary/Abstract: “Cities are magical places, however their magic is not evenly distributed” - writes Chris Jenks in his general introduction to Urban Culture: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies. As much as we agree with Jenks’s words, we believe that cities, first and foremost, are amazing spaces, and this belief finds reflection in the articles gathered in the present volume. The magic of the cities, together with the meandrous urban structure and the journey through the urban landscape are the interweaving aspects discussed in this book. The picture of the city that emerges from the articles contained in Urban Amazement is one of anintricate structure, involving an individual - a traveller, an inhabitant, a writer or a simple observer - into a network of images that is neverconstant or stable, yet always amazing one with its complexity. The numberand, most of all, the diversity of themes discussed in the consecutive studies seem to correspond to the multiplicity of impressions that the urban landscape appears to exert on the subjects examined in the presented texts. Moreover, just like the streets of the city constantly intersect, as some of the articles in the volume illustrate, the presented texts tend to converge at many recurrent aspects, such as the city’s labyrinthine structure, anxiety which the authors see as connected with the impenetrabilityof urban landscape, and the overwhelming sense of amazement which - in many of the presented studies - the urban space evokes in its residents and visitors.
Series: Nauki społeczne
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-8012-718-0
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-83-8012-717-3
- Page Count: 226
- Publication Year: 2015
- Language: English
The City That Is Not: Apophasis and Anglo-Saxon Urbanism
The City That Is Not: Apophasis and Anglo-Saxon Urbanism
(The City That Is Not: Apophasis and Anglo-Saxon Urbanism)
- Author(s):Rafał Borysławski
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Philosophy, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Other Language Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:11-24
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Old English; King Alfred the Great; Boethius; Rome; “The Ruin”; apophasis
- Summary/Abstract:The article discusses two Old English cases of walking through cities that no longer exist and the implications that such visions entail for early medieval philosophical perspectives. The first part proposes a conjectural vision of the city of Rome from around the time of the visits of young Prince Alfred of Wessex, future King Alfred the Great, in 853 and in 855 A.D. The second part is constructed upon an understanding of one of the Exeter Book elegies, “The Ruin”, presenting musings on whatever remained from another Roman city, conceivably identifiable with Aqua Sulis, that is, Bath. The reflections of the former encounter with the city may be, perhaps, found in the Meters that accompany Alfred-inspired translation of Boethius’s “De consolatione philosophiae”, and the city present in “The Ruin” is another example of the excidio urbis theme. Together, the two visions confirm the Old English metaphysical value of the city that becomes its negative, that is, the city that is formed by absences, lacunae, and vestiges of its past. Seen in this light, the “cities that are not” are presented here as instances of apophatic thinking, akin to that of Pseudo-Dionysius, whereby more can be expressed by questions and negative statements than by factual testimonials. The proposed Anglo-Saxon walks through ruined cities paradoxically offer an augmentation of reality and an existential practice in the elusiveness of signification extending beyond urban boundaries.
- Price: 4.50 €
“A City of Resurrections” and “a City of Nightmares”: London, Female Monstrosity, and the Weird Sublime in Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan”
“A City of Resurrections” and “a City of Nightmares”: London, Female Monstrosity, and the Weird Sublime in Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan”
(“A City of Resurrections” and “a City of Nightmares”: London, Female Monstrosity, and the Weird Sublime in Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan”)
- Author(s):Jacek Mydla
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, Other Language Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:25-55
- No. of Pages:31
- Keywords:late-Victorian Gothic; the weird tale; sublime; the city; femininity; monstrosity; decadence
- Summary/Abstract:As a point of departure I present the psychoanalytic interpretive strategies used to address late-Victorian, or fin-de-siecle, Gothic fictions. These strategies see in the fictions expression of the numerous anxieties that troubled Victorian at the turn of the nineteenth century. Also, one of the second-wave Gothic’s representatives, Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan” can be read as a fictional expression of those anxieties. The approach I propose in the main body of the article consists in seeing in Machen’s story a realisation of a new type of the sublime, called here the weird sublime. I show how Machen engages the ideas of the modern metropolis (London), the femme fatale, and of the occult to construct this type of sublimity. In particular, attention is drawn to the way in which the female element becomes fused, via the intercession of the pagan deity, with the city.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Maze, the Fog, the Mass, the Dog: Sherlock Holmes in London
The Maze, the Fog, the Mass, the Dog: Sherlock Holmes in London
(The Maze, the Fog, the Mass, the Dog: Sherlock Holmes in London)
- Author(s):Justyna Jajszczok
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Other Language Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:57-74
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:dog; fog; mass; maze; Sherlock Holmes; Victorian London
- Summary/Abstract:The article revolves around the concept of the late-Victorian London as an accomplice in crime. Employing a number of literary examples but mostly concentrating on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, the text investigates specific techniques the metropolis uses in order to aid criminals and hinder the work of law-enforcement officers. The labyrinthine structure of the city, its ability to envelop itself in impenetrable yellow fog, and its vast population make the late nineteenth-century London a haven for wrongdoers. The final part of the article presents arguments in favour of the claim that only Sherlock Holmes is capable of leading a successful career of a private investigator in such a crime-aiding city. This is made possible not just because of his extraordinary observational skills, but also due to the fact that the detective, as presented in the stories, possesses a number of unique canine features which make him immune to London’s tricks.
- Price: 4.50 €
All Eyes in Swinging London: Antonioni’s “Blow-Up” and the Maze of Violence
All Eyes in Swinging London: Antonioni’s “Blow-Up” and the Maze of Violence
(All Eyes in Swinging London: Antonioni’s “Blow-Up” and the Maze of Violence)
- Author(s):Sławomir Masłoń
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Photography, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:75-95
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Antonini; violence; photography; transcendence
- Summary/Abstract:Antonioni’s “Blow-Up”, released in late 1966, is usually taken, on the one hand, to represent (celebratingly and scandalously) the youth culture of Swinging London and, on the other, the problems of (tenuous) relation between reality and its representation (the main protagonist thinks he discovers a murder by analysing photographs he has taken). Although most critics have attempted to link these two levels by means of some existential metaphor (most often: the main protagonist who represents the image-crazed youth of Swinging London encounters its biggest taboo, death, which is unrepresentable to boot), the paper proposes a more literal and political interpretation arguing that the abstraction of blurry grain of silver halide into which the image of the corpse finally dissolves in a series of photographic blow-ups is a way of representing something which also cannot have a proper image: the all-pervasive but no longer perceptible lowkey everyday violence which constitutes the propelling force of the supposedly emancipated “swinging” lifestyle.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Portrait of the City in Wim Wenders’s “Lisbon Story”
The Portrait of the City in Wim Wenders’s “Lisbon Story”
(The Portrait of the City in Wim Wenders’s “Lisbon Story”)
- Author(s):Sonia Front
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:97-112
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:“Lisbon Story”; Lisbon; soundscape; kinesthetic
- Summary/Abstract:The paper addresses the depiction of the city in Wim Wenders’s film “Lisbon Story” (1994). The film meditates on the “death of the cinema” resulting from the commercialization of the image and globalization of culture, accompanied by the destruction of space. Wenders protests against the postmodernist consumption and homogeneity of space by presenting Lisbon as a city arrested in time, beyond the impact of corporate culture. Expressing his distrust of images, he creates a heterogeneous portrait of the city, superimposing soundscape over the landscape, whereby sounds, particularly music, encode the emotional attitude to the city, experienced in a kinesthetic manner.
- Price: 4.50 €
Walking through (Hi)stories: City and Temporality in Vandana Singh’s “Delhi”
Walking through (Hi)stories: City and Temporality in Vandana Singh’s “Delhi”
(Walking through (Hi)stories: City and Temporality in Vandana Singh’s “Delhi”)
- Author(s):Agnieszka Podruczna
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:113-123
- No. of Pages:11
- Keywords:science fiction; memory; city; postcolonial studies; history
- Summary/Abstract:The article constitutes an attempt at an in-depth analysis of the way in which Vandana Singh, in her short story “Delhi,” engages in a discussion concerning the relationship between the urban space, hegemonic colonial narrative, and the subjectivity of the historical account, reframing it in terms of speculative fiction. This practice, framed as a counter-discursive attempt at rewriting the history of the Other, allows the author to comment upon the ways in which that history has been created and shaped. Adopting the postcolonial discourse as well as theory of science fiction as the primary methodological background, the article aims to explore the themes of collective memory and postcolonial reclaiming practices, framed in terms of a spatial-temporal journey through the urban space of Delhi, with the view of substantiating the thesis that the act of walking through the city in both the spatial and the temporal sense constitutes a counter-discursive attempt at reclaiming the colonial narrative and challenging the status quo.
- Price: 4.50 €
Amidst the Wonders of the City: Countenances of Moscow in Barbara Włodarczyk’s “Wide Tracks”
Amidst the Wonders of the City: Countenances of Moscow in Barbara Włodarczyk’s “Wide Tracks”
(Amidst the Wonders of the City: Countenances of Moscow in Barbara Włodarczyk’s “Wide Tracks”)
- Author(s):Monika Kowalczyk-Piaseczna
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:125-154
- No. of Pages:30
- Keywords:reportage; Moscow; wonder; city; countenance
- Summary/Abstract:The article analyses the various countenances of Moscow which have been presented by Barbara Włodarczyk in the cycle of television reportages “Wide Tracks”. The text focuses on illustrating the specific features of a film report that allow its author to present the wondrous picture of the Russian capital emerging from the particular fragments of the discussed reportages. Moreover, as a result of juxtaposition of the reports from that part of the city, which overwhelms one with its richness and splendour, with the accounts from these corners of Moscow in which the continuous struggle for survival takes place, the article examines the internal contradictions which may be observed within the depicted urban space. The analysed cycle also exposes the series of political conflicts which undermine the immaculate image of Moscow as a wondrous city, presented by some of the characters of the discussed film pictures, and simultaneously, it allows one to discover some new, less known countenances of the metropolis.
- Price: 4.50 €
Anorexia and the City: Special Significance of the Urban Environment in Eating Disorder Memoirs
Anorexia and the City: Special Significance of the Urban Environment in Eating Disorder Memoirs
(Anorexia and the City: Special Significance of the Urban Environment in Eating Disorder Memoirs)
- Author(s):Nina Augustynowicz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Other Language Literature, Health and medicine and law, Rural and urban sociology, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:155-170
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:anorexia; eating disorders; city
- Summary/Abstract:The article examines a book of memoirs belonging to a larger group of textual representations of individual struggle with anorexia in order to shed light on the city as a crucial character in the account of the disease. “Kid Rex: The Inspiring True Account of a Life Salvaged from Anorexia, Despair and Dark Days in New York City” (2008) by Laura Moisin is one of many recent publications touching upon the subject of eating disorders penned by and depicting the life of young upper middle class big city women. First notable books of this kind appeared around 1980, while since the beginning of this century we have been observing a steady increase in this respect, resulting in the proliferation of these personal narratives in popular culture. In accordance with the research suggesting that the incidence of eating disorders is higher in urban areas, publications of this kind all seem to refer to such environments; however, the aforementioned book could be considered special here as it portrays the deep-reaching relations between witnessing the events of September 11 attacks and the development of the disease. Even though it remains unclear which elements of cityscapes are responsible for the higher incidence of the anorexia, the acute experiences offered by NYC around the time of the attack highlight the probable causes. Employing the interdisciplinary perspectives offered by psychogeography, food studies and sociology of medicine, the article analyses how the influence of the city on female victims of anorexia is presented in the memoir to show that urban spaces may function both as a symptom of and as a factor contributing to the disease.
- Price: 4.50 €
Street Lit and Subversion
Street Lit and Subversion
(Street Lit and Subversion)
- Author(s):Bartosz Stopel
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Sociology of Culture, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:171-182
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:cultural studies; textualism; alternative communities; subcultures
- Summary/Abstract:The aims of this article are twofold. First, it explores some key elements and themes of “street lit”—a movement in contemporary, predominantly African-American fiction that takes place within the urban underwold, describing gang and ghetto life. The commercial success of street lit leads me to reconsider some common approaches to the study of subcultures, underclass, and “alternative communities” within cultural studies. Specifically, I wish to address two major claims which often tend to go together in cultural studies. One of them, which I ascribe to Marcuse, Hebdige, Hall, and others, is the glorification of gangs, subcultures or the underclass as possessing a revolutionary political potential that can challenge the capitalist economical system and lead to social change. The other tendency is what I see as excessive textualisation of the phenomena studied within cultural studies, which results in understanding them either as reinforcing or subverting established cultural codes. I argue that to understand the aforementioned groups as either reinforcing or subverting the dominant economical system is to make a fallacy of excessive textualisation, and that their activities can never fall easily into either category. In the end, the combination of both approaches makes the study of alternative communities and their potential severely flawed.
- Price: 4.50 €
Anxious City: The Fears and Apprehensions of Citizens and Tourists in Modern Urban Areas
Anxious City: The Fears and Apprehensions of Citizens and Tourists in Modern Urban Areas
(Anxious City: The Fears and Apprehensions of Citizens and Tourists in Modern Urban Areas)
- Author(s):Bożena Kilian
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Theory of Literature, Globalization
- Page Range:183-205
- No. of Pages:23
- Keywords:anxiety; fear; city; globalisation; tourism
- Summary/Abstract:In today’s world numerous dangers seem to threaten human lives. Modern society is claimed to be fearful and anxious, hence it is exposed to perils that are neither comprehensive nor controllable. Both global and local threats, such as economic crises, unprecedented technological advancement, terrorism or climate change and the increasing instability in the job market, crime or otherness influence everyday existence of modern man, who becomes increasingly apprehensive. The persistent atmosphere of fear is additionally nourished and sustained by the ubiquitous message presented by the media, which selectively focus on the negative broadcast. Modern cities, which are now perceived as a location where otherness is to be rather feared than praised and cultivated, are believed to be places which encapsulate almost all contemporary fears. First and foremost, they are scenes where the fear of crime takes its toll. Not only does it shape the structure of the city, as it leads to the establishment of the so-called gated communities, occupying closed and guarded estates, but primarily the relationships among different formal and informal social groups existing within the city. Feared are those of different race, religion, nationality, social status, gender, and even age. Being other, feared are also those coming to cities as tourists. In the face of the fact that city tourism is on the increase one could suspect that this is entirely safe and entertaining pastime; however, the analysis of urban tourism leaves no doubt that it also brings certain dose of fear and anxiety. The article aims at presenting various fears and anxieties experienced within urban area by both tourists and citizens.
- Price: 4.50 €
Between Architecture and Cultural Studies: Reflections on the Constitution and Devaluation of Urban Public Spaces
Between Architecture and Cultural Studies: Reflections on the Constitution and Devaluation of Urban Public Spaces
(Between Architecture and Cultural Studies: Reflections on the Constitution and Devaluation of Urban Public Spaces)
- Author(s):Andrzej Bełdowski, Tomasz Burzyński
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Architecture, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Rural and urban sociology, Sociology of Culture, Theory of Literature
- Page Range:207-222
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:agency; structure; city; public space; architectural theory; cultural studies
- Summary/Abstract:This interdisciplinary paper aims to outline the role of architecture in the societal construction and devaluation of civic public spaces from the perspectives of theoretical architecture, cultural studies, and theory of culture. When perceived in the context of the agency/structure duality, urban public spaces could be seen as societal constructs whose character and identity can be traced to the holistic organisation of architectural forms within a given locale. At the same time, the deflation in the quality of public spaces may be explained by making references to mutually reinforcing processes of spatial commodification and symbolic violence which are both exercised by implanting pure, self-explicable architectural forms into well-entrenched urban spaces.
- Price: 4.50 €