Perhaps it was the translation - or its necessary roughness as an early
attempt at what is surely a difficult subject - but I found Bachelard's
Poetics to be indistinct, rather convoluted, and largely unable to fulfill
the substantial promise of its introductory chapter, which was lucid, bold,
and imaginative.
Beyond the stylistic difficulties, I felt the majority of the passages cited
as examples were drawn from a very narrow pool of what seemed rather obscure
French pastoral poets... Consequently (to be fair, I have no depth here) it
was difficult to grasp the context of the references, or their real
value/validity.
Does it read better in the original?
Joe Lamantia
----- Original Message -----
From: Sarah L. Higley <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2000 7:36 PM
Subject: Re: Visual and Acoustic Space
> On Sun, 13 Aug 2000, Ken Mogg wrote:
>
> > Robert Inglis wrote:
> >
> > > I'm currently working on a paper that has to do with visual and
acoustic
> > > space, and I was wondering if anyone knows of any books or articles
that go
> > > into depth about these subjects? I am aware of McLuhan's work and an
essay
> > > by F.M. Cornford entitled "The Invention of Space", but otherwise the
> > > paucity of information I've been able to find has been disappointing,
so
> > > far.
> >
> > Robert, have you looked at the works of Gaston Bachelard?
> >
>
> This is Gaston Bachelard's _The Poetics of Space_. Another important
> work to look to is Susan Stewart's _On Longing_: Narratives of the
> Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection_. Does your study
> include the urban at all? There is a ton of material out there on
> urban space. You could start with Kevin Lynch's _The Image of the
> City_, a classic. Visual space? What about Michel de Certeau, "Walking
> in the City," in _The Practice of Everyday Life_? Wonderful book,
> wonderful chapter. Or Fredric Jameson on postmodern urban architecture
> in "Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism"?
>
> I'm preparing a manuscript for Camera Obscura on the uses of miniature
> photography and futuristic or fabulist cities. It will come out I
> don't know when, but it's called _A Taste for Shrinking: Movie Miniatures
> and the Unreal City." I've run across quite a lot of material on the
> urban in my research for this. Acoustic space? That I'm not sure about:
> cathedrals? caves? closets? You might try the Bachelard, especially his
> chapter on the Dialectics of Outside and Inside.
>
> Space is a pretty big topic. How are you narrowing this down?
> *********************************************************************
> Sarah L. Higley [log in to unmask]
> Associate Professor of English office: (716) 275-9261
> The University of Rochester fax: (716) 442-5769
> Rochester NY, 14627
> *********************************************************************
> Py dydwc glein / O erddygnawt vein?
> "What brings a gem from a hard stone?" Book of Taliesin
> *********************************************************************
>
> ----
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----
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