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What It Took: Gore Vidal and the High Price of Midcentury Manliness

John Ibson

in The Mourning After: Loss and Longing among Midcentury American Men

Commencing with Ibson’s interview with Gore Vidal in his old age, addressing the state of American masculinity during Vidal’s midcentury youth, the chapter contrasts what would become of Vidal with ... More

Commencing with Ibson’s interview with Gore Vidal in his old age, addressing the state of American masculinity during Vidal’s midcentury youth, the chapter contrasts what would become of Vidal with the fate of his friend John Horne Burns. Challenging common renderings of Vidal’s career, including Vidal’s own, Ibson maintains that Vidal was by no means blackballed by critics after publication in 1948 of The City and the Pillar, a work of unprecedented candor and detail about queer life in the United States, and that Vidal was much more of a conforming American male than he and others have characterized him to be. The Mourning After establishes The City and the Pillar as a document of considerable significance in American men’s history, analyzing in detail the extensive correspondence regarding the novel that Vidal received from readers. As he did with Burns and his work, Ibson places Vidal and his fiction in a midcentury cultural context, interpreting the work and readers’ responses to it as a revealing window onto postwar masculinity at large.Less

Imaging the Globalized City: Rem Koolhaas, U-thèque, and the Pearl River Delta

Chris Berry

in Cinema at the City's Edge

This chapter examines the imaging and the imagination of the Globalized City. It focuses on three texts to compare two different visions of one urban or conurban space that has emerged post ... More

This chapter examines the imaging and the imagination of the Globalized City. It focuses on three texts to compare two different visions of one urban or conurban space that has emerged post globalization—the Pearl River Delta. Rem Koolhas has discussed the Globalized City in his essay called “The Generic City”, where he celebrates the postmodern tendencies of globalization towards homogenization, the erasure of history, and the loss of identity bemoaned by so many others. Another text examined is U-théque's documentary San Yuan Li, which emphasizes history and local specificity. The third text, Harvard Design School Project on the City: Great Leap Forward was edited by Koolhaas and this tracks the recent transformation and urbanization of the Pearl River Delta. The chapter concludes by suggesting that although the difference between Koolhaas's and U-théque's visions of the Globalized City is real, both of them are within the order of globalization.Less

Tale I: Al-‘imaara (the building) as topos

Mona Abaza

in Cairo Collages: Everyday Life Practices after the Event

This chapter discusses the idea of the ‘building’ as a literary and sociological ‘topos’. It discusses Cairo’s major makeovers since 2011, with an emphasis on the violent incidents of Mohamed Mahmud ... More

This chapter discusses the idea of the ‘building’ as a literary and sociological ‘topos’. It discusses Cairo’s major makeovers since 2011, with an emphasis on the violent incidents of Mohamed Mahmud Street in 2011. The chapter discusses too the question of nostalgia and the city. It addresses the theoretical debate of ‘Singapore as a model’ (Chua 2011) to extend it to the phantasm of replicating mini-Dubai(s) in Egypt.Less

Introduction

P.G. Walsh and P.G. Walsh (eds)

in Augustine: De Civitate Dei The City of God Book V

This chapter provides an overview of Book V of Augustine's The City of God. It analyzes how Rome has extended her imperial sway throughout Europe and the Near East in spite of the moral bankruptcy of ... More

This chapter provides an overview of Book V of Augustine's The City of God. It analyzes how Rome has extended her imperial sway throughout Europe and the Near East in spite of the moral bankruptcy of the Roman state. It also reviews the solution offered by some philosophers about the expansion and consolidation of empire as the outcome of chance or fate. The chapter discusses how providence has endowed Roman leaders with traditional virtues that the aims of glory and honour for the individual, and dominion for the state that are at odds with Christianity's application of the virtues. It reviews the key to Augustine's philosophy of history, in which the Roman empire has spread and is maintained in existence by divine providence.Less

“He would not goe naked like the Indians, but cloathed just as one of our selves”: Indian Disguise in The Historie of Orlando Furioso, The Fatal Marriage, and The City Madam

Gavin Hollis

in The Absence of America: The London Stage, 1576-1642

This chapter analyzes drama which employs the theatergram in which European males adopt alterity as a disguise and dress themselves as American Indians. Drawing on colonialist propaganda, that ... More

This chapter analyzes drama which employs the theatergram in which European males adopt alterity as a disguise and dress themselves as American Indians. Drawing on colonialist propaganda, that stressed the importance of clothing the Indian in Christian civility, this chapter argues that the Indian disguise drew attention to the colonial project of clothing while also stressing the impossibility of converting the infidel, because clothing was both a marker of identity and an index of the inscrutability of identity (because it was attachable and detachable). While Robert Greene’s Orlando Furioso seems to suggest that the Indian could be co-opted by the English and become a civilized advocate for imperialism against the Spanish, Philip Massinger’s The City Madam and the anonymous The Fatal Marriage argue for the futility of this mission, because the Indian treated clothing to disguise their allegiance to the English rather than as a token of their allegiance.Less

Phonographs around the World

Harry Liebersohn

in Music and the New Global Culture: From the Great Exhibitions to the Jazz Age

Arthur Rimbaud’s ironic comments on the global expansion of the piano anticipated another development in the commoditization of music: the worldwide spread of the phonograph between 1900 and 1907. ... More

Arthur Rimbaud’s ironic comments on the global expansion of the piano anticipated another development in the commoditization of music: the worldwide spread of the phonograph between 1900 and 1907. The American trade journal, Talking Machine World, is the source for tables of phonograph exports from the Port of New York. These figures raise as many questions as they answer: some large markets are missing, while small ones come and go. Qualitative descriptions supplement the quantitative evidence for the phonograph’s global expansion. The journal colorfully described the phonograph’s appearance in remote places of the extreme north such as the Bering Straits and Alaska; these articles emphasized its civilizing mission wherever it went, bringing evangelical favorites like "The Holy City." Phonographs were not magically transported, but required human ingenuity, risk and labor. Markets were unstable; executives had nervous breakdowns. The memoir of the sound engineer Raymond Sooy, who traveled to Latin America, brought to life the craft of recording and its challenges. The Columbia Records executive Edward N. Burns described the challenges of understanding foreign customers. Overall the expansion of phonographs was a human story of expanding horizons.Less

John and the Dark Cosmos

April D. DeConick

in The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today

Historical influence of the Gnostic religion of Simon Magus on the formation of the first Johannine community; Gnostic storyline of the Gospel of John that has been obscured for centuries by ... More

Historical influence of the Gnostic religion of Simon Magus on the formation of the first Johannine community; Gnostic storyline of the Gospel of John that has been obscured for centuries by inaccurate translations; Gnostic controversy in the epistles of John. Engages the movie, “The Dark City.”Less

Introduction

P.G. Walsh (ed.)

in Augustine: De Civitate Dei The City of God Books XI and XII

This chapter analyses Augustine's Books XI and XII of The City of God, which document the initial phase of the rise of city of God and the city of this world, beginning with the creation of the world ... More

This chapter analyses Augustine's Books XI and XII of The City of God, which document the initial phase of the rise of city of God and the city of this world, beginning with the creation of the world and the human race. It examines the claim of the inerracy of scripture, in which God had spoken to the minds of the Old Testament prophets through His Son the Mediator, Jesus Christ. It also talks about Augustine's concern about the historicity of his initial account of the Creation. The chapter turns to the topic of the angels and the city of God that exists in heaven, where the righteous angels dwell with the holy Trinity. It confronts the taxing problem of the revolt of the wicked angels and the foreknowledge of God.Less

Introduction

P.G. Walsh and P.G. Walsh (eds)

in Augustine: De Civitate Dei The City of God Book X

This chapter focuses on Book X of Augustine's The City of God, which talks about demons that are in part identical with the lesser gods or 'good angels'. It argues that to achieve the blessed life an ... More

This chapter focuses on Book X of Augustine's The City of God, which talks about demons that are in part identical with the lesser gods or 'good angels'. It argues that to achieve the blessed life an individual must worship the one true God alone. It also introduces the Neoplatonist Plotinus and his doctrine of 'illumination', which symbolizes the Creator. The chapter analyzes the importance of sacrifice as a cardinal feature of worship and the concept of sacrifice directed towards the true God. It explains true sacrifice as a work of mercy undertaken for God's sake, of which by such works sacrifice is offered in individuals or in a community.Less

Introduction

P.G. Walsh and P.G. Walsh (eds)

in Augustine: De Civitate Dei The City of God Books VI and VII

This chapter focuses on Augustine's Book VI and VII of The City of God, which refutes the pagans' claims that the Roman deities had ensured unbroken success in the acquisition and growth of empire. ... More

This chapter focuses on Augustine's Book VI and VII of The City of God, which refutes the pagans' claims that the Roman deities had ensured unbroken success in the acquisition and growth of empire. It adverts to the topic of life after death and devotes close attention to Marcus Terentius Varro's distinguished research on Roman religion. It also provides a description of Terentius Varro, who was born at Reate in Sabine territory and became a praetor who fought on Pompey's side in the Civil War. The chapter mentions Julius Caesar, who commissioned Terentius Varro to establish the first public library at Rome. It looks at Terentius Varro's writings that covered virtually all disciplines — philosophy, religion, language, law, social history, geography, and agriculture.Less

Why Strauss Is Not an Aristotelian

Michael P. Zuckert and Catherine H. Zuckert

in Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy

Strauss was one of the first non-Thomists to call for a return to the ancients in the face of the twin forces of progressivism and historicism that made the idea of return seem retrograde or absurd. ... More

Strauss was one of the first non-Thomists to call for a return to the ancients in the face of the twin forces of progressivism and historicism that made the idea of return seem retrograde or absurd. Since Strauss wrote, the idea of return has become more widespread. Yet he still differs from most of the others who wish to so return: Aristotle is not the central name in his concern with ancient philosophy. He has remarkably few writings devoted to Aristotle – only one on a particular Aristotelian text, the first chapter in his The City and Man. This chapter looks at Strauss’s writing on Aristotle and his related writings on political science (Essays on the Scientific Study of Politics), where he recommends an Aristotelian political science. Strauss describes Aristotle as the originator of political science, as compared to Socrates, the founder of political philosophy.Less

Beijing: Yin Xiuzhen’s The Ruined City

Xiaoping Lin

in Children of Marx and Coca-Cola: Chinese Avant-garde Art and Independent Cinema

This chapter looks at Beijing as a domestic space for the female artist Yin Xiuzhen, whose installation, The Ruined City (1996), depicts a tranquil Chinese family life threatened by fast urban ... More

This chapter looks at Beijing as a domestic space for the female artist Yin Xiuzhen, whose installation, The Ruined City (1996), depicts a tranquil Chinese family life threatened by fast urban developments. In the past years, Yin Xiuzhen had established herself as an avant-garde artist with feminist and environmental concerns, and The Ruined City focused attention on the so-called urban human ecology of Beijing from a postmodern feminist viewpoint. For Yin Xiuzhen, Beijing is the “ruined city” which has been transformed from an ancient town, rich with a “natural” and “cultural landscape,” into a postmodern jungle of callous construction and destruction. In this regard, The Ruined City can be read as a historical recollection or commemoration of Beijing, the old capital city glowing with natural beauty and human warmth.Less

Text & Translation of Book III

P.G. Walsh (ed.)

in De Civitate Dei Books III and IV

This chapter provides the original text and translation of Book III of Augustine's The City of God. It begins with a programmatic statement that demonstrates how Roman gods had encouraged rather than ... More

This chapter provides the original text and translation of Book III of Augustine's The City of God. It begins with a programmatic statement that demonstrates how Roman gods had encouraged rather than stemmed the moral degeneration of the community. It also emphasizes how Roman gods have failed to alleviate the physical hardships and disasters that plagued Rome since its foundation. The chapter follows a selective review of the history of Rome from the Regal period to the principate of Augustus. It outlines the reverses and miseries endured by the Roman people, as well as the injustices inflicted both on foreign nations and fellow citizens.Less

Text & Translation of Book IV

P.G. Walsh (ed.)

in De Civitate Dei Books III and IV

This chapter provides the original text and translation of Book IV of Augustine's The City of God. It investigates the nature and the roles of the gods that the demons impersonate and demonstrate how ... More

This chapter provides the original text and translation of Book IV of Augustine's The City of God. It investigates the nature and the roles of the gods that the demons impersonate and demonstrate how the pagan religion is riddled with illogicalities and improbabilities. It also discusses the deities to whom the Romans ascribe the prosperity of their empire, the prominence of abstract deities, and the attitudes of Roman intellectuals towards their gods. The chapter describes how Augustine roundly condemns rampant imperialism and describes how the Roman gods had no care for the welfare of the state. It cites the evidence of Pompeius Trogus on the claim that Ninus, king of the Assyrians, was the first ruler in history to launch aggressive wars.Less

All is vanity and nothingness: James ‘B. V.’ Thomson's haunted city

in Labyrinths of Deceit: Culture, Modernity and Identity in the Nineteenth Century

James Thomson's ‘The City of Dreadful Night’, first published in Charles Bradlaugh's National Reformer in 1874 and republished in the collected edition The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems six ... More

James Thomson's ‘The City of Dreadful Night’, first published in Charles Bradlaugh's National Reformer in 1874 and republished in the collected edition The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems six years later, tackles the loss of faith and will in man. Using a poetic voice of thematic and ideological unity, it systematically negates the possibility of faith and suggests that life is ultimately meaningless and repetitive. Thomson's city meshes past and present in its architecture, yet exudes modernity. The poem implies rationalised despair and suicide by insisting that they are fundamentally sane in a world with no moral purpose behind it. Thomson's statement ‘all is vanity and nothingness’ underscores the pointlessness of attempting to assert a unified identity in a nihilistic context.Less

Air Power As Police Power I

Mark Neocleous

in War Power, Police Power

This chapter is the first of two on air power. This chapter focuses on colonial bombing campaigns as an exercise of air power and examines the ways in which these campaigns were understood as police ... More

This chapter is the first of two on air power. This chapter focuses on colonial bombing campaigns as an exercise of air power and examines the ways in which these campaigns were understood as police measures. The chapter then explores the ways in which contemporary air power, in the form of drones, might also be understood as a form of police power. In making this case the chapters also shows how the invention of air power meant the destruction of the civilian.Less

Introduction

P.G. Walsh and P.G. Walsh (eds)

in Aris & Phillips Classical Texts: Books VIII & IX

This chapter discusses Augustine's Book VIII and IX of The City of God, which forms part of the carefully structured first half of his work that sought to refute the complaints of pagan antagonists. ... More

This chapter discusses Augustine's Book VIII and IX of The City of God, which forms part of the carefully structured first half of his work that sought to refute the complaints of pagan antagonists. It examines Augustine's initial scheme to discredit the claim that the pagan religions ensured not only success in this world, but also blessedness in the life hereafter. It also covers the natural theology of Terentius Varro, the celebrated scholar of the first century BC, who wrote Res Diuinae in order to analyze Roman religion. This chapter recounts how Varro, as an Academic philosopher, reviewed his subject critically as a man-made institution that expressed his reservations and doubts and acknowledged the importance of the traditional beliefs for the cohesion of the state. It cites Varro's regard for traditional beliefs as metaphors for the phenomena of the natural world.Less

Musical Triumphs, 1937–42

Elizabeth B. Crist and Wayne Shirley (eds)

in The Selected Correspondence of Aaron Copland

This chapter looks at a period in Aaron Copeland's life that would be his busiest and most productive. It highlights several events and accomplishments that Copeland went through during these years ... More

This chapter looks at a period in Aaron Copeland's life that would be his busiest and most productive. It highlights several events and accomplishments that Copeland went through during these years such as his invitation to the First Festival of Pan American Chamber Music by its sponsor, Elizabeth Sprague Coolridge. He composed a piece for CBS radio (Music for Radio). He lectured at the New School for Social Research and also played a role in the founding and formation of the American Composers Alliance. He promoted the cause of music education in his New School lectures, titled “What to Listen for in Music” and he obtained the opportunity to compose a score for the documentary film, The City, for the New York World's Fair. The chapter explores his love affair and relationship with Leonard Bernstein, as well as the compositions he would produce during World War II.Less