In prehistoric times, our ancestors began building shelters and planting crops in order to escape from nature's harsh realities. Today, we flee urban dangers for the safer, reconfigured world of suburban lawns and parks. According to geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, people have always sought to escape in one way or another, sometimes foolishly, often creatively and ingeniously. Glass-tower cities, suburbs, shopping malls, Disneyland -- all are among the most recent monuments in our efforts to escape the constraints and uncertainties of life -- ultimately, those imposed by nature. "What cultural product," Tuan asks, "is not escape?" In his new book, the capstone of a celebrated career, Tuan shows that escapism is an inescapable component of human thought and culture.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"Who," writes the distinguished geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, "hasn't--sometime--wanted to escape? But from what?" In his fascinating look at the idea of escape, Tuan suggests that all human culture is really a kind of flight, an evasive mechanism, a means of not facing facts: our shelters give us refuge from the weather, our cities give us protection against nature red in tooth and claw, our religion and institutions give us solace against the certainty of death. "A human being," he says wryly, "is an animal who is congenitally indisposed to accept reality as it is." Tuan examines the artifacts of our present civilization to buttress his argument. The cornucopia of the modern supermarket, for instance, with its "dazzling pyramids of fruits and vegetables, its esplanades of meat," which promises ceaseless abundance, and the growth of escape-to-nature ideas, which, he insists, depend on an antithetical escape from nature (nature being, in his definition, "what remains or what can recuperate over time when all humans and their works are removed"). That escape to nature, he suggests, relies on an unfortunate abstraction, one of simplicity. Images of nature, he continues, are often formed from wishful thinking and not from direct experience, and they tend therefore to lack the complexity of reality. Tuan's vigorous essay is provocative, challenging, and a pleasure to read. --Gregory McNamee
Acclaimed cultural geographer Yi-Fu Tuan considers humanity's enduring desire to escape reality -- and embrace alternatives such as love, culture, and Disneyworld
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 4.97
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Seller: Sequitur Books, Boonsboro, MD, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. [From the library of noted scholar Richard A. Macksey.] Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Jacket sunned. Clean, unmarked pages. "Richard A. Macksey was a celebrated Johns Hopkins University professor whose affiliation with the university spanned six and a half decades. A legendary figure not only in his own fields of critical theory, comparative literature, and film studies but across all the humanities, Macksey possessed enormous intellectual capacity and a deeply insightful human nature. He was a man who read and wrote in six languages, was instrumental in launching a new era in structuralist thought in America, maintained a personal library containing a staggering collection of books and manuscripts, inspired generations of students to follow him to the thorniest heights of the human intellect, and penned or edited dozens of volumes of scholarly works, fiction, poetry, and translation." - Johns Hopkins University. Seller Inventory # 2105260094
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Ergodebooks, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. In prehistoric times, our ancestors began building shelters and planting crops in order to escape from nature's harsh realities. Today, we flee urban dangers for the safer, reconfigured world of suburban lawns and parks. According to geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, people have always sought to escape in one way or another, sometimes foolishly, often creatively and ingeniously. Glass-tower cities, suburbs, shopping malls, Disneyland -- all are among the most recent monuments in our efforts to escape the constraints and uncertainties of life -- ultimately, those imposed by nature. "What cultural product," Tuan asks, "is not escape?" In his new book, the capstone of a celebrated career, Tuan shows that escapism is an inescapable component of human thought and culture. Seller Inventory # SONG0801859263
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: 369 Bookstore _[~ 369 Pyramid Inc ~]_, Dover, DE, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. In prehistoric times, our ancestors began building shelters and planting crops in order to escape from nature\'s harsh realities. Today, we flee urban dangers for the safer, reconfigured world of suburban lawns and parks. According to geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, people have always sought to escape in one way or another, sometimes foolishly, often creatively and ingeniously. Glass-tower cities, suburbs, shopping malls, Disneyland -- all are among the most recent monuments in our efforts to escape the constraints and uncertainties of life -- ultimately, those imposed by nature. \"What cultural product,\" Tuan asks, \"is not escape?\" In his new book, the capstone of a celebrated career, Tuan shows that escapism is an inescapable component of human thought and culture. Seller Inventory # AMPLE0801859263
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Pre-publication review edition. Near fine paperback copy; wrapper edges very slightly dulled. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; xvii, 245 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Subjects; Escape (Psychology) Nature. Culture. 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 280196
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
Pre-publication review edition. Near fine paperback copy; wrapper edges very slightly dulled. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; xvii, 245 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Subjects; Escape (Psychology) Nature. Culture. 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 280196
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GoldenWavesOfBooks, Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0801859263
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: BooksByLisa, Highland Park, IL, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: New. STORED NEW PRISTINE CONDITION SANITIZED THEN WRAPPED. Book. Seller Inventory # ABE-1668186069924
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Toscana Books, AUSTIN, TX, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: very good. Purchase pre-owned books for prompt service and customer satisfaction. Seller Inventory # UnScanned0801859263
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books Puddle, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: New. pp. xvii + 245. Seller Inventory # 2699578147
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Majestic Books, Hounslow, United Kingdom
Condition: New. pp. xvii + 245 Illus. Seller Inventory # 93900540
Quantity: 1 available