Obsolete Objects in the Literary Imagination: Ruins, Relics, Rarities, Rubbish, Uninhabited Places, and Hidden TreasuresTranslated here into English for the first time is a monumental work of literary history and criticism comparable in scope and achievement to Eric Auerbach’s Mimesis. Italian critic Francesco Orlando explores Western literature’s obsession with outmoded and nonfunctional objects (ruins, obsolete machinery, broken things, trash, etc.). Combining the insights of psychoanalysis and literary-political history, Orlando traces this obsession to a turning point in history, at the end of eighteenth-century industrialization, when the functional becomes the dominant value of Western culture. Roaming through every genre and much of the history of Western literature, the author identifies distinct categories into which obsolete images can be classified and provides myriad examples. The function of literature, he concludes, is to remind us of what we have lost and what we are losing as we rush toward the future. |
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Page iii
... Italian by Gabriel Pihas and Daniel Seidel, with the collaboration of Alessandra Grego Foreword by David Quint Yale University Press New Haven & London Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund. Copyright.
... Italian by Gabriel Pihas and Daniel Seidel, with the collaboration of Alessandra Grego Foreword by David Quint Yale University Press New Haven & London Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund. Copyright.
Page iv
... Italian by Gabriel Pihas and Daniel Seidel, with the collaboration of Alessandra Grego ; foreword by David Quint. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. iSBN-13: 978-0-300-10808-8 (alk. paper) iSBN-10: 0-300-10808-7 ...
... Italian by Gabriel Pihas and Daniel Seidel, with the collaboration of Alessandra Grego ; foreword by David Quint. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. iSBN-13: 978-0-300-10808-8 (alk. paper) iSBN-10: 0-300-10808-7 ...
Page xv
... Italy. I am thinking of the number of improve- ments which I owe to the masterly revision of David Quint, a revision ... Italian. I should not forget, in addition, the particular suggestions of Anthony Johnson and Franco Moretti ...
... Italy. I am thinking of the number of improve- ments which I owe to the masterly revision of David Quint, a revision ... Italian. I should not forget, in addition, the particular suggestions of Anthony Johnson and Franco Moretti ...
Page xvi
... Italian edition of all those who brought texts to my attention. For two of the few texts I have added here, I am indebted to Stefano Perfetti and Fernando Mastropasqua respec- tively; the former also furnished me with expert ...
... Italian edition of all those who brought texts to my attention. For two of the few texts I have added here, I am indebted to Stefano Perfetti and Fernando Mastropasqua respec- tively; the former also furnished me with expert ...
Page xvii
... Italian, French, Span- ish, Portuguese, and German was done by the translators of the body of the text, keeping in mind the author's translations in the notes to the Italian edition—so as to ensure stylistic unity and a degree of ...
... Italian, French, Span- ish, Portuguese, and German was done by the translators of the body of the text, keeping in mind the author's translations in the notes to the Italian edition—so as to ensure stylistic unity and a degree of ...
Contents
1 | |
17 | |
47 | |
67 | |
Twelve Categories Not to Be Too Sharply Distinguished | 206 |
Some TwentiethCentury Novels | 343 |
Praising and Disparaging the Functional | 375 |
Notes | 407 |
Index of Subjects | 481 |
Index of Names and Texts | 487 |
Other editions - View all
Obsolete Objects in the Literary Imagination: Ruins, Relics, Rarities ... Francesco Orlando No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
adjectives already ambivalence ancien régime ancient antifunctional antiquity appears Balzac Baroque become Bibliothèque castle catachresis century chap chapter character Chateaubriand Comédie humaine contamination culture dead death desolate-disconnected Everyman's Library examples fact functional furniture genre Gothic novel historical turning point human hyperbole Ibid imagery images Jerusalem Delivered kitsch La Comédie humaine la Pléiade Les Rougon-Macquart less lines literary literature magic memory metaphor metonymy Milan modern Mondadori narrative narrator nature negative category night nonfunctional corporality novel objects Oblomov Oeuvres complètes opposition Orlando outdoing Oxford University Press palace Paris passage past Pléiade poem poetic precious-potential present pretentious-fictitious protagonist quoted refer relationship remains reminiscent-affective repressed ruins seems semantic tree semipositive category sense sinister-terrifying solemn-admonitory space sterile-noxious story supernatural symbolic tercet thematic constants theme things threadbare-grotesque tion tradition trans treasure Turin venerable-regressive walls words worn-realistic