Landscape And Memory

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: This is one book "to keep besides you" for ever. Each of the esays is so engaging that you are sorry to see it coming to a close. The essay on foutains "water paths" at Casserta and Versailles have changed my view for-ever. I only wish to visit or re-visit the paces mentioned with tis book in hand to really appreciate them with a more cultured view.

Rating:
Summary: Landscape and Memory
Review: Very well arranged study centering around the relation (both mythic and literal) of man to natural environment. With references, illustrations, and information exceeding most anything available, this book belongs permenently on the shelf and truly lives up to assessment as one of ten best of year.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves a place on every serious reader's bookshelf
Review: We need more books like Landscape & Memory. This rich stew of history, nature writing, art iconography and philosophy can be heavy reading, but the rewards are staggering. The reviewer from Western Massachusetts has elegantly depicted the experience of reading the book. As a writer, Schama was made for the hypertext age; at times you have to take on faith that the thread he's following will lead somewhere interesting--and it always does, at least in this book.

As you might expect, where the writing is complex, so are the ideas. At the heart of the book is the notion that cultures create landscapes--in art, literature, photographs, movies, and even in the real world from time to time--as receptacles for cultural memory and identity. In this country, we see this impulse in action all the time, particularly in people who live east of the Mississippi concerning the landscapes WEST of the Mississippi. Consider the debate over whether to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge for oil exploration. There may be good scientific reasons not to allow this invasion to occur, but the notion that we are preserving something "pristine" or "untouched" is hokum--very deep-seated hokum, rooted in the age-old concept of the American wilderness as a thing apart. This mythic wilderness landscape is part of our shared identity as Americans, and we go searching for it by the millions every year in places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Yet we are more than willing to construct our own landscapes when the ones we have do not suit our needs; Mt. Rushmore is a fine example, one that Schama deals with in length. This dichotomy is repeated again and again in Western art, and Western culture in general, and it is this that interests Schama the most.

For the most part, Schama concentrates on landscape painting (European art of the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era is one of his speciaties), and by the time the book is done, you get the sense that you've been through a high level course on the subtleties of landscape art. As I said, this book can be tough to get through, but great books have their way of pulling you right back in, and this one is no exception.

In sum: highly, highly recommended for anyone with an interest in art (history or theory), cultural anthropology, mythology, environmental/ecological issues, or really anyone who wants to immerse herself in a long, well-written, meandering book and just ride the currents.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves a place on every serious reader's bookshelf
Review: We need more books like Landscape & Memory. This rich stew of history, nature writing, art iconography and philosophy can be heavy reading, but the rewards are staggering. The reviewer from Western Massachusetts has elegantly depicted the experience of reading the book. As a writer, Schama was made for the hypertext age; at times you have to take on faith that the thread he's following will lead somewhere interesting--and it always does, at least in this book.

As you might expect, where the writing is complex, so are the ideas. At the heart of the book is the notion that cultures create landscapes--in art, literature, photographs, movies, and even in the real world from time to time--as receptacles for cultural memory and identity. In this country, we see this impulse in action all the time, particularly in people who live east of the Mississippi concerning the landscapes WEST of the Mississippi. Consider the debate over whether to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge for oil exploration. There may be good scientific reasons not to allow this invasion to occur, but the notion that we are preserving something "pristine" or "untouched" is hokum--very deep-seated hokum, rooted in the age-old concept of the American wilderness as a thing apart. This mythic wilderness landscape is part of our shared identity as Americans, and we go searching for it by the millions every year in places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Yet we are more than willing to construct our own artificial landscapes when the "natural" ones we have do not suit our needs; Mt. Rushmore is a fine example, one that Schama deals with in length. This dichotomy is repeated again and again in Western art, and Western culture in general, and it is this that interests Schama the most.

For the most part, Schama concentrates on landscape painting (European art of the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era is one of his speciaties), and by the time the book is done, you get the sense that you've been through a high level course on the subtleties of landscape art. As I said, this book can be tough to get through, but great books have their way of pulling you right back in, and this one is no exception.

In sum: highly, highly recommended for anyone with an interest in art (history or theory), cultural anthropology, mythology, environmental/ecological issues, or really anyone who wants to immerse herself in a long, well-written, meandering book and just ride the currents.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves a place on every serious reader's bookshelf
Review: We need more books like Landscape & Memory. This rich stew of history, nature writing, art iconography and philosophy can be heavy reading, but the rewards are staggering. The reviewer from Western Massachusetts has elegantly depicted the experience of reading the book. As a writer, Schama was made for the hypertext age; at times you have to take on faith that the thread he's following will lead somewhere interesting--and it always does, at least in this book.

As you might expect, where the writing is complex, so are the ideas. At the heart of the book is the notion that cultures create landscapes--in art, literature, photographs, movies, and even in the real world from time to time--as receptacles for cultural memory and identity. In this country, we see this impulse in action all the time, particularly in people who live east of the Mississippi concerning the landscapes WEST of the Mississippi. Consider the debate over whether to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge for oil exploration. There may be good scientific reasons not to allow this invasion to occur, but the notion that we are preserving something "pristine" or "untouched" is hokum--very deep-seated hokum, rooted in the age-old concept of the American wilderness as a thing apart. This mythic wilderness landscape is part of our shared identity as Americans, and we go searching for it by the millions every year in places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Yet we are more than willing to construct our own artificial landscapes when the "natural" ones we have do not suit our needs; Mt. Rushmore is a fine example, one that Schama deals with in length. This dichotomy is repeated again and again in Western art, and Western culture in general, and it is this that interests Schama the most.

For the most part, Schama concentrates on landscape painting (European art of the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era is one of his speciaties), and by the time the book is done, you get the sense that you've been through a high level course on the subtleties of landscape art. As I said, this book can be tough to get through, but great books have their way of pulling you right back in, and this one is no exception.

In sum: highly, highly recommended for anyone with an interest in art (history or theory), cultural anthropology, mythology, environmental/ecological issues, or really anyone who wants to immerse herself in a long, well-written, meandering book and just ride the currents.