(Limelight). "Mr. Tracy knows what to ask Graham veterans; and he gets answers that will interest specialists and non-specialists alike. The range of emotions; of wit; of sensibility is especially dazzling: the inner life of a great dance era is concentrated in these people and is evoked on every page." Arlene Croce
#3067414 in eBooks 2010-07-12 2010-07-12File Name: B003UNL7RY
Review
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A sketchy impression. but useful update of the fieldBy mimiWhen I awaited a contriubtion to the writings about space in late 19th-century Shanghai. my expectations were maybe set too high. Each of the chapters of Samuel Y. Liangs book considers an aspect of this city. of which some have already appeared as articles in journals. In addition. he takes into account all major studies on fin-de-siècle Shanghai. be it on courtesan culture or the new print industry. It is thus a nice overview of the major changes in late 19th-century Shanghai and one of the latest publications in this field.However. the book leaves a sketchy impression. First of all. I often missed detailed references in the text itself. which gave the whole an essay-like flair. Still. the content is detailed and insightful: each chapter discusses a certain aspect of late 19th-century Shanghai. i.e. chapter 4 is a very interesting and new account on the rules and organisation of a courtesan house. whereas in chapter 5 the author shows his provenance from the architectural field by giving a detailed account of the history of the "li".In addition. the book announces to show how modernity arrived to Shanghai with new spatial configurations. By focusing on social and urban spaces. i.e. spatiality. the reader actually expects certain connections to the spatial turn and an account of its related theories. The latter are lacking. except for some shorter passages that are not further discussed. A more detailed account of social urban theory in relation to the spatial turn and applied to Shanghais modernity would have been fruitful. Instead. to supply the theoretical base. he draws on neo-Confucian worldviews on spatiality and contrasts it with changing cultural practices in Shanghai that were instigated by the citys sojourners.
