Conceiving the City is an innovative study of the ways in which a generation of late-Victorian novelists; poets; painters; and theoreticians attempted to represent London in literature and art. Breaking away from the language and style of Dickens and the static panorama paintings of William Powell Frith; major figures such as Henry James and J. M. Whistler; and; crucially; less-celebrated authors such as Arthur Machen; Edwin Pugh; and George Egerton bent realism into exciting new shapes. In the naturalism of George Gissing and Arthur Morrison; the fragmentary impressions of Ford Madox Ford; and the brooding mystery of Alvin Langdon Coburns photogravures; London emerged as a focus for dynamic; explicitly modern art. Although many of these insights would be dismissed or at least downplayed by subsequent generations; the ideas evolved during the period from 1870 to 1914 anticipate not only the work of high modernists such as Eliot and Woolf; but also that of later urban theorists such as Foucault and de Certeau; and the novels and travelogues of contemporary London writers Peter Ackroyd and Iain Sinclair. Nicholas Freeman recovers a sense of late-Victorian London as a subject for dynamic theoretical and aesthetic experiments; and shows; in stimulating analyses of Conan Doyle; H. G. Wells; Arthur Symons; and others how much of our understanding of urban space we owe to eminent (and not so eminent) Victorian figures. Written in a clear and accessible style; the book restores a much-needed historical perspective to our engagement with the metropolis.
#4089097 in eBooks 2008-04-21 2008-04-21File Name: B001CN9JQK
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Beyond memoryBy Richard L. LucasI lived in Knoxville during the Johnny Pirkle/Ron Ashburn/Rob Galbraith days (1966-1968) and I DO remember the WNOX WKGN competition for ratings in the RR domain. I think that it made both stations better. But in the story of WNOX; these were recent happenings in the time line of this book. While Im sure that there are some; mainly students of country music history; who will find this book fascinating; it was mostly written about things that I didnt really care too much about. I was in my early 20s during my Knoxville days; in grad school at UT. That was when the UT Beacon was very concerned about the size of co-eds calves from having to climb The Hill every day! If I only remember the "recent days" of WNOX (at age 69) I can only think that those who could remember the good "old" days are now pushing up daisies! I also had expected something about the technical history of the station. The engineers are given almost NO credit for delivering the signal that made all of these careers possible. I think that the existence of a transmitter was mentioned only once; incidentally; in passing. Itd be neat to have included a chapter on the location; power; and antenna configuration of the transmitter site as the years passed from 1921 through today. 91 years is an awful lot of history to ignore and Id argue that a lot of people whod be interested in this book would also like to know more about the technical side. Also; in one place the author mentions that WNOX couldnt compete with WSM because the latter station "pulled a 100;000 watt signal...." Never Happened.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Important part of country music historyBy Phillip R. WellsWNOX in Knoxville; Tennessee is much revered by serious fans and students of country music. Like Wheeling Jamboree and Louisiana Hayride and other jamboree shows of the period; the daily Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round and Tennessee Barn Dance on Saturday nights introduced many performers who went on to be country music stars. Familiar names like Carl Smith; Carl Butler Pearl; Lester Flatt Earl Scruggs; The Louvin Brothers and Don Gibson are important examples. This book covere them well; including early pictures: although I would have liked more details; this book gives a good overview.Less familiar is songwriter Arthur Q. Smith; real name James Pritchett; who wrote some of the greatest and best known country songs; many of which he sold outright to better known performers. While again I would hav eliked more deteial; the book does fill in some important gaps in this mans life and story.Itwas well worth the fairly modest price.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy roy garrettGreat servicw and a great book.
