Eccentric Spaces
I was excited about reading this book when I first found it on Paperback Swap. It's a strange piece to say the least. Harbison explores fictional and real spaces with emphasis not on materials and history but on the conceptual frameworks that in which we experience spaces.
Eccentric Spaces takes a gnarled journey through European painting, writing, and cities. Harbison's writing is thick and soupy in places where he gets twisted around on various tangential subjects. He succeeds when discussing the various treatments that authors of fiction (and historical fiction) give to settings.
This is truly a mysterious book that belongs in no genre. It would function well as a starting off point for architectural conjecture or urban planning debates. Nevertheless the book feels dated and too deeply European and it too often gets mired in unmanageable comparisons.
*Cross posted from A Single Step*
Eccentric Spaces takes a gnarled journey through European painting, writing, and cities. Harbison's writing is thick and soupy in places where he gets twisted around on various tangential subjects. He succeeds when discussing the various treatments that authors of fiction (and historical fiction) give to settings.
This is truly a mysterious book that belongs in no genre. It would function well as a starting off point for architectural conjecture or urban planning debates. Nevertheless the book feels dated and too deeply European and it too often gets mired in unmanageable comparisons.
*Cross posted from A Single Step*
No comments:
Post a Comment