The Reading Life: Notes from underground

The Reading Life: Notes from underground - latimes.com p.content-nav { margin:-15px 0px 0px 0px; }#commentsArchive { display: none; visibility: hidden; }#archiveShow, #fbShow { cursor:pointer; } body {background-color:#ffffff !important;}ul#root li.navLink a {padding-top:17px; padding-right:4px; padding-bottom:16px; padding-left: 5px;} Subscribe/Manage Account Place Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals Classifieds Custom Publishing Books HOME LOCAL L.A. Now Politics Crime Education O.C. Westside Neighborhoods Environment Obituaries Findlocal U.S. Politics Now Top of the Ticket Science & Environment Obituaries Religion WORLD Afghanistan & Pakistan Africa Asia Europe Iran Iraq Latin America Mexico Under Siege Middle East Business Money & Co. Technology Personal Finance Small Business Company Town Jobs Real Estate Cars SPORTS Lakers Clippers Dodgers Angels NFL Ducks/Kings USC UCLA Soccer High Schools Scores/Stats ENTERTAINMENT Movies Television Music Celebrity Arts & Culture Company Town Calendar The Envelope Findlocal Health Booster Shots Fitness & Nutrition Medicine Behavior Healthcare Reform Hospitals Living Home Food Image Books Parenting Findlocal Magazine Reader Photos Summer Guide Travel California Hawaii Mexico Las Vegas Europe Asia Australia Travel & Deal Blog Opinion Editorials Op-Ed Letters Opinion L.A. Deals Save: Deals Go: Travel Eat: Food Wear: Apparel Live: Everyday Needs Play: Electronics Drive More Mobile Site Subscribe / Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds Weekly Ad#inTheNews {min-height:20px;} Advanced Search Advanced Search X include all of these words: include any of these words: include this exact phrase: exclude: Select a date range this week past 30 days past 3 months past year Create a custom date range From: To: Jacket CopyBooks, authors and all things bookish« Previous |Jacket Copy Home

The Reading Life: Notes from undergroundJuly 22, 2011 | 10:00am

This is part of the occasional series The Reading Life by book critic David L. Ulin.

I don't have much use for driving. Growing up in Manhattan, I wasn't raised with it, and even after 20 years in Southern California, I view it as a necessary evil, one of the compromises I've had to make with where I live. It's not that I'm uncomfortable behind the wheel; in fact, I tend to be more uncomfortable when someone else is behind the wheel. No, for me, the issue is that I have to pay attention, which (paradoxically, I suppose) feels like a distraction, pulling me away from things I'd rather do, like read.

I've been thinking about that this week since I've been in New York, where I travel everywhere with a book. It's like a dream: Get on the 4 or 6 or E train and read for half an hour, and then (miraculously) you are there. Such an experience is available in L.A. also -- but I don't commute by Metrolink, and the Metro doesn't extend to where I live. For me, then, the art of subway reading remains particular to the first city I ever lived in, and when I'm here, I re-experience it with a mixture of nostalgia and glee.

This week, I was reading a book about New York in the 1970s. Its touchstones were scenes that resonated for me -- the fiscal crisis, the early punk days, the sense of the city as a broken landscape, not so much apocalyptic as shattered, to borrow an image from the Rolling Stones song ("bite the Big Apple / don't mind the maggots") of the same name.

Thirty-plus years later, New York is very different, an urban theme park, Times Square like the Grove on steroids -- although, as of this spring anyway, there were still bedbugs uptown. But reading this book as I subwayed back and forth beneath Manhattan's pavement brought back my earliest experience of the city as public space, with a force that I can only describe as visceral.

Reading on a subway, after all, is a double-edged process: half-concealing, half-revealing. Underground, you can hide behind a book, avoid eye contact, withdraw from the world around you, even as you expose your interests, your peculiar twists of taste. I always look at what other riders are reading, and while I may not remember the people, I rarely forget the books. On one short ride this week, I saw readers immersed in Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" and Thomas Mann's "Doctor Faustus" -- a refutation (to my mind anyway) of the idea that books have lost their currency.

If that seems a leap, so be it: We often find the world we seek. But I remain struck by a larger confluence, between reading on the train and reading in the world. Both involve what we might call engagement by withdrawal, in which we pull back from our surroundings to come together with another mind. That's how I've always felt when I read on the subway -- connected to the book I'm reading and to all the other readers in the car beside me, while enjoying the freedom not to pay attention to the road.

-- David L. Ulin

Photo: The New York subway. Credit: Carolyn Kellogg

Twitter: @latimesbooksFacebook: latimesbooksMore in: books, David Ulin, reading, Reading Life, The Reading Life, urbanism.entry {border-bottom:0px; padding-bottom:0px;}#sponsored1 {margin-bottom:15px;} PreviousMore from Jacket CopyHappy birthday, Ernest Hemingway!
Comments () | Archives (0) var countNum = 0;if (countNum == 0) {jQuery("#archiveShow").css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery("#commentsDivider").css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});};jQuery('#fbShow').click(function () {jQuery('#commentsArchive').css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery('#fbComments').css({'display' : 'block', 'visibility' : 'visible'}); });jQuery('#archiveShow').click(function () {jQuery('#fbComments').css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery('#commentsArchive').css({'display' : 'block', 'visibility' : 'visible'}); });/*jQuery('#fbShow').css('color' , 'white');jQuery('#archiveShow').css('color' , '#666666');*/
L.A. Times on Facebook
AdvertisementIn Case You Missed It...The LatestMost ViewedMost Emailed Explore Bestsellers Lists Browse: Dates Titles Authors Search: Find a title
 
Find an author
 
Recent NewsThe Reading Life: Notes from underground | July 22, 2011, 10:00 am »Happy birthday, Ernest Hemingway! | July 22, 2011, 7:00 am »Subscribe or the puppy gets it | July 21, 2011, 10:52 am »Los Angeles Public Library open Mondays, thanks to Measure L | July 21, 2011, 9:29 am »A new 'Hunger Games' movie poster! OMG! | July 20, 2011, 2:14 pm »
Categoriesacademiaadvertisingamazonanimalsappsarchitectureartaudioaudiobooksauthorsbeabenjamin buttonbestsellersbiographybook clubsbook festivalsbook reviewsbook trailersbooksbookstoresbusinesscaliforniacarolyn kelloggcelebritycharitychildren's literatureclassical literaturecomicscoverscraftscrimecriticismcurrent affairsdavid ulindeborah netburndenis johnsondenverdesigndoing gooddonationsdrmdrugsearthquakesebookseconomicseducationenergyenvironmentereadersessayseventsfantasyfashionfictionfilmfood and drinkgamesgardeninggooglegraphic novelhealthhistorical nonfictionhistoryholidayhorrorhow tohumorindiainternationalinterviewjon thurberkindlela eventsla times bestsellersla times book prizela times festival of booksla times reviewlanguagelawlibraryliesl bradnerliteraturelos angelesmagazinesmargaret wapplermediamemoirmiddle eastmoney walksmusicmysterynew reviewnextnick owcharnobody movenonfictionnovelnovellaoff the shelfonlineparentingphilosophyphoto booksplayspoetrypoliticspomo monthpop cultureprizespublishingradioreadingreading liferearviewrelationshipsreligionrock your books offromanceschool readingsciencescience fictionself-helpsexshelvesshoppingshort storysportssummer readingsusan carpentersusan salter reynoldssxswitechnologytelevisionthe reading lifetheaterthrillertranslationtravelurbanismvideovideo gamesweb extraweb/techweblogswordswritingya

ArchivesJuly 2011June 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011December 2010November 2010October 2010September 2010August 2010July 2010June 2010May 2010April 2010March 2010February 2010January 2010December 2009November 2009October 2009September 2009August 2009July 2009June 2009May 2009April 2009March 2009February 2009January 2009December 2008November 2008October 2008September 2008August 2008July 2008June 2008May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007October 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007 
Stay connected:


About the ReportersCarolyn Kellogg
Orli Low
Nick Owchar
David L. Ulin

More from The Times24 FramesAfterwordAll The RageAwards TrackerBabylon & BeyondBig PictureBooster ShotsCompany TownCulture MonsterDaily DishDodgers BlogFabulous ForumFrameworkGreenspaceHero ComplexHomicide ReportJacket CopyL.A. at HomeL.A. NowL.A. Times on TumblrL.A. UnleashedLa PlazaLakersMinistry of GossipMoney & Co.Opinion L.A.PolitiCalPolitics NowPop & HissReaders' RepresentativeShow TrackerTechnologyTop of the TicketTravel News & DealsVarsity Times Insider


Corrections Horoscopes Media Kit About Us Contact Us Site Map
Coastline Pilot | Daily Pilot |Huntington Beach Independent | Valley Sun | Burbank Leader | News Press |KTLA |Hoy | LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine | ZAP2itBaltimore Sun |Chicago Tribune |Daily Press |Hartford Courant |LA Times |Orlando Sentinel |Sun Sentinel |The Morning Call

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2011

A Tribune Web site

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Your Guide to Multiple Reading Practices in Literature

It's the most fundamental concept in dealing with any study of Literature or any art form for that matter, the concept of multiple reading practices is basically a taxonomy of the different methods with which you can obtain meaning from a text. Your natural reaction to anything in life is generally a judgment, a natural human urge to make sense of your surroundings...similarly when applied to a reader's reaction to literature you can utilize different established approaches to making sense of texts.

Dominant Reading:

A Dominant Reading usually provides a reading of the text reflecting a broad consensus on what a text may mean, such a reading usually places a great deal of emphasis on how the reader believes the author has positioned them to respond. The reader usually reads the text in an 'author friendly' manner, although I've always been mystified as to how the reader determines what the intended meaning of a text was, on the part of an author, nevertheless this concept of a dominant reading persists as a type of reading which supposedly involves the reader traveling along the trajectory the author has designed to produce the meaning that the author intended. It is my personal opinion, that it is simply the 'mainstream' interpretation of a text which gains the de facto legitimacy of 'author approved' by sheer weight of numbers.

Alternative Reading

An Alternative Reading produces as the name might suggest, a meaning that is different from a dominant reading but nevertheless recognizes the purpose of the author in a text and does not 'go against the grain' of the text. The distinction between an Alternative Reading and a Resistant Reading, would probably be that an Alternative Reading is still heavily reliant on the text while a Resistant Reading implicitly requires to a greater extent ideological or contextual baggage which the reader uses to challenge the premise of a text.

Resistant Reading

A Resistant Reading 'goes against the grain of the text' and usually involves the reader being less reliant on the text and usually involves a much greater contextual influence; in terms of ideology, race, class or gender.

Feminist Reading

A Feminist reading foregrounds the representations of women: by that I mean the way key female characters are characterised and the values they hold, and the way the reader is positioned to respond to them.

Judith Fetterly author of 'The Resisting Reader' a seminal work in the area of Feminist and other recent developments in alternative readings, summarized the purpose of a feminist reading as "Feminist criticism is a political act whose aim is not simply to interpret the world but to change it by changing the consciousness of those who read and their relation to what they read."

The underlying assumption of any Feminist Reading is an awareness or 'consciousness' on the part of the reader of a patriarchal hegemony reinforcing an oppressive set of roles and expectations for women, and literature as part of a dominant discourse for much of human history which has supported this oppression. Thus the reader usually identifies, in a feminist reading, whether the text is part of this cultural construct of oppressive gender roles or is seeking to subvert this patriarchal discourse.

The Danger in Feminist Readings

The danger in constructing a feminist reading is not accounting for the political distinctions and movement of feminism as an ideology. First off, feminism is hardly an ideology, you can't construct a 'feminist' reading because no one knows what 'feminism' really means. This is because of the distinct political backgrounds and social agenda that 'First Wave Feminism', 'Second Wave Feminism' and 'Third Wave Feminism' entail.

Secondly feminist readings can not and should not be confined to superficial readings of a character's values or rather how a character's values is constructed by a text, and whether this constitutes 'a liberal' or 'parochial' attitude towards the role of women.

Feminist criticism is closely associated with Freudian psycho analysis, this can be seen in the feminist study of Frankenstein by Anne K Mellor which focused on the psycho-sexual developments in the text, the phallocentric discourse and motifs. This study found great and complex meaning in the positioning of images in the text and their sexual connotations, clearly feminist readings must account for more than characterization and plot. In fact a feminist reading, must, analyse the subconscious of the text in the way images are constructed, positioned and the order in which they occur; thereby providing a more definitive and profound implication for the politics of feminism.

It is politics that feminist theory centres around, not party politics, but the broader study of the exercise of power. This means a text can not be isolated from its political period, and the reading itself must find a political implication about the system that enforces a particular gender relationship.

Post-Colonial Reading

This reading practice focuses on representations of race particularly the relationship between colonisers and the colonised, Post-Colonial literature is a broad body of work often with the shared theme of 'writing from the margins' or providing a voice for the voiceless. Often Post Colonial readings will focus on impact of colonisation and colonial or imperial ideologies that underpin colonisation. Post Colonial readings may identify in texts constructs of 'the other', perhaps symbolised by a marginalised character or setting.

Post Colonial readings are linked very strongly with Marxist theory, best seen in the recurring use in post colonial discourse of the term 'subaltern' pioneered by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. The term was adopted by the pioneer of the 'subaltern studies group' Ranajit Guha, a prominent Post Colonial scholar of Indian origin. This term encapsulates the current concerns of Post Colonial scholars, Ranajit Guha and his school have examined the way Post Colonial power structures such as the Indian State after the British granted independence in 1947, still relies on the same ideas and political space, as the British Raj. This has led to the central concern of Post Colonial scholars with history, as the story of the victors, and their political intent to amend history this time accounting for the voices of the oppressed and marginalised. So Post Colonial readings share a Marxist concern with oppression and the voice of the marginalised.

However Post Colonial readings are more concerned with language as a means of reinforcing and perpetrating the colonial ideology and intent. Rushdie suggests the Post Colonial author seeks to 'conquer' the language that oppressed their people.

Problems facing a post colonial reading is best explored in Gayatri Spivak Charkravorty's landmark essay 'Can the Subaltern Speak' where she explores the role of the Post Colonial reader and his or her authority to articulate the voice of the subaltern. She concludes, the subaltern can not be translated by anyone other than the subaltern, therefore post colonial readings are limited in unearthing real representations of the 'subaltern' or other.

Marxist Reading

Marxist Readings emphasize this connection between 'Base' and 'Superstructure; Base refers to the economic system of a society which Marx suggested was best reflected in the relations between employers and labour and superstructure which refers to social institutions and literature in particular. Thus Marxist theory identifies Literature as part of this societal superstructure; suggesting literature is influenced by, and in turn influences the economic 'base' of a society. This is the crux of a Marxist Reading identifying the influence of economic and political system on a text and vice versa.

This is achieved through focusing in on representations of the working class or proletariat, and representations of the bourgeoisie or middle class/employers and the interaction between them in a text. Another important aspect is class consciousness, to what degree does a text promote awareness of class? To what extent does identity depend on class? And to what degree does the text suggest justice or injustice within a particular economic system? Does the text promote change to these relationships and constructs (revolution)? i.e revolution consciousness

Psycho-Analytic Reading

A highly complex reading strategy, which I confess, I have only a very elementary understanding of...The bare mention of Freud and Lacan is enough to confuse me... I suppose Freud's reading of the Greek myth Oedipus is probably a demonstration of the cross purposes of Psycho-Analytic Readings and Psycho-analysis, where Freud's reading of Oedipus influences his Oedipal theory on the development of the child etc...Thus to psychoanalysts their reading practice was not only a means of literary interpretation but a means of postulating their theories

Psycho-Analytic Readings focus on symbolism in particular within a text and usually analyses the author or a particular character to some depth. The basic fundamentals of this reading practice is this idea of the text as a dream, and the purpose of this reading practice to elicit the real meaning from this dream by following an analytical process placing importance on symbols, language and characterization.

Personal Reading

Probably the most entertaining approach is to have a crack at your own interpretation of a text perhaps synthesizing some of the approaches above, but this method usually places the greatest emphasis on personal context, on the way the reader relates to a text and is influenced by his or her own context in the way he or she responds.

Contextual/New Historicist Reading

The emphasis is on placing a text in its historical context and its place in a broader literary movement, as well as the author's own context; this approach reinforces the influence a society has on an author, and the importance of understanding the context of reception of a text, as a tool to making meaning. This reading practice focuses on the biases of the author, suggesting the importance of understanding an author's psychology and influences. Another important aspect is recognising the critic's bias, and stating the readers' own context and how it influences their reading.

This practice is concerned not only with the text but more with the surroundings both of the authorship and reception of the text.

New Criticism

If you have a 'close reading' section in your English literature examination, or a section where you have to critically analyse an unseen text...You have the new critics to blame!

Reacting against the practices of New Historicism which emphasized the text's linguistic, historical, political and social context and place instead of the actual text itself. In academic circles of the time it was considered the role of commercial critics to do textual analysis, and the role of the academics was to place the text within the literary canon in terms of politics. New Criticism rejected this emphasis with things outside the text.

New Criticism was profound in terms of reinvigorating the way we look at a text. In 1954 Beardsley and Wimsatt's essay 'The Intentional Fallacy' suggested that it was wrong for readers to understand a text in terms of an authors political or social context or purported intent. Intentional fallacy saw the end of readings that tried to 'fit' texts into what we knew about the author for example often readings of George Bernard Shaw's works succumb to poor analysis of an individual text and instead go for the easier 'socialist' reading clasping firmly Shaw's affiliation with the Fabian society. To a new critic, this was unacceptable, a text should be analysed on its own, it had 'autonomy of meaning'.

Other new concepts they pioneered included, heresy of paraphrase, the idea you could not arbitrarily 'quote' from a text, as the quote only has a meaning as an organic part of the whole text, it has no significance outside that frame. Another of their concepts was 'affective fallacy', in other words confusing what a text makes you 'feel' with what it means. They were concerned with paradox, irony and complexity in a text that could be reconciled into one superior, coherent reading. They believed in light of this poetry was the most beautiful and worthy form of literature.

By Shounok Chatterjee

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Benefiting Your Education Through Reading Classic Literature

Many undergraduate students may be hesitant about taking an English literature class. Some are intimidated or unenthusiastic about reading classic novels that they think they won't comprehend or enjoy. With such anxiety directed at reading assignments, students can miss out on the best and rewarding part of the English literature experience - the discovery of literature and its effect on ascending the mind to new heights.

When taking any type of literature class, the objective is for you, the student, to be engaged in the critical analysis and careful reading of imaginative literature. It is recommended that your ultimate goal is to introduce yourself to new ideas and new ways of thinking, which will help in understanding the world in a different light. Reading is an essential skill and developing skills in reading is a good investment; therefore, read with a purpose.

Lit courses are usually sectioned out by category. American literature looks at structure and themes in the works of American writers, usually from pre-colonial times to present day. Many of the writers who may be discussed and reviewed in an American lit course are arguably the best representation of American writers. Literary analysis may be based on contexts like social status, race, economics, relationships, or sexuality.

British literature is another course that aids in the development and appreciation of literary writing. British authors help students discover a rich cultural heritage and a genuine admiration for some of the most timeless and revered literary works in the English language. The course may cover the works of renowned British authors whose literary accomplishments have been well regarded over the past several centuries.

Some students find it difficult to follow classical literature, especially British literature. The dialogue is completely different from American dialogue, especially works written pre-twentieth century. For students who think they may be challenged in this area, they can purchase (or check out from the library) 'cliff notes' study guides. However, the key is to remember that these are just what they are - resource study guides, not a replacement of the book, play, or poem.

Another means to help with comprehending challenging literature is reading up on the author. Knowing the historical and biographical information on any writer helps to discern and understand his or her voice and what he or she is trying to communicate. One celebrated British novelist, for instance, was forced to work and care for his family at a very young age. Consequently, most of his stories deal with the effects of poverty on children and the dogged pursuit of happiness among adults.

Lit is an essential means to broadening our horizon, intellectually, creatively and spiritually. Students expand intellectually because it forces them to flex their brain muscles, exercising comprehension, reasoning, and critical analysis skills. They grow creatively because they move beyond their small inner worlds and step beyond their boundaries and visit places they never dreamed existed. Students are inspired spiritually because they connect with characters that reflect their own desires, emotions, and frailties.

English literature is not intimidating at all; it may be challenging but in a good way. It challenges students to grow in every way possible through reading. After a couple books, you will probably realize that you truly have a passion for it! You may be so motivated that you choose to pursue an English degree. You can earn an online degree if you prefer to work off of the Internet.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

The Reading Life: Gordon Matta-Clark's 'Conical Intersect'

The Reading Life: Gordon Matta-Clark's 'Conical Intersect' - latimes.com p.content-nav { margin:-15px 0px 0px 0px; }#commentsArchive { display: none; visibility: hidden; }#archiveShow, #fbShow { cursor:pointer; } body {background-color:#ffffff !important;}ul#root li.navLink a {padding-top:17px; padding-right:4px; padding-bottom:16px; padding-left: 5px;} Subscribe/Manage Account Place Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals Classifieds Custom Publishing Books HOME LOCAL L.A. Now Politics Crime Education O.C. Westside Neighborhoods Environment Obituaries Findlocal U.S. Politics Now Top of the Ticket Science & Environment Obituaries Religion WORLD Afghanistan & Pakistan Africa Asia Europe Iran Iraq Latin America Mexico Under Siege Middle East Business Money & Co. Technology Personal Finance Small Business Company Town Jobs Real Estate Autos SPORTS Lakers Clippers Dodgers Angels NFL Ducks/Kings USC UCLA Soccer High Schools Scores/Stats ENTERTAINMENT Movies Television Music Celebrity Arts & Culture Company Town Calendar The Envelope Findlocal Health Booster Shots Fitness & Nutrition Medicine Behavior Healthcare Reform Hospitals Living Home Food Image Books Parenting Findlocal Magazine Reader Photos Summer Guide Travel California Hawaii Mexico Las Vegas Europe Travel & Deal Blog Destinations Opinion Editorials Op-Ed Letters Opinion L.A. Deals Save: Deals Go: Travel Eat: Food Wear: Apparel Live: Everyday Needs Play: Electronics Drive More Mobile Site Subscribe / Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds Weekly Ad#inTheNews {min-height:20px;} Advanced Search Advanced Search X include all of these words: include any of these words: include this exact phrase: exclude: Select a date range this week past 30 days past 3 months past year Create a custom date range From: To: Jacket CopyBooks, authors and all things bookish« Previous |Jacket Copy Home

The Reading Life: Gordon Matta-Clark's 'Conical Intersect'July 15, 2011 |  5:55pm

What was he up to? That's the question at the center of any consideration of Gordon Matta-Clark, an architecture student-turned-installation artist who died of cancer in 1978, when he was just 35.

Matta-Clark doesn't have the name recognition of contemporaries such as Robert Smithson, whose work his superficially resembles, or Laurie Anderson, who was part of an "informal collective of downtown artists he brought together under the banner of anarchitecture," writes Bruce Jenkins in his monograph "Gordon Matta-Clark: Conical Intersect."

Nonetheless, Jenkins suggests, his influence is significant -- if not for the public, who remain mostly ignorant of his large-scale, space-specific installations, then for other artists who share his experimentalism and his belief in art as a social force.

For Matta-Clark, Jenkins argues, this pair of interlocking imperatives came together most vividly in "Conical Intersect," created for the ninth Biennale de Paris in 1975. The idea is simple, but with implications -- which could be said of all of Matta-Clark's work. A block from the Centre Georges Pompidou, then under construction, the artist cut into two 16th century townhouses that had been scheduled for demolition, creating a vast circular opening "contracting from the exterior towards the interior of a building (from four metres to two metres) in the manner of a spyglass."

The experimental aspects are obvious; the social, perhaps, not so much. But, notes Jenkins, part of the point was to comment on what the Pompidou project was doing to its neighborhood, while also offering a new way of looking at (and thinking about) two buildings that would be destroyed. As Matta-Clark noted in a 1977 interview:

The first thing one notices is that violence has been done. Then the violence turns into visual order and, hopefully, then to a sense of heightened awareness.... You see that light enters places it otherwise couldn't. Angles and depths can be perceived where they should have been hidden. Spaces are available to move through that were previously inaccessible.... My hope is that the dynamism of the action can be seen as an alternative vocabulary with which to question the static, inert building environment.

For his Paris project, Jenkins suggests, Matta-Clark was influenced by the son et lumiere tradition, with its sense of architecture as spectacle. But equally important was his desire to comment on "the street-drama of the construction and demolition," his sense of urban renewal as a source of flattening, of forgetting, in which the old (people, buildings, communities) are consistently uprooted or left behind. A native New Yorker, he has seen this in Manhattan in the 1950s and '60s, when Robert Moses sought to remake the city in his own image.

In the early 1970s, Matta-Clark began to express a counter-sensibility in his artwork, most notably "Pig Roast," in which he "roasted a whole pig in the derelict Lower East Side environs under the [Brooklyn Bridge] and served it up to the resident homeless population and his fellow artists," and "Fresh Air Cart," a public art collaboration in which oxygen was offered to "air-starved passersby."

There's a bit of the put-on to such projects, or perhaps more accurately of the spectacle -- again, son et lumiere. But what Matta-Clark was really exploring was the hidden intersection between the conceptual and the everyday. How does art shake us out of our complacency? How does it help us reframe the world? For Matta-Clark, the issue was never permanence -- "Conical Intersect" existed for only a few weeks before it was demolished -- but rather the challenge of teaching a new way to see.

-- David L. Ulin

Twitter: @latimesbooksFacebook: latimesbooksMore in: architecture, art, criticism, David Ulin, Reading Life, The Reading Life.entry {border-bottom:0px; padding-bottom:0px;}#sponsored1 {margin-bottom:15px;} PreviousMore from Jacket CopyThe confusing dissolution of Borders bookstores
Comments () | Archives (0) var countNum = 0;if (countNum == 0) {jQuery("#archiveShow").css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery("#commentsDivider").css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});};jQuery('#fbShow').click(function () {jQuery('#commentsArchive').css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery('#fbComments').css({'display' : 'block', 'visibility' : 'visible'}); });jQuery('#archiveShow').click(function () {jQuery('#fbComments').css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery('#commentsArchive').css({'display' : 'block', 'visibility' : 'visible'}); });/*jQuery('#fbShow').css('color' , 'white');jQuery('#archiveShow').css('color' , '#666666');*/
L.A. Times on Facebook
AdvertisementIn Case You Missed It...The LatestMost ViewedMost Emailed Explore Bestsellers Lists Browse: Dates Titles Authors Search: Find a title
 
Find an author
 
Recent NewsThe Reading Life: Gordon Matta-Clark's 'Conical Intersect' | July 15, 2011, 5:55 pm »The confusing dissolution of Borders bookstores  | July 15, 2011, 10:29 am »Mondays will be restored to L.A. Public Library schedules | July 14, 2011, 2:22 pm »Jane Austen's $1.6-million manuscript | July 14, 2011, 11:36 am »Jaycee Dugard's 'A Stolen Life': Our review, Part 2 | July 14, 2011, 9:10 am »
Categoriesacademiaadvertisingamazonanimalsappsarchitectureartaudioaudiobooksauthorsbeabenjamin buttonbestsellersbiographybook clubsbook festivalsbook reviewsbook trailersbooksbookstoresbusinesscaliforniacarolyn kelloggcelebritycharitychildren's literatureclassical literaturecomicscoverscraftscrimecriticismcurrent affairsdavid ulindeborah netburndenis johnsondenverdesigndoing gooddonationsdrmdrugsearthquakesebookseconomicseducationenergyenvironmentereadersessayseventsfantasyfashionfictionfilmfood and drinkgamesgardeninggooglegraphic novelhealthhistorical nonfictionhistoryholidayhorrorhow tohumorindiainternationalinterviewjon thurberkindlela eventsla times bestsellersla times book prizela times festival of booksla times reviewlanguagelawlibraryliesl bradnerliteraturelos angelesmagazinesmargaret wapplermediamemoirmiddle eastmoney walksmusicmysterynew reviewnextnick owcharnobody movenonfictionnovelnovellaoff the shelfonlineparentingphilosophyphoto booksplayspoetrypoliticspomo monthpop cultureprizespublishingradioreadingreading liferearviewrelationshipsreligionrock your books offromanceschool readingsciencescience fictionself-helpsexshelvesshoppingshort storysportssummer readingsusan carpentersusan salter reynoldssxswitechnologytelevisionthe reading lifetheaterthrillertranslationtravelurbanismvideovideo gamesweb extraweb/techweblogswordswritingya

ArchivesJuly 2011June 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011December 2010November 2010October 2010September 2010August 2010July 2010June 2010May 2010April 2010March 2010February 2010January 2010December 2009November 2009October 2009September 2009August 2009July 2009June 2009May 2009April 2009March 2009February 2009January 2009December 2008November 2008October 2008September 2008August 2008July 2008June 2008May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007October 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007 
Stay connected:


About the ReportersCarolyn Kellogg
Orli Low
Nick Owchar
Susan Salter Reynolds
David L. Ulin

More from The Times24 FramesAfterwordAll The RageAwards TrackerBabylon & BeyondBig PictureBooster ShotsCompany TownCulture MonsterDaily DishDodgers BlogFabulous ForumFrameworkGreenspaceHero ComplexHomicide ReportJacket CopyL.A. at HomeL.A. NowL.A. Times on TumblrL.A. UnleashedLa PlazaLakersMinistry of GossipMoney & Co.Opinion L.A.PolitiCalPolitics NowPop & HissReaders' RepresentativeShow TrackerTechnologyTop of the TicketTravel News & DealsVarsity Times Insider


Corrections Horoscopes Media Kit About Us Contact Us Site Map
Coastline Pilot | Daily Pilot |Huntington Beach Independent | Valley Sun | Burbank Leader | News Press |KTLA |Hoy | LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine | ZAP2itBaltimore Sun |Chicago Tribune |Daily Press |Hartford Courant |LA Times |Orlando Sentinel |Sun Sentinel |The Morning Call

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2011

A Tribune Web site

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Carmageddon reading list: 19 books about the joys and terrors of transportation

Carmageddon reading list: 19 books about the joys and terrors of transportation - latimes.com p.content-nav { margin:-15px 0px 0px 0px; }#commentsArchive { display: none; visibility: hidden; }#archiveShow, #fbShow { cursor:pointer; } body {background-color:#ffffff !important;}ul#root li.navLink a {padding-top:17px; padding-right:4px; padding-bottom:16px; padding-left: 5px;} Subscribe/Manage Account Place Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals Classifieds Custom Publishing Books HOME LOCAL L.A. Now Politics Crime Education O.C. Westside Neighborhoods Environment Obituaries Findlocal U.S. Politics Now Top of the Ticket Science & Environment Obituaries Religion WORLD Afghanistan & Pakistan Africa Asia Europe Iran Iraq Latin America Mexico Under Siege Middle East Business Money & Co. Technology Personal Finance Small Business Company Town Jobs Real Estate Autos SPORTS Lakers Clippers Dodgers Angels NFL Ducks/Kings USC UCLA Soccer High Schools Scores/Stats ENTERTAINMENT Movies Television Music Celebrity Arts & Culture Company Town Calendar The Envelope Findlocal Health Booster Shots Fitness & Nutrition Medicine Behavior Healthcare Reform Hospitals Living Home Food Image Books Parenting Findlocal Magazine Reader Photos Summer Guide Travel California Hawaii Mexico Las Vegas Europe Travel & Deal Blog Destinations Opinion Editorials Op-Ed Letters Opinion L.A. Deals Save: Deals Go: Travel Eat: Food Wear: Apparel Live: Everyday Needs Play: Electronics Drive More Mobile Site Subscribe / Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds Weekly Ad#inTheNews {min-height:20px;} Advanced Search Advanced Search X include all of these words: include any of these words: include this exact phrase: exclude: Select a date range this week past 30 days past 3 months past year Create a custom date range From: To: Jacket CopyBooks, authors and all things bookish« Previous |Jacket Copy Home| Next»

Carmageddon reading list: 19 books about the joys and terrors of transportationJuly 12, 2011 |  4:26pm

Carmageddon is going to be bad. Nobody knows how bad, exactly, but when the 405 Freeway is closed through the Sepulveda Pass this weekend, the cars that rely on it will be spilled onto alternate routes. Which will be jammed. Too many cars, not enough ways for them to get where they're headed.

Carmaggedon: by midnight Friday, all lanes and ramps of the northbound 405 Freeway, along the 10-mile section between Interstate 10 and the 101 Freeway, will be closed. Southbound lanes of the 405 will be closed from the 101 Freeway to Getty Center Drive. They will not open again until Monday at 6 a.m.

Some fear that the closing will bring about a domino effect of gridlock. But maybe not. While freeways were once an essential and distinctive mark of Los Angeles, Christopher Hawthorne writes that now we're churning out train lines instead. Maybe you've found a way around carmageddon that involves trains or buses. Or maybe you'll risk it and get behind the wheel. If that happens, any one of these 19 books on our carmageddon reading list might come in handy in case traffic really is awful. Come to think of it, bring two.

"Car" by Harry Crews. A man eats a car, one piece at a time, for money. Satirical, edgy and smart.

"Crash" by J.G. Ballard. Nobody wants to get in a car crash -- except for the subculture in this novel, full of people who find cars sexualized. Car crashes, mmmmm.

"Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang" by Ian Fleming. The James Bond author's only book for kids, the story of an inventor, his family and their marvelous floating, flying car.

"Christine" by Stephen King. The 1958 Plymouth Fury is beautiful, but she's dangerous. Reading this book will make you understand the terrifying possibilities of automobiles.

"Cosmopolis" by Don DeLillo. A young billionaire tries to cross Manhattan in his stretch limousine as the world begins to come apart.

"Drive" by James Sallis. A movie stunt driver turned getaway man is the hero of this existential noir.

"The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" by Tom Wolfe. The new journalist's first collection, named after his breakthough piece on Southern California custom car culture.

"Let the Dog Drive" by David Bowman. Hallucinatory, post-apocalyptic, Bowman's first book is a road novel gone absurd, as a young man and an older woman hitchhike east from the Mojave.

"Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies" by Reyner Banham. A revolutionary reading of Los Angeles, this 1971 book reframes the city as, among other things, an "autopia," developed around the car.

"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. The book that sent a generation or two out on the road.

"The Orient Express" by Agatha Christie. The intercontinental train travel is lovely, but of course, there's a murderer on board. It's a classic whodunnit, set entirely on a train.

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. The only thing better about the upcoming Carmageddon is that there won't be -- probably -- crazed, wandering cannibals like in McCarthy's novel.

"Rosa Parks: A Life" by Douglas Brinkley. The biography of America's most famous bus passenger, whose refusal to give up her seat set fire to the Civil Rights movement.

"The Third Policeman" by Flann O'Brien. Come this weekend, drivers might have something in common with some of the characters in O'Brien's novel: an obsession with bicycles.

"Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck. The Nobel Prize winner's last great work, the story of a cross-country journey with his dog.

"Truck" by John Jerome. Jerome finds Zen-like comfort in the act of rebuilding an old pick-up.

"Unsafe at Any Speed" by Ralph Nader. Subtitled "The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile," this book put the car companies on notice and established Nader as a public figure and consumer advocate. Too bad, those Corvairs were so pretty -- oh, right, "Christine."

"World Made by Hand" by James Howard Kunstler. The wagon makes a big comeback in this 2008 dystopic novel of what happens after civilization takes a pounding from energy shortages, terrorist attacks and epidemics.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. The legendary meditation, in the form of a father-and-son cross-country motorcycle trip. With Carmageddon, we're all going to need a little Zen.

RELATED:

The last-minute Rapture reading list

9 ways of looking at earthquakes through literature

The L.A. Times 2011 summer reading list

-- Carolyn Kellogg, Nick Owchar and David L. Ulin

Photo: Traffic is jammed on the Pacific Coast Highway on Memorial Day Weekend. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

 

Twitter: @latimesbooksFacebook: latimesbooksMore in: books, Current Affairs, fiction, Los Angeles, memoir, nonfiction, Travel.entry {border-bottom:0px; padding-bottom:0px;}#sponsored1 {margin-bottom:15px;} PreviousNext More from Jacket CopySherwood Schwartz's 823,987-hour tourGeorge R.R. Martin's 'A Dance With Dragons' is finally here
Comments () | Archives (0) var countNum = 0;if (countNum == 0) {jQuery("#archiveShow").css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery("#commentsDivider").css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});};jQuery('#fbShow').click(function () {jQuery('#commentsArchive').css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery('#fbComments').css({'display' : 'block', 'visibility' : 'visible'}); });jQuery('#archiveShow').click(function () {jQuery('#fbComments').css({'display' : 'none', 'visibility' : 'hidden'});jQuery('#commentsArchive').css({'display' : 'block', 'visibility' : 'visible'}); });/*jQuery('#fbShow').css('color' , 'white');jQuery('#archiveShow').css('color' , '#666666');*/
L.A. Times on Facebook
AdvertisementIn Case You Missed It...The LatestMost ViewedMost Emailed Explore Bestsellers Lists Browse: Dates Titles Authors Search: Find a title
 
Find an author
 
Recent NewsGeorge R.R. Martin's 'A Dance With Dragons' is finally here | July 12, 2011, 6:13 pm »Carmageddon reading list: 19 books about the joys and terrors of transportation | July 12, 2011, 4:26 pm »Sherwood Schwartz's 823,987-hour tour | July 12, 2011, 1:30 pm »Jaycee Dugard's memoir: A first look at 'A Stolen Life' | July 12, 2011, 11:26 am »Thomas Pynchon slept here. Wouldn't you like to? | July 12, 2011, 7:00 am »
Categoriesacademiaadvertisingamazonanimalsappsarchitectureartaudioaudiobooksauthorsbeabenjamin buttonbestsellersbiographybook clubsbook festivalsbook reviewsbook trailersbooksbookstoresbusinesscaliforniacarolyn kelloggcelebritycharitychildren's literatureclassical literaturecomicscoverscraftscrimecriticismcurrent affairsdavid ulindeborah netburndenis johnsondenverdesigndoing gooddonationsdrmdrugsearthquakesebookseconomicseducationenergyenvironmentereadersessayseventsfantasyfashionfictionfilmfood and drinkgamesgardeninggooglegraphic novelhealthhistorical nonfictionhistoryholidayhorrorhow tohumorindiainternationalinterviewjon thurberkindlela eventsla times bestsellersla times book prizela times festival of booksla times reviewlanguagelawlibraryliesl bradnerliteraturelos angelesmagazinesmargaret wapplermediamemoirmiddle eastmoney walksmusicmysterynew reviewnextnick owcharnobody movenonfictionnovelnovellaoff the shelfonlineparentingphilosophyphoto booksplayspoetrypoliticspomo monthpop cultureprizespublishingradioreadingreading liferearviewrelationshipsreligionrock your books offromanceschool readingsciencescience fictionself-helpsexshelvesshoppingshort storysportssummer readingsusan carpentersusan salter reynoldssxswitechnologytelevisionthe reading lifetheaterthrillertranslationtravelurbanismvideovideo gamesweb extraweb/techweblogswordswritingya

ArchivesJuly 2011June 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011December 2010November 2010October 2010September 2010August 2010July 2010June 2010May 2010April 2010March 2010February 2010January 2010December 2009November 2009October 2009September 2009August 2009July 2009June 2009May 2009April 2009March 2009February 2009January 2009December 2008November 2008October 2008September 2008August 2008July 2008June 2008May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007October 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007 
Stay connected:


About the ReportersCarolyn Kellogg
Orli Low
Nick Owchar
Susan Salter Reynolds
David L. Ulin

More from The Times24 FramesAfterwordAll The RageAwards TrackerBabylon & BeyondBig PictureBooster ShotsCompany TownCulture MonsterDaily DishDodgers BlogFabulous ForumFrameworkGreenspaceHero ComplexHomicide ReportJacket CopyL.A. at HomeL.A. NowL.A. Times on TumblrL.A. UnleashedLa PlazaLakersMinistry of GossipMoney & Co.Opinion L.A.PolitiCalPolitics NowPop & HissReaders' RepresentativeShow TrackerTechnologyTop of the TicketTravel News & DealsVarsity Times Insider


Corrections Horoscopes Media Kit About Us Contact Us Site Map
Coastline Pilot | Daily Pilot |Huntington Beach Independent | Valley Sun | Burbank Leader | News Press |KTLA |Hoy | LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine | ZAP2itBaltimore Sun |Chicago Tribune |Daily Press |Hartford Courant |LA Times |Orlando Sentinel |Sun Sentinel |The Morning Call

Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2011

A Tribune Web site

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.