Suchergebnisse

The rise of a bohemian subculture in the early 19th century drew on the Romantic beliefs in genius on the one hand and erotic passion on the other. Romantic love was a tragic, often forbidden passion and thus could include the most transgressive form: homosexuality. In the German bohemias of Munich and Berlin at the turn of the century, however, the influence of psychoanalysis as a radical new theory of human desire influenced the `erotic revolution' of the period; this moved bohemian love from an understanding of desire as a fatal passion to a celebration of it as a liberating and ecstatic force, albeit with sometimes disastrous consequences. The migration of psychoanalysis to the American bohemia of Greenwich Village inaugurated a further change as popularized versions of Freudian theory advocated the importance of sexual fulfilment in life, yet also became normative and prescriptive. The ironic conclusion drawn is that `bohemian love' has become the norm in a consumer society, yet shorn of its subversive and transgressive elements.

How the outpouring of emotion over the death in 1997 of Diana, Princess of Wales, was channeled, with help from Prime Minister Tony Blair, towards renewed support for the monarchy and for the idea that charitable feelings eclipse any need for public welfare and a fairer distribution of wealth; Great Britain.

Various aspects of the rural-urban divide are explored including the blurring of rural-urban boundaries, the presence of women in urban spaces, literary & rhetorical representations of the city, the transformation of urban spaces into de-centered or multi-centered areas, & the conversion of public spaces into areas of consumption. Although long-standing binaries like male/female have been investigated by contemporary theory, it is stressed that the dichotomization of rural/urban has received relatively meager attention. Factors that continue to hinder women's participation in public urban spaces are then addressed, eg, women's experience with poverty & targeting for criminal behavior. Movements to renovate public spaces into places of historical or cultural nostalgia (eg, the center of Paris & Disneyland) & representations of cities as dystopian spaces are then discussed. It is subsequently argued that contemporary urban areas are being transformed into post-urban spaces characterized by the ubiquity of shopping centers & traffic problems & the expansion of surrounding suburbs. In addition, it is demonstrated that particular public spaces, especially airports & train stations, are being converted into areas of consumerization. The emergence of a rhetoric of the periphery that challenges these alterations in public urban space is also covered. J. W. Parker