
Zeropolis
The Experience of Las Vegas
Bruce Begout(Author)
Reaktion Books (Publisher)
Published on 1. October 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
128 pages
978-1-86189-176-1 (ISBN)
Description
Las Vegas, an artificial city brought to life in the heart of the Mojave desert, is the ultimate urban temptation: its shopping malls, theme parks and casinos offer an unceasing parade of entertainments and diversions. Its architecture combines slick, commercial seduction with a childish, cartoon-like appearance; its streets and arcades are constantly animated with visitors and residents willingly submitting to the opium of this spectacular place.
Las Vegas has always fascinated those who write about the American malaise, from Tom Wolfe to J. G. Ballard, but Begout reveals the city's other side, adding a valuable philosophical dimension to the nightmarish, fantastic visions that haunt the imagination of novelists and film-makers. The author draws minutely detailed portraits in the form of city scenes - portraits that are often tragic and sometimes extremely comic. Begout lets himself be dragged into this party, this 'paradise for bastards', as Nick Tosches calls it.
For Begout, Las Vegas is the consummation of the modern city, the ultimate destination of our urban experiments, the great supermarket of the global village. 'Neither near nor far, neither here nor elsewhere, Las Vegas is distinguished by nothingness. For us it is zeropolis, the non-city that is the very first city, just as zero is the very first number.'
Las Vegas has always fascinated those who write about the American malaise, from Tom Wolfe to J. G. Ballard, but Begout reveals the city's other side, adding a valuable philosophical dimension to the nightmarish, fantastic visions that haunt the imagination of novelists and film-makers. The author draws minutely detailed portraits in the form of city scenes - portraits that are often tragic and sometimes extremely comic. Begout lets himself be dragged into this party, this 'paradise for bastards', as Nick Tosches calls it.
For Begout, Las Vegas is the consummation of the modern city, the ultimate destination of our urban experiments, the great supermarket of the global village. 'Neither near nor far, neither here nor elsewhere, Las Vegas is distinguished by nothingness. For us it is zeropolis, the non-city that is the very first city, just as zero is the very first number.'
Reviews / Votes
This is a real gem, as brilliant and remarkable as its subject. * <i>Livres Hebdo</i> * Bégout felicitously combines the philosophers capacity for thinking with the novelists descriptive power. A success. * <i>Le Nouvel Observateur</i> *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
28 colour illustrations
ISBN-13
978-1-86189-176-1 (9781861891761)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bruce Begout is lecturer in philosophy at the University of Picardie, Amiens, France.