Capital
New York, Capital of the 20th Century
Published on 27. October 2015
928 pages
978-1-78478-158-3 (ISBN)
Description
Here is a kaleidoscopic assemblage and poetic history of New York: an unparalleled and original homage to the city, composed entirely of quotations. Drawn from a huge array of sources-histories, memoirs, newspaper articles, novels, government documents, emails-and organized into interpretive categories that reveal the philosophical architecture of the city, Capital is the ne plus ultra of books on the ultimate megalopolis.
It is also a book of experimental literature that transposes Walter Benjamin's unfinished magnum opus of literary montage on the modern city, The Arcades Project, from 19th-century Paris to 20th-century New York, bringing the streets to life in categories such as "Sex," "Commodity," "Downtown," "Subway," and "Mapplethorpe."
Capital is a book designed to fascinate and to fail-for can a megalopolis truly be written? Can a history, no matter how extensive, ever be comprehensive? Each reading of this book, and of New York, is a unique and impossible passage.
It is also a book of experimental literature that transposes Walter Benjamin's unfinished magnum opus of literary montage on the modern city, The Arcades Project, from 19th-century Paris to 20th-century New York, bringing the streets to life in categories such as "Sex," "Commodity," "Downtown," "Subway," and "Mapplethorpe."
Capital is a book designed to fascinate and to fail-for can a megalopolis truly be written? Can a history, no matter how extensive, ever be comprehensive? Each reading of this book, and of New York, is a unique and impossible passage.
More details
Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78478-158-3 (9781784781583)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2015
Verso Books
€50.95
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Kenneth Goldsmith is the founding editor of UbuWeb, teaches Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of Pennsylvania and is Senior Editor of PennSound. He was an artist and sculptor for many years before taking up conceptual poetry. He has since published ten books of poetry and is the author of a book of essays,Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in a Digital Age.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Part 1
- Preface
- A. Dream City
- B. Empire
- C. Antiquity
- D. Nature
- E. Panorama
- F. Architecture
- G. Empire State Building
- H. Crowds
- I. Street
- J. Flâneur
- K. Psychogeography
- L. Body
- M. Sex
- N. Coney Island
- O. Alcohol
- P. Drugs
- Q. Sound
- R. Smell
- S. Food
- T. Advertising
- U. Times Square
- V. Dirt
- W. Central Park
- X. Subway
- Y. Poetic Empire
- Z. 1939 World's Fair
- Postscript
- Interlude
- Part 2
- Preface
- a. Downtown
- b. Art
- c. Textuality
- d. Grid
- e. Loneliness
- f. Mundane
- g. Mapplethorpe
- h. Glass
- i. Simulacrum
- j. Media
- k. Monument
- l. Robert Moses
- m. Power
- n. Commodity
- o. Gentrification
- p. Suburbs
- q. Crime
- r. Poverty
- s. Unrest
- t. Harlem
- u. 1964 World's Fair
- v. World Trade Center
- w. Light
- x. Air
- y. Death
- z. Apocalypse
- Postscript
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
