Monday, August 30, 2010

Quotes from Topophilia

I promised some quotes from Yi-Fu Tuan's Topophilia instead of assigning the reading. Here are some and you can respond to them if you'd like for posting:

"The word 'topophilia' is a neologism, useful in that it can be defined broadly to include all of the human being's affective ties with the material environment. These differ greatly in intensity, subtlety, and mode of expression. The response to environment may be primarily aesthetic: it may vary from the fleeting pleasure one gets from a view to the equally fleeting but far more intense sense of beauty that is suddenly revealed. The response may be tactile, a delight in the feel of air, water, earth. More permanent and less easy to express are the feelings that one has toward a place because it is home, the locus of memories, and the means of gaining a livelihood" (93).

"Topophilia is not the strongest of human emotions. When it is compelling we can be sure that the place or environment has been the carrier of emotionally charged events or perceived as a symbol" (93).

"Awareness of the past is an important element in the love of place. Patriotic rhetoric has always stressed the roots of a people" (99).

"Since the birth of the modern state in Europe, patriotism as an emotion is rarely tied to any specific locality: it is evoked by abstract categories of pride and power, on the one hand, and by certain symbols, such as the flag, on the other. The modern state is too large, its boundaries too arbitrary, its area too heterogeneous to command the kind of affection that arises out of experience and intimate knowledge. Modern man has conquered distance but not time. In a life span, a man now--as in the past--can establish profound roots only in a small corner of the world" (100).

7 comments:

  1. Please note that I have also posted questions about the Thoreau reading in an earlier blog post!

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  2. I'm not sure if it would be beneficial to read the surrounding material first in order to comment on this passage posted. However since I am not sure where to find the rest of Topophilia, I will have to comment without doing so and hope I have a little better understanding of this material than I did in my previous post.

    "Awareness of the past is an important element in the love of place. Patriotic rhetoric has always stressed the roots of a people" (99).

    When Tuan mentions "love of place" is he referring to the same place that we have discussed in class with space/place and also landscape? If so, how do you feel his interpretation of "place" compares to Hubbard's and our classes discussion?

    My feeling, Tuan is referring to place in a similar way that Hubbard did. We discussed that place represents the idea of nostalgia, emotional connection through past history. Place has legitimacy and authenticity. Tuan says awareness of the past is important towards understanding the love of a place. Following that, "the roots of people" very easily one can connect roots to heritage and tradition, one's past family history.

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  3. The word 'topophilia' is a neologism, useful in that it can be defined broadly to include all of the human being's affective ties with the material environment. These differ greatly in intensity, subtlety, and mode of expression. The response to environment may be primarily aesthetic: it may vary from the fleeting pleasure one gets from a view to the equally fleeting but far more intense sense of beauty that is suddenly revealed. The response may be tactile, a delight in the feel of air, water, earth. More permanent and less easy to express are the feelings that one has toward a place because it is home, the locus of memories, and the means of gaining a livelihood" (93).

    I like this definition of tophophilia because as a reader, the deeper you read into the text, the deeper you find yourself imagining the "locus of memories" of material places in one's own memory. What seems to be missing is that after this definition describes the importance of visuals and tactiles, there is no description of how smells play an immense role in topophilia. It is hard to say that without the smell of "White linen" perfume I would have the same affection for my mom's walk-in closet.Think of your favorite place? Would there be a different memory and love for that place if there were no smells? Wouldn't your fondness and memories dim if there were no smells? Since smells are of the strongest ties to memory, it must be included as one of the strongest senses towards topophilia.

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  4. I think the third and fourth quotes work hand in hand. In the fourth quote tuan says that the modern state can't, "...command the kind of affection that arises out of experience and intimate knowledge." I agree with that statement. I didn't pesonally have a hand in building this country so I can't merely be born here and have a level of affection for the U.S. that goes beyond blind patriotism. However the third quote talks about the importance of the knowledge of the past in patriotism. By knowing how this country was built, and the sacrifice of those who built it, I can gain a deeper appreciation of the freedoms I have and why I'm totally justified in my deeply patriotic beliefs.

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  5. "Topophilia is not the strongest of human emotions. When it is compelling we can be sure that the place or environment has been the carrier of emotionally charged events or perceived as a symbol" (93).

    I think this quote ties in closely to what we discussed last class period. While our love of the environment and the world around us can be an extremely strong and empowering emotion, I believe it is the emotions that come with a space becoming a place that are strongest.

    We discussed if all places have to be landscapes, and if spaces can be landscaped without being places. I think that if topophilia was the strongest of human emotions, all landscapes would translate into places for us because of their beauty and the aesthetic pleasure they give us. However, as we discussed, a bus stop can mean more to one person that the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower because an emotional charged event may have happened to them at that dingy place-and although the view of the Paris cityscape can be breathtaking, it will never mean as much to them as whatever happened at the bus stop.

    I do also think that the emotions tied with topophilia "differ greatly in intensity, subtlety, and mode of expression" from person to person in that some feel a greater connection to the land and world around them than others. I made the general assumption that everyone feels greater connection to memories and the past in terms of places as opposed to pure aesthetic beauty. Obviously these emotions are different from everyone and can have a wide range of intensities and reactions.

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  6. In reference to the first quote, I think it’s evident in what we’ve read that Thoreau is at home with nature rather than the mechanical or man-made society, and many of his observations are “primarily aesthetic…from the fleeting pleasure one gets from a view to the equally fleeting but far more intense sense of beauty that is suddenly revealed.” He begins to show his ties with nature by immersing himself in it by taking this journey and his observations from it make a profound impact upon his personal beliefs. Before he starts an anecdote he generally leads into it with a description of his surroundings, such as them delicately drifting on the skiff on page forty. Generally these anecdotes talk about how intrusive man-made society is upon this delicate balance of nature. Church bells on page forty-one for example, scare away game hunted by the Native Americans. I think many of his grievances with society, religion, politics, etc. at the time stem from what Thoreau perceives as disregard to his home. Societal norms may have seemed out of touch with nature at the time, causing him to bristle at practices such as the Sabbath. I can somewhat relate to this as I grew up in white suburban society which had a tendency to regulate nature (parks, greenbelts, landscaping), and I too object to the idea of keeping nature as only an occasional aesthetic pleasure and separate from what really concerns us in our daily lives. Thoreau is most concerned with Nature, so it only makes sense that he would disagree with the practices of a society that is intrusive to it.

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  7. I think Tuan's 3rd quote about needing an awareness of the past to have a love of any place is very true. If someone does not understand what a country has gone through, what beliefs they were founded on, it would be difficult for someone to feel connected to or have patriotism towards their country.

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