Architecture and Insecurity An Analysis of Architecture as Metapho in WG Sebald’s Austerlitz
Deyan Sudjic, journalist for the New York Times, writes in his discussion of the potential Freedom Tower meant to replace the cavernous holes that mark where the twin towers once stood:
Clearly, there is a psychological parallel between making a mark on the landscape and the exercise of political power…both depend on the imposition of will…and among the dictatorial…there is an inherent appeal in seeing one’s worldview confirmed by reducing entire cities to the scale of a doll’s house (par. 6).
Symbolism and architecture often go hand in hand. Like almost every work of art, critics and audiences attempt to read something deeper, to find some profound social critique or metaphor or theme in a building. Occasionally, it could just be as Freud once said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” But more often, the power of architecture all over the world and throughout history is recognized to both shape societies and be molded by the society itself in turn, revealing subtle and often important heroisms as well as evils. From 19th century imperialist mansions and the so-called “impregnable fortress” to the towering skyscrapers in New York City, architecture is capable of not just comfort and sense of welcome, but also a powerful display of supremacy. There is, however, a darker, less-noticed side-effect to these buildings of might; indeed, as WG Sebald in his novel Austerlitz states “it is often our mightiest projects which betray our insecurity” (15). While architecture in WG Sebald’s Austerlitz is held by the society at that time as power and strength, architecture specifically intended to show dominance and authority actually illustrat...
... middle of paper ...
...aufman, Emil. Architecture in the Age of Reason. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1955.
- Klotz, Heinrich. The History of Postmodern Architecture. Trans. Radka Donnell.
Cambridge: MIT P, 1988.
- Kocur, Zoya, and Simon Leung, eds. Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985. Malden:
Blackwell, 2005.
- Leniart, Brandon. "WWII Statistics." WWII in Europe. 6 Nov. 2005
Hicks, Patrick. "War, Literature and the Arts." War, Literature and the Arts. An International Journal of the Humanitie, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. .
Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963.
Tim O’Brien states in his novel The Things They Carried, “The truths are contradictory. It can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty. For all its horror, you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat” (77). This profound statement captures not only his perspective of war from his experience in Vietnam but a collective truth about war across the ages. It is not called the art of combat without reason: this truth transcends time and can be found in the art produced and poetry written during the years of World War I. George Trakl creates beautiful images of the war in his poem “Grodek” but juxtaposes them with the harsh realities of war. Paul Nash, a World War I artist, invokes similar images in his paintings We are Making a New World and The Ypres Salient at Night. Guilaume Apollinaire’s writes about the beautiful atrocity that is war in his poem “Gala.”
Tzu, Mo. Against Offensive Warfare. Ed. Michael Austin. Reading the World: Ideas that Matter. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010. 254-255. Print.
McGuigan, Cathleen. "Theater Of War." Newsweek 151.14 (2008): 52-53. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.
McDonald. “Just War Theory.” Humanities. Boston University. College of General Studies, Boston. 24 February 2014. Lecture.
...’s book accomplishes a lot in its timid three hundred pages, it lacks more examples of modern architecture and historical landmarks such as the ones discussed above. Also, the lack of chronological order is a new approach, but it might not appeal to all readers.
Using the quote by Habermas as a starting point, select up to two buildings designed in the twentieth century and examine what ‘sudden, shocking encounters’ they have encountered, or created. Analyse the building’s meanings as a demonstration of an avant-garde, or potentially arriere-garde, position.
Throughout history, architecture has been employed in the service of politics, as symbols of the state. Architecture is therefore shaped by the national traditions in the pursuit of projects of identity, modernity, power, and prestige. A building is not merely a walled structure, but a metaphor for national ideology as it embodies the civic life of the citizens that it houses, as well as the ideals of the nation within which it resides. This paper will explore three varying architectural periods and examine the interaction between nationalism and the building styles that developed either as a means to express it.
"The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu." The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. .
Carl von Clausewitz, “What is War?” On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret, 89-112. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976.
Clausewitz's On War, first published in 1832, until now remains one of the most influential studies in understanding character, nature and conditions of warfare. In his book Clausewitz not only traced an interaction of intension and planning with the realities of combat, but by exploring the relationship of war to policy, politics and society gave a new philosophical justification to the art of war. (Heuser, 2002)
In the short reading, The Cunning of Cosmetics, by Jeffrey Kipnis, he begins by explaining what architecture is reacting to and how it effects the direction it is going in. As a result from explaining this, he starts to ponder on his job on Herzog & de Meuron and question, “When did my infatuation with HdM’s work begin?”(Kipnis 23) he starts to realize that buildings have the “Ability to insinuate itself into my psyche” without forcing itself upon someone. He is able to analyze this in the magazine he was reading Arch- Plus by Nikolaus Kuhnert and see how he separated the magazine into two sections – Ornament and Minimalism, through this he able to explore prime examples such as Signal Box and Ricola Europ, explaining how the use of their materiality and modern ornamentation can give a “Erotic allure…the sirens of the Odyssey”. Overall he is clarifying that
Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general but most importantly a philosopher that lived in the 6th century BC. He is the author of The Art of War, a book about military strategy. The Art of war contains thirteen chapters all delivering keys to military strategy for success. It is a famous work of art that is used nowadays in many fields including business, sport and diplomacy. Business leaders develop strategies inspired form Sun Tzu ideas to reach their goals.
The second chapter, The Text, of Griffith’s study focuses on the text itself. There has been debate about how many chapters were originally in “The Art of War”: Eighty-Two or Thirteen. (p. 13) Griffith gives a sound theory that the current thirteen chapters were the only writings. Based on copywriting errors, the eighty-two chapters were probably written into thirteen categories (or chapters) while trying to transcribe written work onto paper from silk or wood. Griffith also asserts that the text was used for entry-level war fighting studies in early Chinese military academies.