Space as Storyteller: Spatial Jumps in Architecture, Critical Theory, and Literature

265 Pages·2016·6.63 MB·English

by  Laura Chiesa

Space as
Storyteller

Space as
Storyteller
Spatial Jumps in Architecture,
Critical Theory, and Literature
Laura Chiesa
northwestern university press
evanston, illinois
Northwestern University Press
www .nupress.northwestern .edu
Copyright © 2016 by Northwestern University Press.
Published 2016. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Chiesa, Laura, author.
Title: Space as storyteller : spatial jumps in architecture, critical theory, and
literature / Laura Chiesa.
Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016014075 | ISBN 9780810133457 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780810133464 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780810133471 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Literature, Modern—20th century—History and criticism. |
Space and time in literature. | Architecture, Modern—20th century—History
and criticism. | Architecture and literature. | Cities and towns in literature. |
Benjamin, Walter, 1892–1940—Criticism and interpretation. | Marinetti, F. T.,
1876–1944—Criticism and interpretation. | Calvino, Italo—Criticism and
interpretation. | Perec, Georges, 1936–1982—Criticism and interpretation. |
Tschumi, Bernard, 1944—Criticism and interpretation. | Koolhaas, Rem—
Criticism and interpretation.
Classification: LCC PN56.S667 C466 2016 | DDC 809.9384—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014075
For if the sentence is the wall before the language of the
original, literalness is the arcade.
— Walter Benjamin, “The Task of the Translator” (260)
[Gerard Dupuy:] By its size, Life A User’s Manual is a book
with which one can settle in. You can take your time. “You’ll
be reading it all winter,” remarks G. P. on the phone with
somebody who just bought his book. Sure, you can settle in
with it, but the book is not very favorable to it.
[Georges Perec:] At the beginning, people were reluctant to
read it, because of the volume and of the stories that are not
related to each other. It’s like a train that’s starting up: the
locomotive has to work hard to pull. But, as soon as it gets
moving . . .
— Georges Perec, Entretiens et Conférences (vol. 1, 233)

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Notes on the Text xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
In the Primeval Fields of Modernity 17
Chapter 2
Abstract Theatricality as Impossible Synthesis 49
Chapter 3
Cities and Puzzles: Multiple and Contrasting Emotions 81
Chapter 4
From Fictionalizing Function to Redefining the Now of the Urban 117
Chapter 5
Adventuring (in) the Architectural Field: Rem Koolhaas and the
Office for Metropolitan Architecture 149
Coda 191
Notes 195
Works Cited 233
Index 245

Illustrations
Figure 4.1. Superstudio, Misura nel Chianti, 1970 118
Figure 4.2. Superstudio, Landscape Office, 1970 119
Figure 4.3. Superstudio, Reflected Architecture: New Niagara, 1970 122
Figure 4.4. Superstudio, Fundamental Acts: Education, 1971 125
Figure 4.5. Archizoom, No- Stop City, 1971 126
Figures 4.6 and 4.7. Bernard Tschumi, Advertisements for
Architecture, 1976– 80 127
Figure 4.8. Bernard Tschumi, The Manhattan Transcripts,
“The Block,” 1980 132
Figure 4.9. Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Villette, Superposition:
Points, Lines, Planes, 1982 135
Figure 4.10. Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Villette, Folie R5, 1982– 98 136
Figure 4.11. Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Villette, Cinematic
Promenade, Garden of Mirrors, 1982– 98 137
Figure 4.12. Bernard Tschumi, Groningen Glass Video Gallery, 1990 141
Figure 4.13. Bernard Tschumi, Le Fresnoy National Studio for
Contemporary Arts, 1991– 97 143
Figure 4.14. Bernard Tschumi, Lerner Hall Student Center,
Columbia University, 1994– 99 144
Figure 4.15. Bernard Tschumi, New Acropolis Museum, 2001– 9 146
Figure 5.1. OMA, Byzantium, illustrations by Tomas Koolhaas
and Louis Price, from S,M,L,XL 155
ix