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This book focuses on literal and metaphorical ruins, as they are appropriated and imagined in different forms of writing. Examining British and American literature and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the book begins in the era of industrial modernity with studies of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Henry James and Daphne Du Maurier. It then moves on to the significance of ruins in the twentieth century, against the backdrop of conflict, waste and destruction, analyzing authors such as Beckett and Pinter, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Leonard Cohen. The collection concludes with current debates on ruins, through discussions of Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht, as well as reflections on the refugee crisis that take the ruin beyond the text, offering new perspectives on its diverse legacies and conceptual resources.
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Ruins in the Literary and Cultural Imagination Edited by Efterpi Mitsi · Anna Despotopoulou Stamatina Dimakopoulou Emmanouil Aretoulakis
Ruins in the Literary and Cultural Imagination
Efterpi Mitsi · Anna Despotopoulou · Stamatina Dimakopoulou · Emmanouil Aretoulakis Editors
Ruins in the Literary and Cultural Imagination
Editors Efterpi Mitsi National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece
Anna Despotopoulou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece
Stamatina Dimakopoulou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece
Emmanouil Aretoulakis National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece
ISBN 978-3-030-26904-3 ISBN 978-3-030-26905-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26905-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements
The inspiration for this volume came from a conference we organized in 2017 at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens on the subject of ruins. The Athenian surroundings were particularly conducive to the theoretical and cultural approaches to ruin that were explored during three days of enthusiastic academic discussion. The essays collected here are substantially expanded and revised versions of the conference papers from which they originated. We would like to thank all the contributors for their dedication, generosity and shared commitment to the volume. We also gratefully acknowledge the reviewers wh