Tag Archives: palimpsest

city as palimpsest, redux

“Richard Lehan* has pointed out the impact of urban archaeology’s ‘discovery of layered cities’ – notably Heinrich Schliemann’s discoveries in Troy (1871) and Arthur Evans’ in Crete (Knossos, 1876) – upon modernist urban literature. Urban fantasy has been particularly influenced … Continue reading

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language as palimpsest

“Language is an archaeological vehicle, full of the remnants of dead and living pasts, lost and buried civilizations and technologies. The language we speak us a whole palimpsest of human effort and history.” — Russell Hoban in Novelists in Interview … Continue reading

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Myth Germania

There is an exhibit in Berlin this year about Albert Speer’s (/Hitler’s) architectural plans for Berlin in the mid-20th century. The exhibition shows the pictures, plans and architectural models for the city. From the Time article: “In close collaboration with … Continue reading

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architecture, writing and music as palimpsests

Building, Destroying or Ignoring: Examining Creative Relationships to a Past—Palimpsest as Metaphor Introduction: Young Riddle (director of the Nimbus Institute, created to investigate the deeper aspects of music performed by the Nimbus Ensemble) picture of palimpsest—first erased, but traces remain, … Continue reading

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Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory

by Andreas Huyssen, essays written 1996-2002 “Architecture has always been deeply invested in the shaping of political and national identities…” p. 49 I like the idea of palimpsests (and city as palimpsest), and I love studies of memory. The book … Continue reading

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