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Roma, Firenze, Venezia
Venice possesses the ambiguous beauty of adventure, floating rootlessly through life, like a torn flower borne on the sea.
Georg Simmel was a brilliant, groundbreaking thinker, whose wide-ranging lectures held audiences spellbound in turn-of-the-century Berlin and throughout Europe. The theories of this maverick 'wandering-priest' left their mark on a whole generation of philosophers, poets and sociologists, including Benjamin, Heidegger and Rilke.
The quartet of essays contained in this book includes dazzling portraits of Italy's iconic cities of art and history, as well as Simmel's hugely influential 'The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit', one of the most important analyses of urban life and the alienation of the individual ever written.
Georg Simmel was a brilliant, groundbreaking thinker, whose wide-ranging lectures held audiences spellbound in turn-of-the-century Berlin and throughout Europe. The theories of this maverick 'wandering-priest' left their mark on a whole generation of philosophers, poets and sociologists, including Benjamin, Heidegger and Rilke.
The quartet of essays contained in this book includes dazzling portraits of Italy's iconic cities of art and history, as well as Simmel's hugely influential 'The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit', one of the most important analyses of urban life and the alienation of the individual ever written.
69 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 1998
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About the author
Georg Simmel
441 books222 followersGeorg Simmel was a major German sociologist, philosopher, and critic.
Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?', presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation. For Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Simmel discussed social and cultural phenomena in terms of "forms" and "contents" with a transient relationship; form becoming content, and vice versa, dependent on the context. In this sense he was a forerunner to structuralist styles of reasoning in the social sciences. With his work on the metropolis, Simmel was a precursor of urban sociology, symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. An acquaintance of Max Weber, Simmel wrote on the topic of personal character in a manner reminiscent of the sociological 'ideal type'. He broadly rejected academic standards, however, philosophically covering topics such as emotion and romantic love. Both Simmel and Weber's nonpositivist theory would inform the eclectic critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
Simmel's most famous works today are The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), The Philosophy of Money (1907), The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), Soziologie (1908, inc. The Stranger, The Social Boundary, The Sociology of the Senses, The Sociology of Space, and On The Spatial Projections of Social Forms), and Fundamental Questions of Sociology (1917). He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well on art, most notably his book Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (1916).
Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?', presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation. For Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Simmel discussed social and cultural phenomena in terms of "forms" and "contents" with a transient relationship; form becoming content, and vice versa, dependent on the context. In this sense he was a forerunner to structuralist styles of reasoning in the social sciences. With his work on the metropolis, Simmel was a precursor of urban sociology, symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. An acquaintance of Max Weber, Simmel wrote on the topic of personal character in a manner reminiscent of the sociological 'ideal type'. He broadly rejected academic standards, however, philosophically covering topics such as emotion and romantic love. Both Simmel and Weber's nonpositivist theory would inform the eclectic critical theory of the Frankfurt School.
Simmel's most famous works today are The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), The Philosophy of Money (1907), The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), Soziologie (1908, inc. The Stranger, The Social Boundary, The Sociology of the Senses, The Sociology of Space, and On The Spatial Projections of Social Forms), and Fundamental Questions of Sociology (1917). He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well on art, most notably his book Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (1916).
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 22, 2018
The four short essays contained here are not so much 'travel writing' as fitting into the category of what today we would call psychogeography. Given that Simmel is writing at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries (1898/1906/1907) his terms of reference might not be our own: he is responding to authors like Goethe, especially Jakob Burckhardt, the man who invented the Renaissance for the C19th but whose conception of that period feels arrestingly alien to modern academics.
In that sense, these essays capture a time, pre-WW1, when issues surrounding the morality and moral values of aesthetics were much in evidence: Simmel uses terms like 'spirit' in a quite unselfconscious way, for example, as he probes 'modern' urbanity via an attention to Rome, Florence and Venice.
The writing is balanced and elegant, probing and intellectualised - the essays are short but dense and require some unpacking. Anyone working on psychogeography, receptions of the Renaissance (or of classical Rome), or C19th cultural thought will likely get more from these pieces than a casual reader.
Thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC via NetGalley
In that sense, these essays capture a time, pre-WW1, when issues surrounding the morality and moral values of aesthetics were much in evidence: Simmel uses terms like 'spirit' in a quite unselfconscious way, for example, as he probes 'modern' urbanity via an attention to Rome, Florence and Venice.
The writing is balanced and elegant, probing and intellectualised - the essays are short but dense and require some unpacking. Anyone working on psychogeography, receptions of the Renaissance (or of classical Rome), or C19th cultural thought will likely get more from these pieces than a casual reader.
Thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC via NetGalley
February 22, 2020
I wrote about these essays for Florence's English language newsaper Florence News. Here's what I had to say about it:
Florence and Rome in Georg Simmel’s Metropolitain Philosophy
Georg Simmel (1858-1918) was a late-nineteenth-century scholar without a university post, a German-Jewish patriot, and a follower of Nietzsche. His late-Romantic musings on sociological and philosophical topics left their mark on early twentieth-century thinking through the young men who heard him lecture and were inspired to make use of and expand upon his ideas: notably literary critic Walter Benjamin, philosopher Martin Heidegger, and poet Rainer Maria Rilke, among others, heard Simmel lecture and were influenced by his thought in their own work.
Pushkin Press’ lovely little volume The Art of the City: Rome, Florence, and Venice (Pushkin Press, 2018) collects four of Simmel’s essay/lectures dealing with his philosophy of “The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit,” as the keynote essay terms it. Also included are Simmel’s specific readings of Rome, Florence, and Venice as examples of how city and soul interact. Although the essays are lumped together by city and followed by the more abstract keynote essay, I preferred to read them chronologically—and one might also do well to read the last essay first and then to read the essays on the individual cities (The keynote actually comes in the middle chronologically as it was written after the “Rome” essay, but before those on “Florence” and “Venice.”)
In a nutshell, Simmel’s approach is Romantic, seeking to understand the effect of urbanity on the human soul through our experience of architecture, over-stimulation, and the closeness of others as opposed to rural life with its openness, proximity to nature, and solitude. On the one hand, the urban experience produces what the philosopher calls our blasé attitude (read: alienation), but, at the same time, the metropolis also gives us an “intensification of the emotional life,” a phrase italicized by the author for emphasis. I loved this reading as I’ve long felt, against the grain of cliché, that rural life is anything but contemplative. I, myself, have always felt my thoughts and emotions stimulated, my creative impulses quickened, by urban life and those same impulses totally lacking in a more natural environment. Far from reflective or inspiring, I find the natural world—both beach and mountain—enervating and anything but thought provoking or inspirational in the artistic sense. Nature just is: I don’t believe that it needs either philosophers or artists to reify it.
Similarly, Simmel’s essay on Rome’s aesthetic beauty seconds my own experience of that city, which is one of the themes of my recently published novel, Inbetween. (Florence Underground Press, 2019). Rome, according to Simmel, epitomizes the aesthetic value of desperate elements blending and melding in the historical layers of a city as old and multi-faceted as classical, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and modern Rome. Again, here I’m with him. The layering in Rome—most noticeable perhaps around Marcellus’s Theater (now an apartment building atop it’s Coliseum-like arches) and the Ghetto, peppered with marble columns bricked into medieval houses, and often plastered over in the modern style, is an alluring and lovely combination of disparate elements attesting, in my opinion, to human existence in time. I would go further even than Simmel and proclaim that such historical layering is something of a model for human existence, both our super-ephemeral lives as individuals, but also our species’ eternal resistance and ability to build, produce art, to write, and to leave something behind for the humans to come to enjoy—something hopefully beautiful and worth preserving.
The essay on Florence in this volume is also fascinating. Unlike Rome and its diverse beauty, Simmel sees Florence as the great reconciler. Gazing down from San Miniato, he says, “There arises a feeling, as if the contrast between nature and spirit were made void.” It seems as if Florence’s gentle medieval architecture (let’s face it, the true works of the Renaissance are limited to a couple of church facades and the Uffizzi) harmonizes so well with nature that here in Florence the urban and rustic somehow lay down their weapons and shake hands. It’s not a way I’d ever looked at Florence, I must say, but I’m prepared to give the interpretation a chance.
Florence and Rome in Georg Simmel’s Metropolitain Philosophy
Georg Simmel (1858-1918) was a late-nineteenth-century scholar without a university post, a German-Jewish patriot, and a follower of Nietzsche. His late-Romantic musings on sociological and philosophical topics left their mark on early twentieth-century thinking through the young men who heard him lecture and were inspired to make use of and expand upon his ideas: notably literary critic Walter Benjamin, philosopher Martin Heidegger, and poet Rainer Maria Rilke, among others, heard Simmel lecture and were influenced by his thought in their own work.
Pushkin Press’ lovely little volume The Art of the City: Rome, Florence, and Venice (Pushkin Press, 2018) collects four of Simmel’s essay/lectures dealing with his philosophy of “The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit,” as the keynote essay terms it. Also included are Simmel’s specific readings of Rome, Florence, and Venice as examples of how city and soul interact. Although the essays are lumped together by city and followed by the more abstract keynote essay, I preferred to read them chronologically—and one might also do well to read the last essay first and then to read the essays on the individual cities (The keynote actually comes in the middle chronologically as it was written after the “Rome” essay, but before those on “Florence” and “Venice.”)
In a nutshell, Simmel’s approach is Romantic, seeking to understand the effect of urbanity on the human soul through our experience of architecture, over-stimulation, and the closeness of others as opposed to rural life with its openness, proximity to nature, and solitude. On the one hand, the urban experience produces what the philosopher calls our blasé attitude (read: alienation), but, at the same time, the metropolis also gives us an “intensification of the emotional life,” a phrase italicized by the author for emphasis. I loved this reading as I’ve long felt, against the grain of cliché, that rural life is anything but contemplative. I, myself, have always felt my thoughts and emotions stimulated, my creative impulses quickened, by urban life and those same impulses totally lacking in a more natural environment. Far from reflective or inspiring, I find the natural world—both beach and mountain—enervating and anything but thought provoking or inspirational in the artistic sense. Nature just is: I don’t believe that it needs either philosophers or artists to reify it.
Similarly, Simmel’s essay on Rome’s aesthetic beauty seconds my own experience of that city, which is one of the themes of my recently published novel, Inbetween. (Florence Underground Press, 2019). Rome, according to Simmel, epitomizes the aesthetic value of desperate elements blending and melding in the historical layers of a city as old and multi-faceted as classical, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and modern Rome. Again, here I’m with him. The layering in Rome—most noticeable perhaps around Marcellus’s Theater (now an apartment building atop it’s Coliseum-like arches) and the Ghetto, peppered with marble columns bricked into medieval houses, and often plastered over in the modern style, is an alluring and lovely combination of disparate elements attesting, in my opinion, to human existence in time. I would go further even than Simmel and proclaim that such historical layering is something of a model for human existence, both our super-ephemeral lives as individuals, but also our species’ eternal resistance and ability to build, produce art, to write, and to leave something behind for the humans to come to enjoy—something hopefully beautiful and worth preserving.
The essay on Florence in this volume is also fascinating. Unlike Rome and its diverse beauty, Simmel sees Florence as the great reconciler. Gazing down from San Miniato, he says, “There arises a feeling, as if the contrast between nature and spirit were made void.” It seems as if Florence’s gentle medieval architecture (let’s face it, the true works of the Renaissance are limited to a couple of church facades and the Uffizzi) harmonizes so well with nature that here in Florence the urban and rustic somehow lay down their weapons and shake hands. It’s not a way I’d ever looked at Florence, I must say, but I’m prepared to give the interpretation a chance.
November 20, 2018
Thanks to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.
An interesting, if somewhat dated, collection of essays. I certainly wouldn’t regard it as a travel book, more a sociological and philosophical exploration of what makes (or rather, made) these cities tick. The book would be valuable for anyone studying facets of urban Sociology and indeed Simmel was one thinker I studied whilst undertaking my Sociology degree.
The introduction effectively sets the scene for what Georg Simmel sought to achieve with this collection of essays and many 19th century writers familiar to Sociologists are referenced throughout the collection. The three cities Simmel discusses are cities I am personally familiar with; Rome, Venice and Florence. Despite this, I wasn't able to mirror my own personal experiences with what is written in the book. I think this highlights the datedness of Simmel’s perspectives and way of thinking. With that in mind it is perhaps more useful to consider this collection as a snapshot of how people were thinking at the time as opposed to more contemporary perspectives.
The intellectual writing style is rather dense and perhaps not for the casual reader. There were times reading it that I thought “I am too thick for this” which is my issue and not a failing of the book itself. Overall, I didn’t particularly appreciate it personally, but I can see its merit as an academic source to anyone studying urban sociology or Simmel’s work.
An interesting, if somewhat dated, collection of essays. I certainly wouldn’t regard it as a travel book, more a sociological and philosophical exploration of what makes (or rather, made) these cities tick. The book would be valuable for anyone studying facets of urban Sociology and indeed Simmel was one thinker I studied whilst undertaking my Sociology degree.
The introduction effectively sets the scene for what Georg Simmel sought to achieve with this collection of essays and many 19th century writers familiar to Sociologists are referenced throughout the collection. The three cities Simmel discusses are cities I am personally familiar with; Rome, Venice and Florence. Despite this, I wasn't able to mirror my own personal experiences with what is written in the book. I think this highlights the datedness of Simmel’s perspectives and way of thinking. With that in mind it is perhaps more useful to consider this collection as a snapshot of how people were thinking at the time as opposed to more contemporary perspectives.
The intellectual writing style is rather dense and perhaps not for the casual reader. There were times reading it that I thought “I am too thick for this” which is my issue and not a failing of the book itself. Overall, I didn’t particularly appreciate it personally, but I can see its merit as an academic source to anyone studying urban sociology or Simmel’s work.
October 28, 2018
This book comprises of 4 essays by Simmel. 3 of which are on Italy's Rome, Florence and Venice. It talks about the architectural nature, landscape and the people of Rome, Florence and Venice as aesthetic creations. It is beautifully written and I loved the essay on Rome the most. I never thought to look at things the way Simmel did and it has brought a whole new perspective to the way I see things. I am going to make sure I read this again if i ever get to visit any of the beautiful cities mentioned in the book.
July 22, 2021
Interesting book consisting of essays by the famous sociologist about three Italian cities and how the architecture/built environment of cities influences the ethos of their inhabitants.
Here are the quotes:
From the translator´s Introduction, by Will Stone
¨The essays contained in this book reflect Simmel´s preoccupation with finding a refuge for the individual spirit in a time of massive cultural upheaval and social change.¨
¨Unlike Rome, which accepts all, Florence is selective, only taking what it needs to support its artistic identity, to underpin its earlier artistic miracle. Thus the human being properly equipped to understand the aesthetic depth of Florence is one who is especially cultivated and possesses a higher spiritual awareness. Simmel argues that it is to such enlightened persons, i.e. himself, that Florence communicates most lucidly."
¨...Simmel explains, the nerves are kept at such a high frequency by the multiple impressions they receive that they are eventually exhausted and unable to provide any response at all. Ultimately the urban dweller reacts to these relentless external forces with indifference rather than an emotional response. City-dwellers then assume a certain uniformity in their psychic reaction, or what Simmel suitably terms ¨the blase perspective.¨
From Simmel´s essay on Rome:
¨The form that Rome has managed to acquire derives its success from transforming the chances, contradictions and absence of principles in its architectural history into a powerful unity.¨
From Simmel´s essay on Venice:
¨Florence appears to us as a work of art because its character is rooted in a life that may have disappeared, historically speaking, but remains spiritually integrated with it. Venice, by contast is an artificial city.¨
¨...art can only fully complete itself and reach beyond artifice when it is more than art. This, then, is Florence, which grants the soul the wonderfully unequivocal security of a homeland. But Venice possesses the ambiguous beauty of adventure, floating rootlessly through life, like a torn flower borne on the sea; and the fact that it was and always will be the classic city of adventure is only the sensualization of the ultimate fate of its overarching perspective, not a homeland but merely an adventure for our soul.¨
From Simmel´s essay ¨The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit¨
¨Nietzsche may have seen clearly the indiviudal´s ruthless sturggle as the necessary testing ground for his inner fulfilment, while socialism came to the same conclusion through the notion of eradicating all competition; yet in each of these the same fundamental theme is at work: the resistance of the individual to being subsumed and reduced to a common level, becoming a mere cog in the social-technological mechanism.¨
¨...the technology of metropolitan life is inconceivable without all activities and interdependencies being most meticulously organized by means of a rigid, fixed framework of time which overrides the subjective. But here too there emerges what is ultimately the whole point of these considerations: that from every point on the surface of existence a plumb line descends into the depth of the soul, that the most banal externalities are ultimately bound by this directional thread to final decisions about the meaning and style of life. Punctuality, calculability, exactitude, imposed by the complications and extensiveness of metropolitan life, are not only profoundly linked to its financial and intellectual character, but must also color the content of life and exclude those irrational, instinctive, sovereign traits and impulses that seek to determine the form of life from within rather than absorb it from outside in a general, schematized way.¨
¨In this regard, the ancient polis seems to have possessed the character of the small town. The continual threat against its existence from enemies near and far caused that tight cohesion in political and military relationships, that supervision of one citizen by another and that jealousy felt by the whole regarding the individual, whose own life was repressed to such an extent that he could only make up for his impotence by being a despot in his own home. The tremendous agitation and excitement, the unique colorfulness of Athenian life may perhaps be explained by the fact that a people of incomparably individualized personalities were locked in perpetual struggle against the constant internal and external pressure of a de-individualizing small town.¨
¨...the small-town-dweller ... is constricted by the trivialities and petty prejudices common to that environment.¨
¨The bottom line is that in the life of the metropolis the struggle with nature for the necessary food of life has turned into a conflict between human beings, and the fiercely contested reward is here bestowed not by nature but by man.¨
¨The eighteenth century saw the individual in oppressive, meaningless bonds of a political, agrarian, authoritarian and religious nature -- restricitons that imposed on human beings simultaneously an unnatural human form and a prolonged, unjust inequality.¨
Here are the quotes:
From the translator´s Introduction, by Will Stone
¨The essays contained in this book reflect Simmel´s preoccupation with finding a refuge for the individual spirit in a time of massive cultural upheaval and social change.¨
¨Unlike Rome, which accepts all, Florence is selective, only taking what it needs to support its artistic identity, to underpin its earlier artistic miracle. Thus the human being properly equipped to understand the aesthetic depth of Florence is one who is especially cultivated and possesses a higher spiritual awareness. Simmel argues that it is to such enlightened persons, i.e. himself, that Florence communicates most lucidly."
¨...Simmel explains, the nerves are kept at such a high frequency by the multiple impressions they receive that they are eventually exhausted and unable to provide any response at all. Ultimately the urban dweller reacts to these relentless external forces with indifference rather than an emotional response. City-dwellers then assume a certain uniformity in their psychic reaction, or what Simmel suitably terms ¨the blase perspective.¨
From Simmel´s essay on Rome:
¨The form that Rome has managed to acquire derives its success from transforming the chances, contradictions and absence of principles in its architectural history into a powerful unity.¨
From Simmel´s essay on Venice:
¨Florence appears to us as a work of art because its character is rooted in a life that may have disappeared, historically speaking, but remains spiritually integrated with it. Venice, by contast is an artificial city.¨
¨...art can only fully complete itself and reach beyond artifice when it is more than art. This, then, is Florence, which grants the soul the wonderfully unequivocal security of a homeland. But Venice possesses the ambiguous beauty of adventure, floating rootlessly through life, like a torn flower borne on the sea; and the fact that it was and always will be the classic city of adventure is only the sensualization of the ultimate fate of its overarching perspective, not a homeland but merely an adventure for our soul.¨
From Simmel´s essay ¨The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit¨
¨Nietzsche may have seen clearly the indiviudal´s ruthless sturggle as the necessary testing ground for his inner fulfilment, while socialism came to the same conclusion through the notion of eradicating all competition; yet in each of these the same fundamental theme is at work: the resistance of the individual to being subsumed and reduced to a common level, becoming a mere cog in the social-technological mechanism.¨
¨...the technology of metropolitan life is inconceivable without all activities and interdependencies being most meticulously organized by means of a rigid, fixed framework of time which overrides the subjective. But here too there emerges what is ultimately the whole point of these considerations: that from every point on the surface of existence a plumb line descends into the depth of the soul, that the most banal externalities are ultimately bound by this directional thread to final decisions about the meaning and style of life. Punctuality, calculability, exactitude, imposed by the complications and extensiveness of metropolitan life, are not only profoundly linked to its financial and intellectual character, but must also color the content of life and exclude those irrational, instinctive, sovereign traits and impulses that seek to determine the form of life from within rather than absorb it from outside in a general, schematized way.¨
¨In this regard, the ancient polis seems to have possessed the character of the small town. The continual threat against its existence from enemies near and far caused that tight cohesion in political and military relationships, that supervision of one citizen by another and that jealousy felt by the whole regarding the individual, whose own life was repressed to such an extent that he could only make up for his impotence by being a despot in his own home. The tremendous agitation and excitement, the unique colorfulness of Athenian life may perhaps be explained by the fact that a people of incomparably individualized personalities were locked in perpetual struggle against the constant internal and external pressure of a de-individualizing small town.¨
¨...the small-town-dweller ... is constricted by the trivialities and petty prejudices common to that environment.¨
¨The bottom line is that in the life of the metropolis the struggle with nature for the necessary food of life has turned into a conflict between human beings, and the fiercely contested reward is here bestowed not by nature but by man.¨
¨The eighteenth century saw the individual in oppressive, meaningless bonds of a political, agrarian, authoritarian and religious nature -- restricitons that imposed on human beings simultaneously an unnatural human form and a prolonged, unjust inequality.¨
November 9, 2018
I certainly wouldn't say this was a book for every man on the street, but it's OK in small doses. The first essay declares that Rome is an instance of chance, that it's built up a very Rome-ness and a beauty out of being unplanned, and from showing each and every timeline it's lived through to the visitor at one go, without apology or pretending the past and present are unconnected. So a lump of rubble will always remain a Roman Bath remain, and not suffer the ignominy of being an ugly ruin, so Roman is it. Florence, too, he deems a kind of pointillist painting, where each stipple is an element you can find anywhere else, but combines to make a beauty. He finds something of a much different sort in Venice, talking often of a "facade" – "the lying beauty of the mask". This, then, is nothing more than glamour. Of course, reviewing writing about architecture is like photographing a ballet about a painting, or something – only the second main essay is more philosophical socio-politics, than anything, and not strict architecture. Yes, it's entirely salient and pertinent, as the introductory summary proves, but like I say, not for everyone.
November 18, 2017
El mejor, en mi opinión, el texto sobre Roma. Muy interesantes también el de Florencia y el de Venecia; este último me ha parecido muy original por su planteamiento y por defender un punto de vista sobre la ciudad que se sale de lo trillado y del tópico más sobado.
Sin embargo, creo que el último texto, "Las grandes ciudades y la vida del espíritu", está metido con calzador por el editor para "completar" este brevísimo libro de alguna forma. No sigue el patrón establecido por los textos precedentes, en los que el elemento de unión era la idea de belleza, de armonía del todo que es una ciudad; aquí ese elemento está ausente. No carece de interés, pero trata de otras cuestiones que rompen el hilo que el lector estaba siguiendo. Al ser el último, además, hace que la impresión que deja la lectura del libro no sea la mejor de las posibles.
Sin embargo, creo que el último texto, "Las grandes ciudades y la vida del espíritu", está metido con calzador por el editor para "completar" este brevísimo libro de alguna forma. No sigue el patrón establecido por los textos precedentes, en los que el elemento de unión era la idea de belleza, de armonía del todo que es una ciudad; aquí ese elemento está ausente. No carece de interés, pero trata de otras cuestiones que rompen el hilo que el lector estaba siguiendo. Al ser el último, además, hace que la impresión que deja la lectura del libro no sea la mejor de las posibles.
June 6, 2019
This is a collection of Georg Simmel's essays on Rome, Florence, and Venice plus his essay on "The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit." Simmel has had a great influence on many thinkers of the 20th century and particularly in the area of urban studies and psycho-geography.
The essays on the cities are interesting in how he takes similar features of each and comes to different conclusions about what each city is or represents based on how these similar features are juxtaposed or used. I think the discussions, while interesting, might be somewhat time specific (these are from the turn of the last century) as far as whether he might come to the same conclusions in the current cities. That said, the thought processes are both worth reading and worth adding to our own arsenal of ways to think about location.
The extra essay is remarkably still applicable to the contemporary city. I don't agree with some of his subjective judgements about what things mean but the hows and whys seem to still hold a lot of water. In other words the methodology still holds a lot of value though the assumptions might be different now than then.
A short and interesting read if you're interested in urban areas, psycho-geography, sociology, and/or philosophy. If you're familiar with Simmel this is a handy collection, first time collected together in English. If you aren't familiar with him this is a very accessible introduction to how he thinks as well as an area in which he has probably had the most prolonged influence.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
The essays on the cities are interesting in how he takes similar features of each and comes to different conclusions about what each city is or represents based on how these similar features are juxtaposed or used. I think the discussions, while interesting, might be somewhat time specific (these are from the turn of the last century) as far as whether he might come to the same conclusions in the current cities. That said, the thought processes are both worth reading and worth adding to our own arsenal of ways to think about location.
The extra essay is remarkably still applicable to the contemporary city. I don't agree with some of his subjective judgements about what things mean but the hows and whys seem to still hold a lot of water. In other words the methodology still holds a lot of value though the assumptions might be different now than then.
A short and interesting read if you're interested in urban areas, psycho-geography, sociology, and/or philosophy. If you're familiar with Simmel this is a handy collection, first time collected together in English. If you aren't familiar with him this is a very accessible introduction to how he thinks as well as an area in which he has probably had the most prolonged influence.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
November 25, 2018
Review originally posted on The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange :)
I received this copy from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Let's go :D
Rating: 3 stars
Reading period: Nov. 22th – 24th, 2018
Format: ebook
Source: Edelweiss – I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Release date: Sept. 27th, 2018
*~.Book Analysis.~*
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader :)
PROS
The essays from George Simmel have a refreshing perspective on the philosophical purposes of public buildings and general classic architecture of Rome, Florence and Venice. Our fellow author gives us his own mind about a lot of sociological questions raised by famous thinkers within these three cities, making it the perfect read for a rainy day.
CONS
This is so not a travel guide… Why would the publisher describe it as so is a mystery to me. Also, George can be quite wordy to express certain ideas.
COVER ANALYSIS
Despite its simplicity, this cover is quite charming and calming, thanks to its great use of blue. I loved the illustration and the clean feeling of this design. <3
RECOMMENDED FOR
Lovers of philosophy, sociology and historical architecture.
I received this copy from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Let's go :D
Rating: 3 stars
Reading period: Nov. 22th – 24th, 2018
Format: ebook
Source: Edelweiss – I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Release date: Sept. 27th, 2018
*~.Book Analysis.~*
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader :)
PROS
The essays from George Simmel have a refreshing perspective on the philosophical purposes of public buildings and general classic architecture of Rome, Florence and Venice. Our fellow author gives us his own mind about a lot of sociological questions raised by famous thinkers within these three cities, making it the perfect read for a rainy day.
CONS
This is so not a travel guide… Why would the publisher describe it as so is a mystery to me. Also, George can be quite wordy to express certain ideas.
COVER ANALYSIS
Despite its simplicity, this cover is quite charming and calming, thanks to its great use of blue. I loved the illustration and the clean feeling of this design. <3
RECOMMENDED FOR
Lovers of philosophy, sociology and historical architecture.
May 11, 2025
For today's readers, this book is opaque. We've lost the ideas of cities having souls, of expecting the built environment to resonate with deeper truths. We've also become homogenized enough across Europe that cities aren't as unique, their histories submerged into rampant development. Visitors and residents alike can be distracted by the neon-bright surfaces of commercialization.
I'd like to say that Georg Simmel's essays peel all that away, that his voice from the past reveals deep truths. Nah, not really. They're mostly interesting as historical curiosities, and are often impenetrable to the general reader. But it's a tiny little book, and is worth dipping a toe into.
I'd like to say that Georg Simmel's essays peel all that away, that his voice from the past reveals deep truths. Nah, not really. They're mostly interesting as historical curiosities, and are often impenetrable to the general reader. But it's a tiny little book, and is worth dipping a toe into.
November 15, 2021
A cute but slight volume of Simmel as edited and translated for an audience expected not to like critical theory - preferred 'The Metropolis and the Life of the Spirit' when it was 'The Metropolis and Mental Life'
October 21, 2018
An engaging new translation of several brief and evocative essays reflecting on how nature and people shape cities and vice versa. Read in galley provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
December 3, 2018
Four essays, written back around 1900. Subjects covered are Rome, Florence, Venice, and one philosophical essay. Dated. Not really a travel book, per se. Just wasn't my cup of tea.
January 18, 2019
This book is fascinating and interesting, full of food for thought and reflections on this wonderful cities.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Pushkin Collection and Edelweiss for this ARC
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Pushkin Collection and Edelweiss for this ARC
January 21, 2019
*This book was sent to me by Edelweiss + for an honest review*
Unfortunately it wasn't my kind of a book.
It is well written & understandable despite being written so many years ago.
Unfortunately it wasn't my kind of a book.
It is well written & understandable despite being written so many years ago.
June 13, 2020
На такое время можно в принципе не терять. Самое интересное в книге биография самого автора.
October 8, 2020
красота и совершенство
January 31, 2022
Book is about the psychology ahd philosophy of Rome, Florence and Venice. No specific art in any of cities was discussed.
August 10, 2023
An essay on life in the metropolis - Simmel at his finest
November 30, 2018
Four short essays that I'd struggle to class as travel journals so much as philosophical journeys. While a little dated in some respects, Simmel is a very elegant writer and I found myself drawn by his words. Lovely snap shot of the early twentieth century.
This was an ARC in exchange for an honest review. With thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press.
This was an ARC in exchange for an honest review. With thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press.
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October 19, 2019Netgalley
pub date March 29, 2019
Pushkin Press
pub date March 29, 2019
Pushkin Press
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews