The rationale behind the choice of this topic stems from an interest in the way Moroccan women and architecture are depicted in Edith Wharton’s In Morocco (1917). Given the fame Wharton seems to have acquired, she is considered as a highly reliable source of information. Hence, analyzing the extent of subjectivity in her description of Moroccan women and architecture reveals some of the reasons behind the growing desire of westerners to visit Morocco, the stereotypes the west had about Morocco, and above all, the extent to which her description of women and architecture has contributed to the rise of European and American interest in the country as well as to the confirmation of these stereotypes. The Moroccan architecture is one of the markers of difference and otherness for the western visitors. No matter how objective the western writer tries to be in describing the Moroccan architecture, his /her feelings of amazement are expressed implicitly through language. As case in point, one can feel that the representation of the Moroccan architecture in Edith Wharton’s In Morocco is not merely a matter of describing a setting. Rather, it seems like an invitation for other westerners to experience the different ‘exotic’ …show more content…
Edith Wharton considers it to be the first guide book to Morocco. Basically, In Morocco depicts Morocco’s major cities such as Rabat, Sale, Fez, Meknez, and Marrakesh. It describes its people, architecture, customs and history of the regions .It vividly describes the progress the French colonialism made in Morocco. Subsequently, In Morocco describes one of the rarest experiences travel writers could ever live which is the author’s entrance to the inner circle of the harems .In fine, an exotic location, a well-known author, and social and financial backing are all contributing factors to the position of In Morocco as being one of the worldwide best-selling travel narratives
Jean Zimmerman wrote The Women of the House: How A Colonial She-Merchant Built A Mansion, A Fortune, And A Dynasty and Harcourt, Inc. published the book in 2006. The anthology has 338 pages of the actual book and 402 including the prologue, afterword, notes, sources, and index. This nonfiction, hard-back paper book portrayed women’s roles both within and outside of the home starting in the late seventeenth century and ending in the early nineteenth century. The analysis begins with the lives of Margaret and her descendants’, followed by the influence businesswomen and their contributions had on the city of New Amsterdam, as well as the American Revolution in later years.
A signare, as introduced in the painting at the beginning of the book, is “an elite woman of African descent from the region of Senegal and neighboring coastal regions” (Semley, 3). Semley uses the Rossignol family as a case study for what the life of signare looked like. Anne Rossignol, a woman of color from Senegal, moved to Le Cap, Saint-Domingue with her children in 1775, prior to the Haitian Revolution. There, Anne Rossignol and her daughter Marie Adélaïde Rossignol Dumont thrived as elite, propertied women of color. “The presence of someone like Rossignol in the historical record…demonstrates how race, color, status, and gender animated daily life and high politics during the eighteenth-century revolutions” (Semley, 24).
The Architectural Fantasy by Hubert Robert is an oil painting created in 1802. For an architectural painting, is displays much emotion through the use of color, line, and light. The painting does not utilize a multitude of colors but still is able to provide an exciting scene. Although it does not appear to be that large in the gallery, the work would actually be prominent if it were a standalone piece. The artist’s use of perspective, light, and color give the overall composition a balanced look.
In the novel “The Ladies’ Paradise,” Emile Zola focuses on this rising capitalistic culture, specifically in the form of department stores. Like many features of Paris, the way the cities
Paul Rabinow is Professor of anthropology at the University of California, he is born June 21, 1944. Rabinow is a Director of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory (ARC), and former Director of Human Practices for the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC). He is perhaps most famous for his widely influential commentary and expertise on the French philosopher Michel Foucault. (Wiki) Paul Rabinow decides to sell everything and move to Morocco to become an anthropologist, two days after the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
The Importance of Setting in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome In her novel Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses a country setting to establish the values of morality and duty against the lonely and isolated backdrop of the “mute melancholy landscape” of 1881 Starkfield, Massachusetts (Wharton 13). In a snow-covered New England village, protagonist Ethan Frome, with his wife Zenobia and his love Mattie Silver, searches for a life of fulfillment. The reader senses Ethan’s struggles by observing the harsh winters in Starkfield, the bleak state of Ethan’s farm, and the poor conditions of his home.
In a time where social strictures denied most women a future in the field of visual arts, Harriet Hosmer defied all social convention with her large scale success in neoclassical sculpting. At a young age, Hosmer had already developed a striking reputation, one that qualified her to study abroad in Rome under the tutelage of renowned sculptor John Gibson. As if this opportunity wasn’t rare enough for women artists in her day, Hosmer’s outstanding potential earned her the luxury of studying from live models.6 The respect she gained from taking this unconventional route to her success is one that entirely transformed society’s perception of women. Not only did her unique story serve as a catalyst in the progression of gender equality, but she also hid symbolic messages within each of her sculptures to find a way to penetrate her beliefs of equality through to any soul.3 As the National Museum of Women in the Arts perfectly captures, “[s]he preferred Neoclassical idealism to more naturalistic trends and rendered mythological and historical figures, such as Oenone, Beatrice Cenci, and Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, with nobility and grandeur.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir that reveals the life of a woman growing up in pre-revolution and post-revolution Iran, as well as her experiences in Western countries. In this book, Marjane recalls and highlights historical events that affect her life during her upbringing in Iran. These include the oppression of the Shah, along with the rise and effects of the regime. These events are integrated into Persepolis in order to showcase their effects on Marjane and the other citizens of her country. These events’ inclusion are important due to the context and understanding that they grant readers unfamiliar with the text.
He encourages the reader to free oneself from official or commercial architecture which are influenced by the prejudice towards the late phases in architecture which are only concerned with a few selected cultures and turn a blind eye to underdeveloped countries and their alien architecture. He praises primitive architecture for its timelessness and its ability to serve its purpose to perfection with no room for improvement and regrets that the origin of these indigenous building forms and construction methods is lost in the past. Rudofsky then introduces Communal Architecture, ‘ art not produced by a few intellectuals or specialists but by the spontaneous and continuing activity of a whole people with a common heritage, acting under a community experience.’ The beauty of primitive architecture is often dismissed as accidental, but today we should recognize it as an art that developed from human intellect that was applied to handling practical issues and our problems are rooted in our tendency to accredit specialists who may have exceptional insight but are largely concerned with business and prestige. He challenges his readers on a fundamental level and exposes alternate and endangered forms of urban development, lifestyle, social spaces and practicality which we have not learnt from.
Mahfouz, as well as Said, shared a direct contact with the Arabian lifestyle because they grow up in that society. Mahfouz’s novel depicts the real world with the touches of the supernatural and mystic, but as a form of evil in the world not as exotic and uncivilized as the Europeans did. Mahfouz’s Arabian Nights and Days “takes new depths and insights as it picks up from where the ancient story ends” (Fayez 229). Mahfouz uses the Arabian Nights tales and Shahryar’s and Scheherazade’s society to portray the contemporary social and political issues of his people. Mahfouz aims to show various thematic concerns of the people of the East than the early versions left out.
Author Rasmussen’s book Experiencing Architecture further elaborates on this architectural experience by emphasizing “You must observe how it was designed for a special
A significant theme that Lynn Hunt explores is representational culture. Specifically, how the family and individual members of the family are depicted through the arts and literature in the advent of the printing revolution. This is a broader theme explored throughout the monograph. Representations of the fallen King, the Band of Brothers, and the Bad Mother through the despised Marie Antoinette. While this is not the main theme of the book, it gives the reader a good idea about the pervading political climate of 18th century France.
Fatima Mernissi was born into Middle- Class family is Fes, Morocco of 1940. She earned her doctorate in 1957 studying political science at Sorbonne and at Brandeis University. Afterwards she returned to work at the Mohammed V University where she then had taught at the Faculte’ des letteres between the years 1974 and 1981 mainly on subjects such as methodology, family sociology as well as psych sociology. She earned her title as a well-known Islamic feminist that was greatly concerned with Islam and women’s role in it. Fatima Mernissi had conducted thorough investigation of the nature of the succession of Mohammed in order to verify what was written in the hadith.
Tectonics is defined as the science or art of construction, both in relation to use and artistic design. It refers not just to the activity of making the materially requisite construction that answers certain needs but rather to the activity that raises this construction as an art form. It is concerned with the modeling of material to bring the material into presence - from the physical into the meta-physical world (Maulden, 1986). Since tectonics is primarily concerned with the making of architecture in a modern world, its value is seen as being a partial strategy for an architecture rooted in time and place therefore beginning to bring poetry in construction. Tectonics, however, has the capacity to create depth-ness of context resulting in the implicit story being told by the tectonic expression.
She finds that women are currently writing nearly as many books as men, on all kinds of subjects, such as economics and philosophy, “which a generation ago no woman could have touched“. So, to explore current novels and to see what kind of changes occurred in