Description
Book Synopsis"What cultural product,Tuan asks, "is not escape?In his new book, the capstone of a celebrated career, Tuan shows that escapism is an inescapable component of human thought and culture.
Trade ReviewEscapism... is not so much an argument as a tour-sometimes a tour de force-of cultural escapes with exotic stops and unexpected twists and turns. And such a convivial tour guide! Tuan is chatty, engaging, unpretentious and charming. -- Francis I. Kane New York Times Book Review A reader could hardly ask for a more congenial guide, as Tuan's discussion ranges from Christ's last supper to chimpanzees copulating, from African bushmen barbecuing a turtle to diplomat-author Harold Nicolson bathing in a lake... Through this unusual perspective, Tuan is able to realign things usually considered opposites-'fantasy' and 'reality,' 'travel' and 'home,' 'work' and 'private life'-until they converge in fruitful new combinations... His playful treatment of life's glum realities feels at times as tonic as a leisurely Sunday morning... An original work to be read for both intellectual profit and pleasure. -- Jeffery Paine Washington Post Book World Writing in a deeply thoughtful style, Tuan, a leading cultural geographer, examines the wonders and atrocities that stem from the human impulse to deny the brutal realities of earthly existence. Utne Reader
Table of ContentsPreface
Chapter 1. Part / Nature and Culture
Chapter 2. Animality / Its Covers and Transcendence
Chapter 3. People / Disconnectedness and Indifference
Chapter 4. Hell / Imagination's Distortions and Limitations
Chapter 5. Heaven / The Real and the Good
Notes
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Index
