Walls and Cultural Spaces : An Exploration of Historical, Literary and Conceptual Barriers / edited by James Canno, Luigi Gussago.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Canno, James, editor.

Gussago, Luigi, editor.

Series:

Literature and Cultural Studies E-Books Online, Collection 2026.

Spatial Practices ; 41.

Literature and Cultural Studies E-Books Online, Collection 2026

Spatial Practices ; 41

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature and Cultural Studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (286 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

An Exploration of Historical, Literary and Conceptual Barriers

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2025.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume focuses on “walls” in cultural as much as material terms. It uncovers far-reaching notions of wall and border as landmarks of civilisation, but also as (necessary) boundaries for creativity. Barriers can separate human and non-human identities, but they can also segregate the “rejects” of society. The essays explore the ethical implications of walls in a range of historical periods and locations. The topics include British and American culture, classical music in Canada, fascist Italy, interwar France, German military history of World War II, and colonial North America in the seventeenth century. With contributons by Pina Palma, Iman Nick, David Fontanals, Christian Moretti, Jafar Baba, Vincenzo Lisciani Petrini and Trang Dang.

Contents:

Intro

Half Title Page

Series Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication page

Contents

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

Editors

Other Contributors

Introduction: Walls Without, Walls Within

Works Cited

Chapter 1 Of Chained Walls and Unrestrained Desires: Pontano's Charon

Chapter 2 Of Shackles and Liberties: The Colonial History and Painful Legacy of Wall Street

Chapter 3 Domestic Walls and Ruinous Regimes of Conditional Hospitality in Henry James's The American

1

2

3

4

5

Chapter 4 "Adieu, fortifs!" Farewelling the Last Fortified Wall of Paris, 1919-1937

1 Introduction

2 A Short History of the Fortifications

3 Documenting the Fortifications

4 Missing the Fortifications

5 Conclusion

Chapter 5 Metal Bars and Plexiglass Walls: Zoo Literature from Spectacle to Mirror

Conclusion

Chapter 6 Remembering Hitler's Friesenwall: From Division and Death to Reconciliation and Peace

2 The Historical Events Preceding Hitler's Orders to Build the Wall

3 The Structural Design of the Wall

4 The Enslaved Workforce for the Wall

4.1 The Primary Source of the Enslaved Labourers

4.2 A Special Penal Contingent of Enslaved Labourers

5 Constructing the Wall: The Work and Torture Begin

6 Two Sides of the Same Wall

6.1 Side One: Lies, Betrayal, Distortion, and Denial of the Past

6.2 Side Two: Admission, Contrition, Fact-Finding, and Community-Building for the Future

7 Conclusion: Bridging the Walls That Hate Built

Chapter 7 Echoes from Behind the Walls: Fragments of Literary Representations of the "New Man's" Enemy in Fascist Italy

1 The Fascist Myth of Masculinity and Its Walls

2 Separating Walls.

3 Oppressive Walls, Liberating Walls

4 Conclusion

Chapter 8 Breaking the Walls of Representation: Silence and the Inversion of Binaries in J. M. Coetzee's Foe and Life and Times of Michael K

2 Colonial Literature and the Production of the "Other"

3 The Embodiment of Walls: Apartheid in South Africa

4 Locating Identities: J. M. Coetzee and Apartheid

5 Voicing the Other and Breaking the Walls of Authority in Life and Times of Michael K

6 Echoes of Silence: The Character of Friday in Foe

7 Conclusion

Chapter 9 Here and There from the Wall: The Portrait of the Artist according to Glenn Gould

1 A Sort of Introduction

2 Far from the Madding Crowd

3 The Romantic Overreacher (1): A New Interpretative Ideal and Breaking Down the World of the Public Concert

4 The Romantic Overreacher (2): Abandoning Concerts for the Recording Studio

5 The Concept of Artistic Anonymity and the Prospects of Recording

6 The inheritance: Imagination at Work

7 Gould Is Listening Behind the Walls of Space and Time (and Death)?

Documentaries

Chapter 10 Queer Entanglements and Necessary Boundaries: The New Weird Narratives of Kathe Koja and Jeff VanderMeer

2 A Three-Fold Reading

3 Storied Matters

4 Storied Bodies

5 Necessary Boundaries

6 Conclusion

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-74181-X

OCLC:

1564840172

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004741812 DOI