Sayer, Derek (2013) Pod Stalinem:field notes from another modernity. Journal of Classical Sociology, 13 (1). pp. 87-103. ISSN 1468-795X
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
David Frisby’s work was a career-long engagement with modernity, informed by a tradition of classical social theory whose neglect in Anglo-American sociology David did much to remedy through his translations as well as his writings: the ‘sociological impressionism’ that seeks to grasp totalities through ‘snapshots’ and ‘fragments’ whose representatives included Georg Simmel, Siegfried Kracauer, and Walter Benjamin. Conceived as a homage to David’s legacy (and his personal influence on my own intellectual development) rather than a commentary on his work, this essay is a Benjaminian dérive through twentieth-century Prague, which complements and counterpoints David’s beloved Vienna and Berlin. Prague’s modern history, I argue, gives Baudelaire’s celebrated definition of modernity as ‘le transitoire, le fugitif, le contingent’ surreally new dimensions. Indeed, the city might well be regarded as a ‘capital of the twentieth century’ in whose ‘ruins’ we can begin to excavate the ‘prehistory of postmodernity.’
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Classical Sociology |
| Additional Information: | Written for a special issue in memory of the late David P. Frisby, Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Baudelaire ; Benjamin ; memory ; reality ; Prague ; surrealism |
| Subjects: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Departments: | Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences > History |
| ID Code: | 59030 |
| Deposited By: | ep_importer_pure |
| Deposited On: | 09 Oct 2012 13:41 |
| Refereed?: | Yes |
| Published?: | Published |
| Last Modified: | 20 Mar 2013 16:32 |
| Identification Number: | |
| URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/59030 |
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