| Egotopia: Narcissism and the New American Landscape First Edition, Edition Contributor(s): Miller, John (Author) |
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ISBN: 0817309934 ISBN-13: 9780817309930 Publisher: University Alabama Press OUR PRICE: $23.70 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 1999 Annotation: Egotopia begins where other critiques of the American landscape end: identifying the physical ugliness that defines and homogenizes America's cities, suburbs, and countryside. Believing that prevailing assessments of the American landscape are inadequate and injudicious, John Miller calls into question the conventional wisdom of environmentalists, urban planners, and architects alike. In this precedent-shattering examination of what he sees as the ugliness that is the American consumer society, Miller contends that our aesthetic condition can be fully understood only by explorers of the metaphoric environment. Metaphorically, the ugliness of America's great suburban sprawl is the physical manifestation of our increasing narcissism -- our egotopia. The ubiquity of psychotherapy as a medium promoting self-indulgence has deified private man as it has demonized public man. The New American Landscape, Miller argues, is no longer the physical manifestation of public and communal values. Instead, its commercialism is a projection of private fantasies and narcissistic self-indulgence. Individual interests and private passions can no longer tolerate, nor even recognize, aesthetic concerns in such a landscape dedicated to uncompromising notions of utility. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Sociology - General - History | United States - General - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
| Dewey: 304 |
| LCCN: 97010770 |
| Lexile Measure: 1340 |
| Physical Information: 0.59" H x 5.18" W x 8.13" (0.55 lbs) 188 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This work aims to identify the physical ugliness that defines and homogenizes America's cities, suburbs and countryside. Believing that prevailing assessments of the American landscape are inadequate and injudicious, the author calls into question the conventional wisdom of environmentalists, urban planners, and architects alike. In this examination of what he sees as the ugliness that is the American consumer society, he argues that our aesthetic condition can be fully understood only by explorers of the metaphoric environment. |
Contributor Bio(s): Miller, John: - John Miller is senior lecturer in nineteenth-century literature at the University of Sheffield. |