Stranded. The Beach as Ultimate Destination in Joseph Conrad’s Amy Foster and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice
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Virginia Richter
Abstract
Whereas the modern beach is predominantly conceived as a vacation site, and hence as a transitional space, this essay looks at the narrative construction of the beach as a place from which departure is not possible, be it for socioeconomic or psychological reasons. Comparing two very different modernist short stories that are set on a Northern, isolated coast and a Southern seaside resort respectively, this essay seeks to expand the understanding of the beach as a heterogeneous space, and advocates an intersectional, multisensorial and interdisciplinary approach to the literary study of the beach.
Abstract
Whereas the modern beach is predominantly conceived as a vacation site, and hence as a transitional space, this essay looks at the narrative construction of the beach as a place from which departure is not possible, be it for socioeconomic or psychological reasons. Comparing two very different modernist short stories that are set on a Northern, isolated coast and a Southern seaside resort respectively, this essay seeks to expand the understanding of the beach as a heterogeneous space, and advocates an intersectional, multisensorial and interdisciplinary approach to the literary study of the beach.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- Acknowledgements IX
- Measuring the Beach: Processes, Practices and Discourses 1
- Gedanken über unsichtbare Inselgruppen 53
-
(Precluded) Arrivals/Departures
- Stranded. The Beach as Ultimate Destination in Joseph Conrad’s Amy Foster and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice 57
- Dystopie, Utopie, Heterotopie: Die Imagination des Strands in der Literatur von Afropäerinnen 82
- Figuring Senegalese Beaches in Moussa Sène Absa’s Films 100
-
Drawing and Crossing Lines
- Strandbekanntschaften in Georg Forsters Reise um die Welt und das europäische Projekt ‚Zivilisation‘ 123
- Wechselnde Gezeiten: Der Strand als Schauplatz für Wendepunkte in Heldendichtung und höfischer Literatur des Mittelalters 146
- ‘There’s Law on the Beach!’: Law and Order on Los Angeles’s Beaches 1910s–1970s 171
- Always on Duty: Galveston’s African American Beaches and Lifeguards 194
-
Building Structures & Assembling Elements
- Sand, Spuren, Architektur – Zur gebauten Ökologie des Strandes 213
- Strandburgen: Eine deutsche Lust? Zum Strandurlaub seit dem späten neunzehnten Jahrhundert 236
- Der Strand als Schauplatz weltweiter Fauna. Exotische naturalia auf Stranddarstellungen Jan van Kessels d.Ä. 255
- SHORELINES & SPACES 276
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Bodies in Time: Littoral Rhythms of Death and Desire
- Time and Tide Again. Traces, Permeable Spaces and Sensory Perceptions of the Beach in Theodor Storm’s Aquis submersus and HBO’s Big Little Lies 285
- “Stile balneare.” Singing the Italian Summer by the Seaside (1960s–1980s) 311
- The Boys on the Beach: Andrew Holleran’s Fire Island 337
- Stimmen über der Tiefe, gärender Schlamm, Wasserleichen – Theodor Storms Strände 354
-
Social and Material Transformations
- Sisyphos am Strand: Beachcleaning und die litoralen Figurationen fossiler Energiekultur in der zeitgenössischen Umweltfotografie 387
- The Ephemeral Beachscape: Skateboarding and the Appropriation of Suburban Concrete 414
- Beached. The Awkward Beginnings of Weimar Democracy 427
- Der Strand: What to wear on the beach / Was am Strand anziehen? 448
- Revisited 463
- Notes on Contributors 464
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- Acknowledgements IX
- Measuring the Beach: Processes, Practices and Discourses 1
- Gedanken über unsichtbare Inselgruppen 53
-
(Precluded) Arrivals/Departures
- Stranded. The Beach as Ultimate Destination in Joseph Conrad’s Amy Foster and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice 57
- Dystopie, Utopie, Heterotopie: Die Imagination des Strands in der Literatur von Afropäerinnen 82
- Figuring Senegalese Beaches in Moussa Sène Absa’s Films 100
-
Drawing and Crossing Lines
- Strandbekanntschaften in Georg Forsters Reise um die Welt und das europäische Projekt ‚Zivilisation‘ 123
- Wechselnde Gezeiten: Der Strand als Schauplatz für Wendepunkte in Heldendichtung und höfischer Literatur des Mittelalters 146
- ‘There’s Law on the Beach!’: Law and Order on Los Angeles’s Beaches 1910s–1970s 171
- Always on Duty: Galveston’s African American Beaches and Lifeguards 194
-
Building Structures & Assembling Elements
- Sand, Spuren, Architektur – Zur gebauten Ökologie des Strandes 213
- Strandburgen: Eine deutsche Lust? Zum Strandurlaub seit dem späten neunzehnten Jahrhundert 236
- Der Strand als Schauplatz weltweiter Fauna. Exotische naturalia auf Stranddarstellungen Jan van Kessels d.Ä. 255
- SHORELINES & SPACES 276
-
Bodies in Time: Littoral Rhythms of Death and Desire
- Time and Tide Again. Traces, Permeable Spaces and Sensory Perceptions of the Beach in Theodor Storm’s Aquis submersus and HBO’s Big Little Lies 285
- “Stile balneare.” Singing the Italian Summer by the Seaside (1960s–1980s) 311
- The Boys on the Beach: Andrew Holleran’s Fire Island 337
- Stimmen über der Tiefe, gärender Schlamm, Wasserleichen – Theodor Storms Strände 354
-
Social and Material Transformations
- Sisyphos am Strand: Beachcleaning und die litoralen Figurationen fossiler Energiekultur in der zeitgenössischen Umweltfotografie 387
- The Ephemeral Beachscape: Skateboarding and the Appropriation of Suburban Concrete 414
- Beached. The Awkward Beginnings of Weimar Democracy 427
- Der Strand: What to wear on the beach / Was am Strand anziehen? 448
- Revisited 463
- Notes on Contributors 464
