The lure of the sea the discovery of the seaside 1750-1840
This is an account of how the pleasures of the seaside were discovered in the Western World. This book argues that with few exceptions, people living before the 18th century knew nothing of the attractions of the coast. The sea was perceived as sinister and unchanging.
ix, 380 p.
9780140247992, 0140247998
991670535
PART I UNCONSCIOUSNESS AND THE FIRST PREMISES OF DESIRE: The Roots of Fear and Repulsion - The abyss containing the debris from the Great Flood, Antiquity's codification of the sea's anger; The First Steps towards Admiration - The enchantment of the watery mirror and the source of profound certainty, A receptacle for divine wonders, The admirable road to Scheveningen, The pleasure of interpretation: the pilgrimage to the shores of Campania. PART II THE PATTERN OF A NEW PLEASURE: A New Harmony between the Body and the Sea - The shift of anxieties and desires, Bathing, the beach, and self-experience, or the ambivalent pleasure of suffocation, Caring for oneself and seaside holiday-making, or a life-style rich in obscure joys; Penetrating the World's Enigmas - The archives of the earth, Where the world becomes dry, The scholar's feats of valour; The Freshness of Wonder - The sublime cliffs of the sea's Gothic blackness, A belated awareness of marine picturesqueness, The repulsiveness of hot sand and new feelings of clarity; The Ephemeral Journey - The new wealth of emotions, The sensual experience of the beach, The private paradises of the sea-shore. PART III THE GROWING COMPLEXITY OF THE SOCIAL SPECTACLE: The Visit to the Harbour - Numerous ways of seeing, The paths of delight; The Encyclopaedia of the Strands - The composition of the picture, Expanding the anthropological plan; A World of Transparent Characters - Ways of looking for meaning, The adventures of the anthropoid, The golden age of the shores; The Pathos of the Shores and their Metamorphoses - The dramaturgy of feelings, The blood of the sea, Shipwrecks on the sand; Inventing the Beach - The genealogy of practices, Attuning space with desire, The initial primacy of the aristocracy.