Escapism

by Yi-Fu Tuan

Overview

Acclaimed cultural geographer Yi-Fu Tuan considers humanity's enduring desire to escape reality— and embrace alternatives such as love, culture, and Disneyworld

In prehistoric times, our ancestors began building shelters and planting crops in order to escape from nature's harsh realities. Today, we flee urban dangers for the safer, reconfigured world of suburban lawns and parks. According to geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, people have always sought to escape in one way or another, sometimes foolishly, often creatively and ingeniously. Glass-tower cities, suburbs, shopping malls, Disneyland—all are among the most recent monuments in our efforts to escape the constraints and uncertainties of life—ultimately, those imposed by nature. "What cultural product," Tuan asks, "is not escape?" In his new book, the capstone of a celebrated career, Tuan shows that escapism is an inescapable component of human thought and culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421401805
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	10/31/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

From 1983 until retiring in 1998, Yi-Fu Tuan was the John K. Wright and Vilas Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. One of the most important and influential cultural geographers of our time, Tuan has been the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Cullum Medal of the American Geographical Society, and the Lauréat d'Honneur of the International Geographical Union. His previous books include Cosmos and Hearth: A Cosmopolite's Viewpoint; Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values; Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets; and Who Am I? An Autobiography of Emotion, Mind, and Spirit.

From 1983 until retiring in 1998, Yi-Fu Tuan was the John K. Wright and Vilas Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. One of the most important and influential cultural geographers of our time, Tuan has been the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Cullum Medal of the American Geographical Society, and the Lauréat d'Honneur of the International Geographical Union. His previous books include Cosmos and Hearth: A Cosmopolite's Viewpoint; Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values; Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets; and Who Am I? An Autobiography of Emotion, Mind, and Spirit.

Read an Excerpt

'I should like to add another definition of what it is to be human to the many that already exist: a human being is an animal who is congenitally indisposed to accept reality as it is.' -- From Escapism

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. Part / Nature and Culture
Chapter 2. Animality / Its Covers and Transcendence
Chapter 3. People / Disconnectedness and Indifference
Chapter 4. Hell / Imagination's Distortions and Limitations
Chapter 5. Heaven / The Real and the Good
Notes
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Index

What People are Saying About This

J. Nicholas Entrikin

Escapism is a delightful book that synthesizes the most important themes of one of geography's leading intellectual figures. In keeping with his broadly humanistic and intellectual spirit, he addresses fundamental questions that have occupied him throughout his career: What does it mean to be human? How have humans adapted to and transformed nature in making the Earth their home? What is the dynamic tension between nature and culture? With his answers, Tuan gives us a way of seeing the world that illuminates the relatedness of its parts -- and, in doing so, he makes geography absolutely essential. -- University of California, Los Angeles

Edmunds Bunske

Tuan's central theme is culture -- as escape from nature and from human nature. It is a work that is challenging in the most positive way, a book with many wonderful insights exprssed in a lucid, original language. -- University of Delaware

Editorial Reviews

Not so much an argument as a tour — sometimes a tour de force — of cultural escapes with exotic stops and unexpected twists and turns. And such a convivial tour guide!
— The New York Times Book Review

Francis I. Kane

Through this unusual perspective, Tuan is able to realign things usually considered opposites — 'fantasy' and 'reality,' 'travel' and 'home,' 'work' and 'private life' — until they converge in fruitful new combinations —Washington Post Book World

Jeffery Paine

Shows that escapism is an inescapable component of human thought and culture. Discusses the history of human efforts to transform nature, and finds escapism in a range of social mechanisms and cultural artifacts, from the built environment to notions of love and romantic passion. Looks at how escapist fantasy can create extremes of heaven and hell on Earth. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

Writing in a deeply thoughtful style, Tuan, a leading cultural geographer, examines the wonders and atrocities that stem from the human impulse to deny the brutal realities of earthly existence.
--Utne Reader

Escapism. . . is not so much an argument as a tour--sometimes a tour de force--of cultural escapes with exotic stops and unexpected twists and turns. And such a convivial tour guide! Tuan is chatty, engaging, unpretentious and charming.
--Francis I. Kane, New York Times Book Review

A reader could hardly ask for a more congenial guide, as Tuan's discussion ranges from Christ's last supper to chimpanzees copulating, from African bushmen barbecuing a turtle to diplomat-author Harold Nicolson bathing in a lake . . . Through this unusual perspective, Tuan is able to realign things usually considered opposites--'fantasy' and 'reality, ' 'travel' and 'home, ' 'work' and 'private life'--until they converge in fruitful new combinations . . . His playful treatment of life's glum realities feels at times as tonic as a leisurely Sunday morning . . . An original work to be read for both intellectual profit and pleasure.
--Jeffery Paine, Washington Post Book World

From the Publisher

Escapism. . . is not so much an argument as a tour—sometimes a tour de force—of cultural escapes with exotic stops and unexpected twists and turns. And such a convivial tour guide! Tuan is chatty, engaging, unpretentious and charming.

New York Times Book Review - Francis I. Kane

Writing in a deeply thoughtful style, Tuan, a leading cultural geographer, examines the wonders and atrocities that stem from the human impulse to deny the brutal realities of earthly existence.

Utne Reader

A reader could hardly ask for a more congenial guide, as Tuan's discussion ranges from Christ's last supper to chimpanzees copulating, from African bushmen barbecuing a turtle to diplomat-author Harold Nicolson bathing in a lake . . . Through this unusual perspective, Tuan is able to realign things usually considered opposites—'fantasy' and 'reality,' 'travel' and 'home,' 'work' and 'private life'—until they converge in fruitful new combinations . . . His playful treatment of life's glum realities feels at times as tonic as a leisurely Sunday morning . . . An original work to be read for both intellectual profit and pleasure.

Washington Post Book World - Jeffery Paine

A reader could hardly ask for a more congenial guide, as Tuan's discussion ranges from Christ's last supper to chimpanzees copulating, from African bushmen barbecuing a turtle to diplomat-author Harold Nicolson bathing in a lake... Through this unusual perspective, Tuan is able to realign things usually considered opposites—'fantasy' and 'reality,' 'travel' and 'home,' 'work' and 'private life'—until they converge in fruitful new combinations... His playful treatment of life's glum realities feels at times as tonic as a leisurely Sunday morning... An original work to be read for both intellectual profit and pleasure.

— Jeffery Paine

Washington Post Book World

Escapism... is not so much an argument as a tour—sometimes a tour de force—of cultural escapes with exotic stops and unexpected twists and turns. And such a convivial tour guide! Tuan is chatty, engaging, unpretentious and charming.

— Francis I. Kane

New York Times Book Review