Mediterranean

by Girard, Xavier

• ISBN13: 9782843232459
• ISBN10: 2843232457
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-04-01
• Publisher: Assouline

Summary

"What is the Mediterranean? A thousand and one things at the same time. Not just one landscape, but innumerable landscapes. Not one sea, but a series of seas. Not one civilization, but civilizations piled up one upon the other." (Fernand Braudel) This is all true, but the great paradox of the Mediterranean is that, despite the fact that the region is so varied, it presents itself as a single, coherent image, a system where everything blends together as one unified entity. In order to explain this paradoxical cohesion, the author leads us on an exploration of the many different features that make up the geographical, philosophical and, cultural identity of the Mediterranean. In particular, a quest is set for those elements that constitute what Roland Barthes referred to, in speaking of Cy Twombly's work, as the "Mediterranean effect."

Table of Contents

Prologue	7	(3)
Representations
Maps	10	(6)
Allegories	16	(14)
Landscapes	30	(14)
Photographs	44	(10)
Films	54	(8)
Narratives
Ulysses	62	(8)
The Crusades	70	(6)
The Thousand and One Nights	76	(6)
Don Quixote	82	(4)
Italian Journey	86	(8)
Oriental Journey	94	(8)
Figures
The Monarch	102	(8)
The Odalisque	110	(6)
The Peasant	116	(8)
The Fisherman	124	(6)
The Bather	130	(8)
The Diva	138	(4)
Places
Towns and Cities	142	(12)
Squares	154	(6)
Cafes	160	(6)
Medinas	166	(6)
Markets	172	(4)
Mosques	176	(6)
Gardens	182	(8)
Cemeteries	190	(6)
Islands	196	(8)
The Pillars of Hercules	204	(8)
Arts
Food and Crafts	212	(4)
Arts of Living	216	(8)
Arts	224	(10)
Epilogue	234	(2)
Bibliography	236