The Art of Taking a Walk: Flanerie, Literature, and Film in Weimar Culture

Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. Fine. (c.1999). 1st Edition (softcover issue). Softcover. 069100238X . [nice clean as-new book, with no discernible wear]. Trade PB (B&W photographs) In this "deeply original and searching reassessment of the complex intersections among modernity, vision, and public space," the author "examines one of the most intriguing and characteristic figures of European urban modernity: the observing city stroller, or flaneur. In an age transformed by industrialism, the flaneur drifted through city streets, inspired and repelled by the surrounding scenes of splendor and squalor. Gleber examines this often elusive figure in the particular contexts of Weimar Germany and the intellectual sphere of Walter Benjamin, with whom the concept of flanerie is often associated. She sketches the European influences that produced the German flaneur and establishes the figure as a pervasive presence in Weimar culture, as well as a profound influence on modern perceptions of public space." .