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Mapping Manhattan

La rue
Une contribution de Becky Cooper
cei8_beckycooper
Acheter
In Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, Marco Polo regales the emperor with tales of all the fantastic cities in his kingdom: cities that smell like elephants after the rain, ones in which desire is but a memory. After hours of storytelling, Khan asks this Venetian explorer why he's talked about all these cities in his empire, but never his hometown, never Venice. Marco Polo, without missing a beat, says, "I've been doing nothing but that." Is it that every city he saw was through the lens of his hometown? Or, were all these contradictory portraits in fact Venice, just from different points of view? I loved the idea of the latter – the myriad invisible cities we all possess, the hidden emotional topography of the city that makes it impossible for anyone else to truly visit, the idea of being a stranger to your own invisible city years later – and I decided to make a literal version of Calvino's fiction about my home town. "Maps are more about their makers, than the places they describe," I declared on the back of the letterpressed maps I prepared, though "map" is a generous term for the schematic outline of Manhattan island I designed, cut with a line for Broadway, another for Houston, and a rectangle for Central Park. I walked the length of the island with a shoebox full of these blank maps, approaching strangers, as diverse as possible. I asked them to fill out the map with whatever makes this place special to them. The maps came pouring back – ones that describe Manhattan in pools of fear and relief, others that mark the island's every exit opportunity, and some that distill life's complexity into a single, perfect moment: "Met my wife." The city is a collective, lived experience. It is a compilation of simultaneous individual experiences, and it is the overlap and flow between these private worlds. It is, then, much, much more than the streets and the buildings, which serve as the blueprint onto which the emotional experience of a place graphs itself. These maps, I hope, celebrate that dynamic truth of the city.
  • Becky Copper est l'auteur de _Mapping Manhattan: A Love (and Sometimes Hate) Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers_ (New York City, 2013). Elle fait actuellement partie de l'équipe éditoriale du New Yorker.
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  • Français

    Les Cahiers de l'Imaginaire sont une revue de sciences humaines fondée en 1988 par Gilbert Durand et Michel Maffesoli.

    Les thèmes qui s'y sont succédés depuis sont dans toutes les têtes. Le corps, les socialités mystérieuses, les révélations politiques, les îles et la divinité continue, l'algèbre secrète des rêves, les formes infatigables du quotidien et de la fiction, les époques et leurs magies contradictoires, la fête et l'âme composent ces pages précieuses.

    Les Cahiers européens de l'Imaginaire perpétuent ces idées : trouver les mots les moins faux pour dire les imaginaires contemporains, porter et peupler nos mythologies tout à la fois, et donner à la curiosité de chacun la langue de l'autre, pour accompagner les mouvements de vie de l'Europe.

  • Italiano

    Les Cahiers de l'Imaginaire sono una rivista di scienze umane e sociali fondata da Gilbert Durand e Michel Maffesoli nel 1988.

    I temi da allora trattati risuonano sonoramente nel nostro pensiero: il corpo, l'attrazione sociale, le rivelazioni politiche, le isole immaginarie, le divinità, l'alchimia dei sogni, le forme torrenziali del quotidiano e della finzione, le magiche contraddizioni della storia e le multiple festività che marcano il nostro tempo popolano le preziose pagine della rivista.

    Les Cahiers européens de l'Imaginaire tentano e si dilettano a trovare le parole meno false possibile per nominare gli immaginari contemporanei, a decriptare le mitologie emergenti nella vita quotidiana e a porre in relazione le lingue e le culture presenti nel vecchio continente accompagnandone le trame e il vissuto.

  • Castellano

    Les Cahiers de l'Imaginaire son una revista de ciencias humanas fundada en 1988 por Gilbert Durand y Michel Maffesoli.

    Los temas que sucedieron su fundación están en todos los pensamientos. El cuerpo, las socialidades misteriosas, las revelaciones políticas, las islas y la continua divinidad, el algebra secreta de los sueños, las formas infatigables del cotidiano y de la ficción, las épocas y sus magias contradictorias, la fiesta y el alma, componen sus preciadas paginas.

    Les Cahiers européens de l'Imaginaire perpetúan esas ideas: encontrar las más adecuada de las palabras para expresar los imaginarios contemporáneos, al mismo tiempo que llevar y poblar nuestras mitologías, y dar a la curiosidad de cada uno de nosotros la lengua del otro, acompañando así los movimientos de vida en Europa.

  • English

    Les Cahiers de l'imaginaire is a social science review, founded in 1988 by Gilbert Durand and Michel Maffesoli.

    It explores the varied meanings within and beyond the body, mysterious social systems, political revelations, the isolated and continuous divinities. The secret algebra of dreams, the inexhaustible forms of the mundane and the fictitious, the ages and their contradictory magic, the festival and the soul are the stuff that fill its precious pages.

    Les Cahiers européens de l'Imaginaire perpetuates these ideas: finding the least false words to describe the contemporary imagination, sustaining and populating our mythologies, sharing our respective languages with each-other, in concert with the movements of the living Europe.

  • Portuguès

    Les Cahiers de l'Imaginaire é uma revista de ciências humanas fundada em 1988 por Gilbert Durand e Michel Maffesoli.

    Desde sua fundação, são abordados temas de diversos campos do pensamento. O corpo, as relações sociais misteriosas, as revelações políticas, as divindades isoladas e contínuas, a álgebra secreta dos sonhos, as incansáveis formas do quotidiano e da ficção, as diversas épocas e respectivas magias contraditórias, a festa e a alma fazem parte de suas preciosas páginas.

    Les Cahiers européens de l'Imaginaire perpetuam tais idéias: encontrar as melhores palavras para expressar os imaginários contemporâneos, ao mesmo tempo em que suporta e povoa nossas mitologias, e oferece à curiosidade de cada um a palavra do outro para acompanhar, assim, os movimentos de vida da Europa.

  • Deutsch

    Les Cahiers de l'Imaginaire ist eine sozialwissenschaftliche Revue, gegründet 1988 von Gilbert Durand und Michel Maffesoli.

    Sie adressiert Themen, die sich in allen Köpfen wiederfinden. Der Körper, mysteriöse soziale Systeme, politische Enthüllungen, isolierte und kontinuierliche Göttlichkeit, die geheime Algebra der Träume, die unerschöpflichen Formen des Alltäglichen und des Fiktiven, die verschiedenen Zeitalter und ihre widerspruchsvolle Magie, das Fest und die Seele füllen ihre wertvollen Seiten.

    Les Cahiers européens de l'Imaginaire führen diese Ideen fort: die treffendsten Worte zu finden, um das zeitgenössisch Imaginäre zu beschreiben, unsere Mythologien gleichzeitig zu erhalten und zu nähren, und unsere verschiedenen Sprachen miteinander zu teilen, im Gleichschritt mit dem Puls des europäischen Lebens.

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