Images of Crisis (Routledge Revivals) : Literary Iconology, 1750 to the Present

First published in 1982, Images of Crisis explores the premise that literature and art exploit various images to present culturally prevalent ideas, and thus create their own form of iconology. George Landow shows how the tumultuous history of the past two hundred years has resulted in a plethora of metaphors associated with moments of human crisis. Avalanches and volcanoes emerge as focal images in an aesthetic that concerns itself increasingly with the vulnerability of humanity. However, it is in the transformation of traditional religious images that the ideas of the vacant universe are most dramatically presented. Associated with this central idea are ironic transformations of other images that formerly had been associated with Christianity as paradigms of belief: the journey of Odysseus, the rainbow of the Covenant and Robinson Crusoe. Combining close textual analysis with a theory of literary iconology, this fascinating reissue will be of particular value to students with an interest in literary images, and literary and cultural history. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments One Images, Situations, and Structures Two Shipwrecks and Castaways A typology of shipwrecks and imperilled mariners The reality of shipwreck The destination disappears The pole-star vanishes Drifting on the waste ocean The mind a wandering bark William Falconer and the meaning of shipwreck Recognitions of the swimmer Shipwrecked and cast away in the sea of time Variations of Robinson Crusoe Political and social shipwrecks and castaways The advantages of the castaway Three Related Paradigms The Deluge transformed Versions of Odysseus Rainbows: problematic images of problematic nature Four Iconology and Technique Paradigm, point of view, and narrative distance in verbal and visual arts Some brief observations on paradigms and literary structure Notes Index