(no subject)

[ivyfic]

Another quote from The Death and Life of Great American Cities (which I've just finished) that I think is profoundly true:

Most sentimental ideas imply, at bottom, a deep if unacknowledged disrespect.

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Oof. Yeah, I think that may be true.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

In this case, she was talking about sentimentality towards nature, and how it was driving people out of cities and into suburbs where they were "closer to nature"--and by spreading out the population more and more, destroying it.

But I think the same can be said about sentimentality towards races, women, bygone eras... All types of sentimentality are a way of denying the reality of a thing, and that's inherently disrespectful towards it.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting observation... If I understand correctly (absent the context), sentimentality or sentimental ideas means ideas that idealize a bygone era and aren't necessarily accurate reflections of it?

It seems like that necessarily entails a sort of ignorance or denial of the reality/complexity of prior times. I hadn't thought of that as disrespectful before, but willfully uncorrected ignorance certainly is... interesting.

Would you recommend the book otherwise?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

In this case, she was talking about nature, and the sentimentality to nature that leads people to build suburban subdivisions on forest land so they can have a yard and be "close to nature."

But I think it applies to bygone eras as well. Sentimentalizing something is denying its reality, which is disrespectful, which is what she's getting at.

Yes, I would definitely recommend this book overall. I keep meaning to do a post on it. It's full of observations of how cities function that will make any city dweller go, "Oooooh--that's right!" It is long, but it's worth it. (Also gives a glimpse into what New York was like fifty years ago.)