Vincent Scully (1920–2017)

Frankly, this book was a slog for me to read, and took quite a while to get through.

That said, the material it covers, and the view it propounds (in all of its stilted language and mind-numbing detail) is fascinating. The core thesis that the natural surroundings of a Greek temple are not just he setting, or background that the temple plays against, but is in many ways more important than the structures themselves is fascinating, and so foreign to how I am used to thinking of architecture in general.

Beyond that, I appreciate the idea that so much of the sacred and civic architecture of the West is rooted in ideology and theology that is ultimately completely different and foreign to the purposes it is made to serve.

lastly, as an aside, I kept thinking that the book is ripe for adaption into a VR program. Frankly, the text could be left more or less as is -- but being able to "see" and interact with the landscapes, ruins (and perhaps even digital recreations of as-built conditions) would make the material much, much more accessible than the dated, small, black and white photos frequently referenced in the appendix.

A tough read but worth it.

(2023 Review 8)… (lisätietoja)

While the book "Pueblo: Mountain, Village, Dance" is quite large one would expect more information to be found within it. Instead one finds many pages of romantic descriptions of places and events which do little to help one understand the complexities of the traditions found in the Rio Grande pueblos. The author seems to be preoccupied by drawing connections between Pueblo cultures of the Southwestern United States and those of the ancient Mediterranean region. Though not truly pseudoscience in the sense that he is suggesting that Minoans traveled across the ocean to seed New Mexico with their culture, in the end his comparisons are not useful or well explained. The title is apt enough. It does deal primarily with the native people who both historically and currently live in New Mexico. While there are differences in their language and ceremonies there is a long understood connection between all the separate groups. By detailing the existing Pueblo groups and a bit of their prehistory the book seems to have a clear focus. The "mountain" refers to the sacred landscape that surrounds the Pueblos today. While some work has been done by others to understand the relationship of the architecture to the wider world around these towns, Scully adds very little to the discussion, mostly citing the work of previous scholars. There is then some value in his description of the various villages but once again there are other resources that go into more depth on each one and have more useful information. Lastly the "Dance" refers to the ceremonial dance celebrations that take place at certain times of year in each community. Here lies my biggest complaint with this book. Several cultural anthropologists have spent significant time documenting these rituals over the past hundred years. What this author contributes is more of a memoir than an accurate or revealing account of what happens in these dances. In overtly poetic terms he describes the costumes and behavior of the participants but constantly seems to try and make up for his ignorance of the subject by discussing how the dances made him feel while comparing one ceremony to another. The whole book in fact is written in a style that contains less scholarly data and more poetry. It becomes rather tiresome to read his run on sentences and his lyrical remembrances. The most valuable aspect of the book are the photographs and diagrams. Many of the photographs are historical, taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These are supplemented with more recent pictures as well. Most of these can be found in other sources or even on line but having them collected in one place is useful even if the quality of the reproductions leave something to be desired. The other useful aspect of this book is the bibliography. It does provide a good list of reading materials that were drawn upon for the text. For those looking for an introduction to the subject matter this is not a good choice. Even for those who have read extensively on the pueblos it is only of moderate use. If your have already gained a good understanding of this culture and enjoy reading about it then you might be interested in adding this book to your collection. Be aware though that aside from some of the historic photographs you probably have better resources on your bookshelf already.… (lisätietoja)