Barcelona's Vocation of Modernity

Joan Ramon Resina is Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Stanford University. He is the author of a number of books, including El cadáver en la cocina: La novela policiaca en la cultura del desencanto (1997) and El postnacionalisme en el mapa global (2004). Among his distinctions are the Fulbright Fellowship and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship.

"Resina's book has a resolute and convincingly interdisciplinary scope and a sustained theoretical depth that creates a unique and highly intelligent critical discourse on Barcelona and its modernity . . . Professor Resina's brilliant intellectual undertaking on the complexity of Barcelona's experience of modernity and its representations makes Barcelona's Vocation of Modernity a must-read book, an obligatory reference for all scholars, students, and readers who want to talk about any of the issues, texts, and events discussed in the book."—Iberoamericana "This book is undoubtedly a major contribution both to Catalan Studies and to urban studies. Building on an impressive theoretical framework that combines sociology, history, philosophy, urban studies, sociolinguistics, psychoanalysis, and literary and cultural theory, Joan Ramon Resina offers here a social and cultural history of modern Barcelona . . . Through his readings Resina shows with great originality and intelligence the complexities, ambiguities and ambivalences that plague this history."—Josep-Anton Fernàndez, Open University of Catalonia, Bulletin of Spanish Studies "This is an impressive attempt to include Barcelona within a welter of major philosophical and ideological speculation on the theme of the European metropolis. . . . A whole series of musings of eminent authorities—from Benjamin, Certeau, Baudrillard, Foucault, Habermas, Lefebvre, Lyotard, Simmel, and Marx—are adduced with ease and conviction to offer a comprehensive and thoroughly stimulating study." —Dominic Keown, Cambridge University "The author's deep knowledge of theory transforms his reflections on Barcelona's particular construction of modernity and its representations into an exceptional contribution to the current critical discussion on the city as modern and postmodern cultural space. . . . The intelligent and highly original connections he establishes between apparently disparate issues, events, and texts . . . reveal their full signification." —Elisa Martí-López, Northwestern University

• Contents @toc4:List of Figures, xxx Acknowledgments, xxx @toc2:Introduction: The City as Social Form, 1 1. The Bourgeois City, 00 2. Imagined City, 00 3. Like Moths to a Lamp: Foreigners in Barcelona's Red- Light District, 000 4. A Sojourn With the Dead, 000 5. The Divided City and the Divided Self, 000 6. The City of Eternal Returns, 000 7. From the Olympic Torch to the World Forum of Cultures: The After-Image of Barcelona's Modernity, 000 Notes, 000 Works Cited, 000 Index, 000 @fmct:Figures @fmli: Captions Fig. 1. Poster for the Universal Exposition of 1888 by L Ruiz, Madrid, 1888, 000 Fig. 2. Alfred Guesdon,. "Aerial View of Barcelona," 1860, 000 Fig. 3. Estacio de Franca, 2005, 000 Fig. 4. Estacio de Franca. First special train with soccer fans leaving for Valencia, 1920, 000 Fig. 5. Estacio de Franca, Train Hall, 000 Fig. 6. Llotja, 18701879, 000 Fig. 7. Interior of a house in Altafulla with Joan Busquets suite of furniture, c. 1900, 000 Fig. 8. High relief by Eusebi Arnau, Casa Amatller, 1900, 000 Fig. 9. Passeig de Gracia, 18701879, 000 Fig. 10. Ildefons Cerda, plan of the outskirts of Barcelona and proposal for the reform and expansion of the city by the highway, canal and port engineer, 1859, 000 Fig. 11. Antoni Rovira i Trias, plan of the project for the enlargement of the city of Barcelona, 1859, 000 Fig. 12. Leon Jaussely, general plan for the connections project. 1905, 000 Fig. 13. Ramon Casas, "The Charge," 1899, 000 Fig. 14. The Parallel, 000 Fig. 15. "A gallant lady in the cozy room of a merry house in Barcelona," 000 Fig. 16. "A girl from the low district attempting one more conquest," 000 Fig. 17. La Placa del Diamant, 1934, 000 Fig. 18. Ricard Bofill, Walden 7, 000 Fig. 19. Ricard Bofill, Walden 7, 000Fig. 20. Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia, Passion Facade, 000 Fig. 21. Universal Exposition. 1929, 000 Fig. 22. Enric Miralles, Diagonal Mar, 000 Fig. 23. Lighting of Olympic Torch, 1992, 000 [[AUTHOR/COPY EDITOR: SEE ART LOG. All 3 images are part of 1 figure, 1 caption.]]Fig. 24. Jean Nouvel, Agbar Tower, 000 Fig. 25. Interpellating the Mayor, 2004, 000 Fig. 26. Logo of the Barcelona Forum, 2004, 000 Fig. 27. Anti-Forum activists, July 2004, 000 Fig. 28. Fireworks, World Forum of Cultures, September 2004, 000