Mysteries of a Communist Cave (Paperback)
Language: English
Published by Park Books, Zurich, 2026
- Softcover
- New
Seller: Grand Eagle Retail, Bensenville, IL, U.S.A.Grand Eagle Retail
AbeBooks seller since October 12, 2005
Condition: New
£ 19.32
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Paperback. The second book in the Gumshoe series turns its investigative eye to Oscar Niemeyer's unique construction for the French Communist Party in Paris. Gumshoe is a new series of architectural books that introduces an original approach to the writing of architectural history. Emulating the detective novel, the focus is on actual buildings rather than on speculative designs and theories. The style and form is fresh and scholarly but also easy and enjoyable to read. In Mysteries of a Communist Cave, the second book in the Gumshoe series, Lytle Shaw conducts an investigation of Oscar Niemeyer's building for the French Communist Party's (PCF) central committee in Paris. Designed in 1965, just as party theorists began to rethink many bedrock assumptions about representation, Oscar Niemeyer's PCF building is a microcosm of the shifting political and architectural landscape of the 1960s. It is also a literal Marxist structure that can thus help us concretely picture just exactly what Structuralist Marxism might have been. Shaw draws out the PCF's language and context one element at a time and puts the elegant curtain-wall building with its cave-like assembly hall into revelatory dialogue with interlocutors in film, philosophy, anthropology, and politics. Perhaps the ultimate mystery of the communist cave is that its owners have not more often and more powerfully presented their landmark building as the vivid source of imagery it could be for the kind of world the PCF might like to construct. AUTHORS: Lytle Shaw is Professor of English at New York University and a contributing editor for Cabinet Magazine. His books include The Mollino Set, New Grounds for Dutch Landscape and Frank O'Hara: The Poetics of Coterie. He has also published catalogue essays on artists including Gerard Byrne, Zoe Leonard, Robert Smithson and the Royal Art Lodge, and for institutions including the Dia Center for the Arts, the Museo Reina Sofia, and the Drawing Center. Thomas Weaver is an architectural writer, educator, and editor based in London. He also lectures at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland. SELLING POINTS: . Illustrates how Oscar Niemeyer's building for the French Communist Party in Paris focalised the massive philosophical and political debates of the 1960s . First book about Structuralist Marxism that explores its possible relation to an actual Marxist structure . Fundamentally re-conceives the relationship between theory and architecture . The Gumshoe series investigates singular buildings, emulating the style and book format of a detective novel . Distinguished authors from various countries write on notable buildings from across architectural history 204 b/w illustrations Illustrates how Oscar Niemeyers building for the French Communist Party in Paris focalised the massive philosophical and political debates of the 1960s. The second book in the Gumshoe series. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…
Seller Inventory # 9783038604471
- Title
- Mysteries of a Communist Cave (Paperback)
- Author
- Lytle Shaw
- Publisher
- Park Books, Zurich
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- new
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 303860447X
- ISBN 13
- 9783038604471
- Illustrates how Oscar Niemeyer's building for the French Communist Party in Paris focalised the massive philosophical and political debates of the 1960s
- First book about Structuralist Marxism that explores its possible relation to an actual Marxist structure
- Fundamentally re-conceives the relationship between theory and architecture
- The Gumshoe series investigates singular buildings, emulating the style and book format of a detective novel
- Distinguished authors from various countries write on notable buildings from across architectural history
Gumshoe is a new series of architectural books that introduces an original approach to the writing of architectural history. Emulating the detective novel, the focus is on actual buildings rather than on speculative designs and theories. The style and form is fresh and scholarly but also easy and enjoyable to read. In Mysteries of a Communist Cave, the second book in the Gumshoe series, Lytle Shaw conducts an investigation of Oscar Niemeyer's building for the French Communist Party's (PCF) central committee in Paris.
Designed in 1965, just as party theorists began to rethink many bedrock assumptions about representation, Oscar Niemeyer's PCF building is a microcosm of the shifting political and architectural landscape of the 1960s. It is also a literal Marxist structure that can thus help us concretely picture just exactly what Structuralist Marxism might have been. Shaw draws out the PCF's language and context one element at a time and puts the elegant curtain-wall building with its cave-like assembly hall into revelatory dialogue with interlocutors in film, philosophy, anthropology, and politics.
Perhaps the ultimate mystery of the communist cave is that its owners have not more often and more powerfully presented their landmark building as the vivid source of imagery it could be for the kind of world the PCF might like to construct.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Thomas Weaver is an architectural writer, educator, and editor based in London. He also lectures at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
Françoise Fromonot is a professor of design, history, and theory at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Belleville and William Wayne Caudill Professor of Architecture at Rice Architecture Paris.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Grand Eagle Retail
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AbeBooks seller since October 12, 2005
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