The Periscope and The Labyrinth
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Date
2009-10-05T19:39:44Z
Authors
Swain, James
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
The Periscope and the Labyrinth is an investigation into cultural identity,
consciousness and landscape rooted in the body’s experience of the city.
The modern phenomenon of flânerie is used as a means of examining vari-
ous sites of particular interest to queer mythology within New York and
Rome via the device of personal ‘derives’ or drifts inspired by a legacy of
city writing, whereby the particular relationship between identity, place and
space becomes clear. The flâneur has been essential to previous writings on
the topic of ‘queer space’ in that he is one who ‘relies on the ambiguities
of the modern city, and the uncertainties that linger in the fleeting experi-
ence of a backward glance.’ It is these very ambiguities that associate the
flâneur as the quintessential ‘cruiser.’ Yet the potential of the flâneur lies
in his ‘alchemical’ abilities. A contemporary interpretation of alchemy is
used through out the thesis as both a psychological method for understand-
ing the ‘union of opposites’, as well as a reading of the parallels between
individual and collective identity as they relate to particular sites. These
archetypal opposites are typified by the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus;
the duality of their characteristics exemplified by the metaphor of the title
in which the conscience of the ‘Apollonian eye’ of the flâneur within the
labyrinth of the Dionysian underworld’ describing the alchemical
teachings which underpin this work.
Description
Keywords
Alchemy, Queer Space, Urban Landscape, Flaneur