ABSTRACT

Timely and original, this collection of essays from the leading figures in their fields throws new and valuable light on the significance and future of flânerie. The flâneur is usually identified as the ‘man of the crowd’ of Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Baudelaire, and as one of the heroes of Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project. The flâneur’s activities of strolling and loitering are mentioned increasingly frequently in sociology, cultural studies and art history, but rarely is the debate developed further. The Flâneur is the first book to develop the debate beyond Baudelaire and Benjamin, and to push it in unexpected and exciting directions.

chapter 1|21 pages

Introduction 1

chapter 4|20 pages

Fancy footwork

Walter Benjamin's notes on flânerie

chapter 5|30 pages

The flâneur in social theory

chapter 7|20 pages

Desert spectacular

chapter 8|23 pages

Digesting the modern diet

Gastro-porn, fast food, and panic eating

chapter 9|17 pages

The hopeless game of flânerie