Thursday, July 18, 2013
Argument in Quartz
Reading City of Quartz still looking for the argument, something to do about race and the development of LA? Anyone care to shed some light on their interpretation at the beginning of the book? Reading in an airport, is Davis' purpose for the book obvious and I am just missing it so far?
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You beat me to the punch....this was going to be my question. Is chapter 1 a very convoluted social history of L.A.'s development? As an aside there is so much assumed knowledge in the first 100 pages that I am having a hard time following. Help, someone, please?
ReplyDeleteWell with one chapter to go I have began to understand the writing style as a history of how non white groups have been pushed aside in LA, but still not seeing an argument? Some sections more interesting than others, enjoyed gangs and drugs, could barely make it through the Catholic stuff.
DeleteI too am having trouble figuring out the argument. I actually logged on to see if anyone had explained it. Davis does seem to be contemptuous of LA, at least in the first part of the book.
ReplyDeleteHey Everybody,
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding, Davis' argument is less about Los Angeles' past than about its future. I believe that Davis is suggesting that global capitalism is creating a post-apocalyptic wasteland in LA. He uses his various case studies (culture, the security state, the Catholic Church, etc.) to demonstrate how omnipresent this threat is and to motivate the reader to action. I think in order to properly understand Davis' work, you must look at it more as a political argument, rather than an apolitical history. Thoughts?
That makes sense, especially after reading Junkyard of Dreams. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of his argument or thesis either. After reading part one all I can come up is this. First, L.A. is a stand in for Capitalism, lets remember this is a Marxist point of view, and it represents both the utopia and dystopia(18). Second, the constant influx of intellectuals from the outside have influenced LA in a way to exclude both Spanish, Hispanic, and black culture.
ReplyDeleteDavis says that the book is about "the contradictory impact of economic globalization upon different segments of LA society," but he doesn't define what he means by globalization, other than "Pacific Rim commerce." I think he is presenting a social and economic prognostication of an urban dystopian existence for all cities under global capitalism and the book is a revelation of how historically that has taken shape and manifested in LA in the twentieth century.
ReplyDelete..."the city where the past has been erased, dreams have failed, and the image rarely maps into reality - the city that so many Americans love to hate."
ReplyDelete