Of Bridges: A Poetic and Philosophical Account

Bridges are symbolic of our aspirations to connect and transcend divides, and Thomas Harrison's book explores their philosophical and cultural history in nine thematic clusters. It investigates the links between religion, music, poetry, war, and the globalized world, and how bridges form and transform cultural communities.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 27 October 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

"Always," wrote Philip Larkin, "it is by bridges that we live." Bridges represent our aspirations to connect, to soar across divides. And it is the unfinished business of these aspirations that makes bridges such stirring sights, especially when they are marvels of ingenuity.

A rich compendium of myths, superstitions, and literary and ideological figurations, Of Bridges organizes a poetic and philosophical history of bridges into nine thematic clusters. Leaping in lucid prose between distant times and places, Thomas Harrison questions why bridges are built and where they lead. He probes links forged by religion between life's transience and eternity as well as the consolidating ties of music, illustrated by the case of the blues. He investigates bridges in poetry, as flash points in war, and the megabridges of our globalized world. He illuminates real and symbolic crossings facing migrants each day and the affective connections that make persons and societies cohere. In readings of literature, film, philosophy, and art, Harrison engages in a profound reflection on how bridges form and transform cultural communities.

Of Bridges is a mesmerizing, vertiginous tale of bridges both visible and invisible, both lived and imagined.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226826493