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Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910-1935 (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism) (Volume 13) Hardcover – December 31, 1997
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The modern body, radiating freedom and power, appeared to Weimar artists and intelligentsia to be the source of a transgressive energy, as well as the sign and manifestation of powerful, mysterious "inner" conditions. Toepfer shows how this view of the modern body sought to extend the aesthetic experience beyond the boundaries imposed by rationalized life and to transcend these limits in search of ecstasy. With the help of much unpublished or long-forgotten archival material (including many little-known photographs), he investigates the process of constructing an "empire" of appropriative impulses toward ecstasy.
Toepfer presents the work of such well-known figures as Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, and Oskar Schlemmer, along with less-known but equally fascinating body culture practitioners. His book is certain to become required reading for historians of dance, body culture, and modernism.
- Print length439 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity of California Press
- Publication dateDecember 31, 1997
- Dimensions6.13 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100520206630
- ISBN-13978-0520206632
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Product details
- Publisher : University of California Press; First Edition (December 31, 1997)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 439 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0520206630
- ISBN-13 : 978-0520206632
- Item Weight : 1.84 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.13 x 1.4 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,039,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,252 in Drama Literary Criticism
- #2,652 in Dance (Books)
- #10,068 in Theater (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Karl Toepfer is Professor Emeritus of Theater Arts at San Jose State University, where he was a lecturer, professor, and administrator for over thirty years. He graduated from UCLA in 1970 before being drafted into the Army. Later he completed an MA degree at San Jose State University and a doctorate at UCLA. The author of several books and numerous articles on the performing arts, he lives in San Francisco, where he was born. Recently he completed a large scale history of pantomime as an online project. Currently he is at work on a large photo project, “Masks of Femininity”: https://karltoepfer.com/about/
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Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2016
However, Toepfer's work is SO complete, SO intricate, it comes off more like a doctoral thesis than a book.
As pure reportage, it's a fine volume. But I kept waiting for some kind of idea of what the author thought about all of this; was it fascinating or does he just think it was weird? We never really find out.
Still, some of the images he leaves you with makes you wish you could transport yourself back to some of these obviously sensual and often bizarre performances to see them for yourself.
If you're a fan of dance history, or a nudist, I recommend this book. But don't be surprised if you put it down long before you finish; this is definitely more than most people would really want (or need) to know.