You tell 'em, Foucault!

[akashiver]

"In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates."

Huh. Huh? Huh.

I'm not quite sure what "espionage takes the place of adventure" means. I suppose it's part of the whole escapist tendancy of heterotopias. Anyway, I kind of want to use this quote in relation to Mieville's The Scar. It seems like it owuld be productive.

Comments

[ninja-turbo.livejournal.com]

That quote, without context, does sound very interesting to apply to the governments/societies of Armada and New Crobuzon.

As for the 'espionage>adventure' thing, I might guess that there might be a location and movement angle, with adventure being something that happens 'out there' and espionage is something that happens 'here' perhaps? It might also be an overt/covert dichotymy, with adventure being something that happens in public, and espionage is a 'behind closed doors' kind of deal.

From what text does this quote come? I can always use more books to add to my stupidly large queue of academitexts to read.