| Just before the publication of Alice Sparberg Alexiou’s Jane Jacobs: Urban Visionary (HarperCollins Canada, 224 pp.), the subject of her book died.
Jane Jacobs was 89. Hers was a long life spent studying the city and a resultant writing career that saw her fight for New York and Toronto, raise a family and create a classic, Death and Life of Great American Cities.
She was no stranger to controversy, and within days after her death, many newspapers printed spiteful invectives against her life’s work. For many, it was the only time they felt safe to attack her, fearful of her staid presence and convictions.
Alexiou’s new book is a necessary look into Jacobs’ thought and influence, equally admiring of both the flawed and the fantastic in her writing. She first became interested in Jacobs after watching a segment on her in Rick Burns’ New York documentary series, detailing her fights against Robert Moses and the expressway that would have destroyed much of SoHo.
Jacobs’ influence is undeniable, seen in streets clogged with cars and explosion of urban sprawl. Her ground battles saving Greenwich Village led to a view of her beloved city as an organism, its various facets – population density, local businesses – evolving according to their own forces. Diversity is key. This naked eye approach and gift for prose led to the writing of Death and Life. "It’s like poetry, an epic," says Alexiou. "She took these ideas and articulated them in a way that nobody had ever done. It’s changed my perceptions of what happens from the ground up. Just look at the sidewalk and go from there. Nothing held her back – she just trusted her instincts. The same arguments and perceptions are just as relevant now as they were 45 years ago."
Her strengths – evaluating the city as an inhabitant, free from academic restraints – were what her detractors used to criticize her. How dare a housewife, with no college degree give judgment to the old school collective of architects and city planners? Now her works are used in university classes and she’s revered as a great thinker, particularly here in Canada.
"Her complete dismissal of race as an issue was her major flaw," says Alexiou. "In Canada, she was adored, like a queen. People seemed to be very forgiving about her shortcomings – she got away with, shall we say, some outrageous statements (i.e., supporting Quebec separatism). I think she had the status in Canada of a wise old woman, afforded the respect that I don’t think could have happened in America – so obsessed with youth, women who aren’t allowed to age in a natural way."
Jacobs was positioned at a unique time in American history – the emergence of civil rights, the Vietnam War. "Women were supposed to know their place and she sure as hell didn’t," says Alexiou. "She was fearless. There hasn’t been a public philosopher like her since. People still wonder, ‘What would Jane Jacobs do?’"
Jacobs may be gone, but her thought still finds its adherents and opponents. It’s just the way she would have wanted it – people judging with their own eyes.
The next Literary Journalism Conversation at The Banff Centre is on Monday, July 31 at 8 p.m. in the Rolston Recital Hall, with Elena Poniatowska Amor, founder of La Jornada and Fem.
John Ralston Saul will be giving the opening address at the Ethics, Creativity and Copyright conference on Thursday, August 3 at 8 p.m., in the Red and White Club at the University of Calgary. Saul and his wife, Adrienne Clarkson, have also been recently added to this year’s WordFest (October 10 to 15) lineup.
McNally Robinson has a few readings this week, the first on July 29 at 2 p.m., with Mark Greschner signing copies of his new collection of Saskatchewan art and portraiture, One Hundred Years of Heart. On Wednesday, August 2 at 7 p.m., publisher EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy celebrate their recent Aurora Award win for the collection Tesseracts Nine with readings from some of the book’s contributing writers. Thursday, August 3 at noon, Yvette Hamilton is signing copies of her debut In Everything There is a Season, the first in a series of children’s fantasy novels. At 7 p.m. is the next instalment of Quizspotting, testing local bibliophiles’ knowledge of all things literary. Teams of up to four can register by calling (403) 538-1797, or by sending an e-mail to jesse@Calgary.mcnallyrobinson.ca.
The release date for Thomas Pynchon’s new novel, Against the Day, has been set for December 5. It’s his first since 1997’s Mason and Dixon, and will run over 900 pages. Check out Amazon.com for Pynchon’s own plot synopsis-of-sorts for the novel. |
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