The Work in the World
Geographical Practice and the Written Word
Distinctive for the way it views theories in geography and science as fundamentally embedded in written works, The Work in the World argues eloquently that the philosophical questions raised by theories can only be addressed within the broader context of the work.
“The nature of the written work in geography is the subject of this interesting, thoughtful, and important book. This provocative work will be of great interest to those concerned with the ways in which ideas develop and are expressed.” Isis
The writing or reading or buying or selling or judging of a written work is always at the same time the act of making a place-or making places. The author creates a special sort of place for his ideas; the reader, for her engagement with the author; the bookseller, for the notion of books as property to be categorized and sold; and so on. In this book, Michael R. Curry develops a geography of this process, a theory of the nature of space and places in written work.
The Work in the World focuses on a paradox at the heart of this project: Although the written work is inextricably bound up in the construction of the places in which it is written, read, published, circulated, and cited, it nonetheless denies the importance of places. As the product of modern modes of knowledge, technology, and intellectual property, written work seems to say instead that only the encompassing universal space of ideas, objects, and commodities matters.
Distinctive for the way it views theories in geography and science as fundamentally embedded in written works, The Work in the World argues eloquently that the philosophical questions raised by theories can only be addressed within the broader context of the work.
Michael R. Curry is associate professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“The nature of the written work in geography is the subject of this interesting, thoughtful, and important book. This provocative work will be of great interest to those concerned with the ways in which ideas develop and are expressed.” Isis
“By attending to the ways the written work is presented, read, marketed, categorized, and judged, Curry demonstrates how works that purport to offer new theories of space and place are themselves emplaced in patterns of social and economic practices that undermine the researcher’s ability to assume a genuinely critical view.” ISLE
“A unique and subtly argued work on geographical writing, backed by commanding scholarship, eludicating such questions as why are some works so influential and others that are equally accomplished not? Why is it so difficult for writers to adopt a significantly different point of view, or readers to change their mind as a consequence of exposure to a work? Why is it so difficult to communicate? Curry’s originality lies in his use of the pivotal geographical concepts ‘place’ and ‘space’ to illuminate questions that are of serious concern to all (not just geographers) who have a stake in the life of the mind.” Yi-Fu Tuan, University of Wisconsin, Madison