The view from the tower
Subtitle: origins of an antimodernist image
By: Theodore Ziolkowski.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 196
Subjects: Modernism (Literature); Literature, Modern -- History and criticism; Literary landmarks; Towers
Description: Immediately after World War I, four major European and American poets and thinkers - W. B. Yeats, Robinson Jeffers, R. M. Rilke, and C. G. Jung - moved into towers as their principal habitations. Taking this striking coincidence as its starting point, this book sets out to locate modern turriphilia in its cultural context and to explore the biographical circumstances that motivated the four writers to choose their unusual retreats.

From the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia to the ivory towers of the fin de siecle, the author traces the emergence of a variety of symbolic associations with the proud towers of the past, ranging from spirituality and intellect to sexuality and sequestration.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-189) and index.