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- Title
Between Modernity and Nostalgia: The Meanings of Death in Hotels.
- Authors
Zitzlsperger, Ulrike
- Abstract
This article takes its cue from the public impact of the deaths of singers, artists and writers in hotels. Particular attention is paid to the murder of Nancy Spungen in New York's Chelsea Hotel, in 1978. A long tradition of literary and filmic hotel deaths shows similarly strong links with contemporary cultures – illustrating political, social or cultural change and questioning the impact of modernity. However, as well as responding to change, death in the context of hotels is also linked with nostalgia for an irretrievable past. Such are the two poles of cultural criticism in the topos of hotel deaths: they throw modernity into relief, celebrating or criticizing it through the symbolic structure of the hotel; or they inculcate a warm nostalgia, in critical opposition to the world outside on the street. The individual authors and directors under consideration here in exploring these points include Joseph Roth, Vicki Baum, F. W. Murnau, Giuseppi Tomasi di Lampedusa and Friedrich Glauser, highlighting the importance of the theme straddling American and European cultures.
- Subjects
DEATH in literature; DEATH in motion pictures; HOTELS in literature; HOTELS in motion pictures; MODERNITY; NOSTALGIA; ROTH, Joseph, 1894-1939
- Publication
Forum for Modern Language Studies, 2019, Vol 55, Issue 4, p466
- ISSN
0015-8518
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/fmls/cqz035