Abbou, Malek
Les Labyrinthes
Paris, Bouquins, 2023. Paperback. White wraps with black and red lettering; 1023 pp.; richly illustrated. Text in French. "This volume is the first devoted, with such scope, to a universal and timeless motif: the labyrinth. From its original appearance on some Paleolithic wall to its most recent applications in the video game industry, this figure of inexhaustible symbolic richness has never ceased to fascinate humanity, through myths, stories and fantasies. that she aroused. Through pages filled with abundant iconography, the reader travels through the twists and turns of a story that takes root in all cultures and spreads across all areas of creation. There he encounters the thousand avatars of the labyrinth: Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Cretan, Roman, Baltic, Indian, pre-Columbian, Persian, but also literary, pictorial, musical or landscape. He explores its medieval and liturgical use - an initiatory journey, even a route of salvation -, like its use from the Renaissance when the image of the "maze", full of meanders and dead ends, becomes metaphor of the human condition. But the authors gathered around Malek Abbou also know how to capture the happy side of their object, when the symbol assumes the function of a spring rite, of a quest for oneself, of a dance choreography, of a poetics of drift urban or a practice of libertinism in love. These experiences set the tone for this study which has chosen to also highlight the solar side of the labyrinth." -- Translated From Rear Cover. In Shrinkwrap .

Kevin Mullen, Bookseller
Professional sellerBook number: 200921
USD 35.00 [Appr.: EURO 31 | £UK 26.5 | JP¥ 5072]
Keywords: European Art, Labyrinths ; Labyrinths ; ;