Time, form, and fiction : reading the landscapes of Booth Tarkington

Abstract

Indiana author Booth Tarkington laid the groundwork for understanding issues related to urban design and planning in the Midwest with a tandem of novels: The Magnificent Ambersons (1917), and The Midlander (1923). More importantly, evidence can be found to suggest that it is not only through knowledge and appreciation of tangible urban form, but also an appreciation and awareness of a culture, via its literature, that these issues of design and planning can be more fully understood by design professionals.The purpose of this study, then, is to discover the connections between studies in the field of landscape architecture (with regard to urban form and urban imageability) and the "literary landscapes" of Booth Tarkington. These connections will serve, first, to clarify and prioritize my study; second, to educate design professionals in an alternative way of understanding and tackling the physical issues of imageability in today's world; and third, to suggest to all designers the necessity for knowing, appreciating and utilizing the virtually infinite range of resources available to them.