Customer Reviews

Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is not a bad book. It is an overly unoriginal one. An understanding of Henri Lefebvre's work on space (particularly _The Production of Space_) is required to understand what Soja is saying. Yet, if you have read Lefebvre, you probably do not need to read this book. About 1/3 of _Thirdspace_ consists of quotes from Lefebvre with a few conclusionary remarks made by Soja.

Soja's pastiche of Lefebvre quotes claims to explain two trialectical relationships. The first is the trialectics of being (p. 71), consisting of historicality, sociality, and spatiality. The second is the trialectics of spatiality (p. 74): perceived, conceived, and lived. Thank goodness for the helpful diagrams on these pages. They are the only parts of the theory sections that aren't based on long quotes from Lefebvre, White, Foucault, hooks, and any other person that Soja has read in the last 20 years. If you need original arguments about how space is performed, constructed, and lived, read one Soja's sources (especially "Production_).

The original arguments come when Soja leaves the realm of theory construction and turns to application. His reading of space and place in postmodern Los Angeles makes an important leap in spatial theory... it applies theory to something people can understand. If you have visited a large city, Soja's reading of L.A. will make sense, and make Lefebvre clearer. This is the most useful function of _Thirdspace_.

Although this book is not theoretically new or interesting, it gets some extra stars for having practical relevance... something that most theoreticians could use more of.