Barcelona

Rating:
Summary: A slightly inflated history of Barcelona
Review: First, let me say I thoroughly enjoyed Hughes' "The Fatal Shore" and the now classic "Shock of the New" and it was because of his track record for both regional and art history that I opened "Barcelona" with anticipation. I should have stopped at the introduction, wherein Hughes explains that he'd originally intended to write a much smaller work focusing on Barcelona's modernistas at the turn-of-the-century. Instead, at his publisher's urging (undoubtedly timed to capitalize on the 1992 Olympics) he broadened the scope to include Barcelona's story from prehistory to about 1925. The result is a wordy book which reminds me of the times I had to puff up a term paper with accurate, but nonessential facts in order to get to the required twenty pages. I would agree with another reviewer that this work is missing Hughes' usual spark and I can't help but think his heart wasn't in this one. Hughes states early on his love for Barcelona but unfortunately this compassion doesn't come across in the book. I would have been much happier if he would have extended Barcelona's history in the other direction. That is, beginning with the modernistas and proceeding to the Surrealists, the Civil War and through to Barcelona's post-Franco revival as a cultural center of Europe.

Rating:
Summary: An important historical perspective
Review: I read Hughes' Barcelona before I went to Barcelona for the first time, and it made all the difference in the world. I arrived not as a stranger, but as a student of Catalan culture and history. The book gave me the background to have an informed perspective on what I was seeing. It may be long, but it has tons of information. My only complaint is that Hughes assumes the reader has a knowledge of history that I, for one, don't have. So there were things I didn't understand.

I liked that Hughes sometimes talked about the big things -- big events, important people, and he sometimes talked about the little things that make a place distinctive. His love of the place came through to me, and I fell in love with it too.

Rating:
Summary: An important historical perspective
Review: I read Hughes' Barcelona before I went to Barcelona for the first time, and it made all the difference in the world. I arrived not as a stranger, but as a student of Catalan culture and history. The book gave me the background to have an informed perspective on what I was seeing. It may be long, but it has tons of information. My only complaint is that Hughes assumes the reader has a knowledge of history that I, for one, don't have. So there were things I didn't understand.

I liked that Hughes sometimes talked about the big things -- big events, important people, and he sometimes talked about the little things that make a place distinctive. His love of the place came through to me, and I fell in love with it too.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful city, scholarly book
Review: I visited Barcelona in 1982 and then again, 20 years later, in 2002. I am certainly glad I read Robert Hughes' "Barcelona" before going the second time since it certainly gave me a new perspective on the city, its history, its art, and its architecture.

The history of the Catalunya area is fascinating, an area that predates the Roman Empire. Two Roman Emperors came from Barcelona, Trajan and his nephew Hadrian. Hughes helps us understand the unique development of the Catalan language, culture, history which is frequently at odds with Madrid and Spain's central government.

Hughes does an excellent job of mapping the development of city with changes in politics and the coming of the industrial revolution. At one point, Barcelona was filled with sweat shops, offering long 12 hour days, very low wages, unhealthy nasty work conditions, deprivation of exercise and light, and explotative child labor. As I walked the city of Barceona, I imagined the struggling families trying to survive under these conditions in times past.

Even though the full 574 pages are engaging in this long book, the chapters on Gaudi are the strongest, most enjoyable, and most insightful. If pressed for time before taking a tripto Spain, I would strongly recommend reading the sections on Gaudi before seeing his actual works which are spread out all over the city of Barcelona.

The concept that was fascinating to me was Hughes' explanation that Gaudi's work was in fact very conservative rather than radical. His work is based on a return to the natural object, the shell,the wing, the tail, the spine, the leaf, the root. His work takes these natural objects and reduces to essential form and then expands again from that essential form with texture, color, and sensitivity to the material and physicality of the medium. This explains the amazing popularity among the Japanese for the work of Gaudi, which philosophically and esthetically is more in line with Japanese culture and esthetics. Knowing this before seeing his Cathedral, parks, and residences gave me a completely new appreciation for Gaudi and the city in which he created his masterpieces.

Rating:
Summary: Impress your friends!
Review: One of those books that makes you feel like you know it all. When you finally finish it (and it does take a little effort) you'll think you're ready to lead tours of the city, even if you've never been there. Hughes finds so many great stories and artfully fits them together to make you think you're tuning in to a single millenium-length narrative.

Rating:
Summary: Visca Hughes!
Review: Pundits might argue that Mr. Hughes published this book with a commercial-minded orientation in light of the 1992 Summer Olympics. However, if you read it and absorb its calculated research, astounding lexicon and well-balanced content, you will be rewarded with a generous dissertation about the sociological, political, religious, historical, mythological, and, above all, architectural aspects of Barcelona. For the average reader this work is downright overkill and increasingly sluggish; its style lacking a dynamic and artful flow. Mr. Hughes' trade is not particularly conciseness, so his book spits out a plethora of events, politicians, noblemen, artists, anarchists, "casas", churches, and annecdotes that will overwhelm the reader. "Barcelona" was written for both the scholar and world-trotter (not that one who will pop in for a brief layover, though.) The art history chapters, specially those depicting the excessively ornamented Modernistic architecture, teem with ornate descriptions, yet Mr. Hughes provides us with poor, small, and black and white photographs incapable of accompanying the writer's flow. I deem inexcusable the author's lack of grit and abuse of honesty in acknowledging his inability to write about the Civil War, Francoism and contemporary Barcelona; highly appetizing topics.

Rating:
Summary: Erudite but also pompous and windy
Review: Robert Hughes has an enormous following, but I think it often has to do with people being impressed at his erudition (which is jaw-dropping) rather than at his actual insightfulness. He often pontificates when you would rather he would just describe or make a sustained argument; although this work is enormously informative, it lacks direction and drive when compared with some of Hughes' more successful works.

Rating:
Summary: Good detail on Barcelona and Catalunya
Review: Robert Hughes' "Barcelona" is the book that I wish that I had before I went to live in and around Barcelona, and since it came along after that time, reading it made me want to go back to that city again and again. By all means, if you plan to visit Barcelona or any other city in Catalunya, dedicate the time necessary to absorb this book before you go. It is not light reading, nor is it a "guidebook." The format doesn't really lend itself to a brief and casual visit -- but the market is full of those alternatives. Instead, you gain a more fulfilling context and deeper historical perspective. "Barcelona" is a bit like the famous Canaletas fountain near the head of the Ramblas. Once you have drunk from it, as they say, you are thereafter certain to return to the city.

Rating:
Summary: Gateway to the City
Review: Robert Hughes's book is a very enjoyable history of Barcelona from its founding by the Romans to the death of Gaudí in 1926.

In his preface, Hughes warns that "this is not intended to be, in any sense, a "scholarly work". It is a general introduction." That's fair, if a little modest. Certainly, you do not get a general history of the city. Hughes's style is to follow themes rather than to adhere to a strict chronology. Therefore, although by the end you have indeed arrived at 1926, the journey in between was a wandering one, with frequent overlaps. Like Hughes's history of early Australia, "The Fatal Shore", it's better to think of the book as a series in interconnected extended essays.

Hughes is an art critic; the real strength of the book lies, not surprisingly, in his analysis of developments in art, culture and architecture. Most of the book is devoted to these themes. Social, economic and political issues (though not neglected) are relegated to briefer sections. "Barcelona" is still a good read, but I suspect one would need to look elsewhere for a more in-depth examination of the socio-economic and political history of the city and treat this as a taster - just as Hughes wanted.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: Gateway to the City
Review: Robert Hughes's book is a very enjoyable history of Barcelona from its founding by the Romans to the death of Gaudí in 1926.

In his preface, Hughes warns that "this is not intended to be, in any sense, a "scholarly work". It is a general introduction." That's fair, if a little modest. Certainly, you do not get a general history of the city. Hughes's style is to follow themes rather than to adhere to a strict chronology. Therefore, although by the end you have indeed arrived at 1926, the journey in between was a wandering one, with frequent overlaps. Like Hughes's history of early Australia, "The Fatal Shore", it's better to think of the book as a series in interconnected extended essays.

Hughes is an art critic; the real strength of the book lies, not surprisingly, in his analysis of developments in art, culture and architecture. Most of the book is devoted to these themes. Social, economic and political issues (though not neglected) are relegated to briefer sections. "Barcelona" is still a good read, but I suspect one would need to look elsewhere for a more in-depth examination of the socio-economic and political history of the city and treat this as a taster - just as Hughes wanted.

G Rodgers