American ruins: nostalgia, amnesia, and Blitzkrieg bop
Abstract
“American Ruins: Nostalgia, Amnesia, and Blitzkrieg Bop” considers the
symbolic role of contemporary urban ruins in the American imagination and in their
relationship to America’s past. The United States contains more urban ruins than any
other developed nation, yet ruins remain largely ignored as official sites of
commemoration. This dissertation takes a look at the prominence of ruins as well as their
invisibility, considering their role as sites of cultural memory, as well as how they are
represented in literature, film, the visual arts, and the media. Throughout this study, an
analysis of ruins as a motif in Romantic literature demonstrates how contemporary ways
of seeing American ruins both challenge and conform to Romantic modes of
contemplating these structures. In Chapter One, the fate of Civil War ruins is set against
the history of Civil War commemoration and preservation in order to trace what
narratives have been promoted about the conflict and what narratives have been erased.
Chapter Two focuses on amusement ruins in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In popular
recollections of Asbury Park, these ruins recall a legacy of racism and corruption as well
as inspire nostalgia for the “glory days” of a working-class resort. In Chapter Three, the
Aliso Village Housing Project ruins in Los Angeles testify to the ways in which attitudes
towards age and ruin can help to justify the displacement and disruption of low-income
communities. The final chapter studies the ruins of the World Trade Center in light of a
history of New York City ruins beginning with the South Bronx during the 1970s and
1980s. Taken together, these case studies demonstrate how ruins can reflect the cultural
memories of communities that remain under-represented by national monuments and
memorials. The sites considered in this dissertation highlight examples of insidious
traumas that frame the American experience (racism, displacement, economic upheaval),
issues that put the process of commemoration/signification in crisis. These examples
suggest possibilities for the incorporation of ruins into a commemorative landscape that
would recognize America’s violent past and convulsive economic changes, as well offer
a place to mourn and learn.