Varley, Ann;
(2024)
Beyond the chintz: making room to live. Reviewing Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee, London, Peninsula Press, 2022, 160 pp, ISBN 978-1-913-51219-4 (paper).
[Review].
Scottish Geographical Journal
, 140
(1-2)
pp. 303-310.
10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128.
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Abstract
Walter Benjamin’s criticisms of dwelling and the modern interior are well known. The middle classes retreated from the alienation of nineteenth-century city life into domestic seclusion, surrounding themselves with soft furnishings in a search for comfort. In Living Rooms (2022), Sam Johnson-Schlee uses objects typically found in the living room or lounge as his starting point for the development of Benjamin’s ideas. Recognising the labour invested in domestic commodities would allow us to realise our dreams of connecting with others and escaping the confines of capitalism like roots breaking out of a plant pot. The personal observations used to support the arguments reflect the experience of Generation Rent. They inform an attempt to relate IKEA’s 1996 ‘Chuck out that chintz!’ advert to crucial changes in the British housing market. The emphasis on labour largely sidelines household labour and its gendering, with the exception of the activities of ‘cleanfluencer’ Mrs. Hinch. The link between domestic commodities and our longing for intimacy is effectively depicted using a combination of historical research, cultural references and family stories. Plants and flowers are used throughout to illustrate specific arguments and to serve as a symbol of a different, and better, life.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Beyond the chintz: making room to live. Reviewing Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee, London, Peninsula Press, 2022, 160 pp, ISBN 978-1-913-51219-4 (paper) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Living Rooms, home, Walter Benjamin, commodities, dwelling |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10190703 |
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