In the eighteenth century the Alps became the subject of a new view of nature, which crystallized in the sublime. Oscillating between fear and fascination, this sensual experience triggered a thrilling borderline experience: travelers ventured to the mountain world full of longing and projected a variety of different dreams onto the "wild nature" that had yet to be explored. To what extent has the sublime influenced architecture in the Alps, from the early days of tourism to the present? Prompted by this question, the author analyzes Alpine architecture in its historical context and offers a critical assessment of contemporary tourism. This is a book that inspires us to reflect on the future of building in the Alps and on our relationship with nature.

In the eighteenth century the Alps became the subject of a new view of nature, which crystallized in the sublime. Oscillating between fear and fascination, this sensual experience triggered a thrilling borderline experience: travelers ventured to the mountain world full of longing and projected a variety of different dreams onto the "wild nature" that had yet to be explored. To what extent has the sublime influenced architecture in the Alps, from the early days of tourism to the present? Prompted by this question, the author analyzes Alpine architecture in its historical context and offers a critical assessment of contemporary tourism. This is a book that inspires us to reflect on the future of building in the Alps and on our relationship with nature.

The Imperial Sublime examines the rise of the Russian empire as a literary theme simultaneous with the evolution of Russian poetry between the 1730s and 1840—the century during which poets defined the main questions facing Russian literature and society. Harsha Ram shows how imperial ideology became implicated in an unexpectedly wide range of issues, from formal problems of genre, style, and lyric voice to the vexed relationship between the poet and the ruling monarch.

Even in her earliest works, Georgia O'Keeffe was a visionary who intuitively created her own definitions of the sublime, enhanced the perception of its visual symbols, and provided new ways to view the surrounding environment and explore one's inner self. Over the past two centuries, the concept of the sublime has been substantially redefined by a small number of artists, writers, and critics. For O'Keeffe, already imbued with the spiritual and transcendental, the sublime was not a theoretical concept; it was manifest in her everyday worldly experiences. Although most of O'Keeffe's works are landscapes, the sublime, for her, was not necessarily associated with a physical location. As only few others have, O'Keeffe demonstrated an intuitive association with all that can be considered sublime, and in her remarkable journey with color, line, light, and form, from the abstract to the representational, she pursued a spiritual quest that has dramatically refined the visual qualities of the sublime.