Magown, Robin (text) and Gippenreiter, Vadim (photos). Fabled Cities of Central Asia: Samarkand-Bukhara-Khiva. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989.
This is not the first old book I have become enchanted with, nor will it be the last. My all-time favorite self-help book is an Officer's Manual for the US Air Force from 1954 (cost: USD 1) that advises me to buck up and be a man when facing difficulties (good idea, part one; not likely, part two). The charm of old books is that their sociological assumptions are so completely out of date. Therefore, cultural assumptions are easily bypassed onto whatever lasting virtue is conveyed. Running into those older conceptions also prompts me to realize that my cherished assumptions will be quite fusty soon–maybe as early as next week.
Uzbek SSR–A veritable Paradise
At times, however, this wonder can turn into a wilfully suspended disbelief. For instance, when discussing Samarkand's Bibi Khanum's dome, the Magown writes: “the project of rebuilding a structure of the Bibi Khanum's scale could not help but appeal to the men of the Kremlin” –which is why the dome was renovated (a-historically) to remove “the most poetic of cracks.” Is it better to fix it or not fix it? Somehow I think Magown would have rhapsodized over either. And more along this vein.
Uzbek SSR–Glorious Views
Some of the kitschy attitude in the writing also appears in the photographs as well: a sure indication that this book is about beauty and not documentary truth. Accordingly, the photos with people in them are reminiscent of National Geographic: Every costume clean and Elaborate; everyone in native dress; the picturesque aged and young women. No kommisars, young men, or children in this book. But the kitsch disappears when the photographer confronts his real subject: Islamic architecture.
The sense of space and proportion in these buildings is beautifully conveyed; the decay of past glory through both climate and neglect; the strong design sense that applies to decoration. This is of course, the book's true value, and how it does eventually, transcend time: by turning to the monuments that have transcended time for far longer.
Photos: Horizon Book.com; Uzbekistan.org; johndarm.clara.net