Imagining Earth

... with the editors

1. Why a book on this subject?

Since its first appearance in 1972, the image of the Blue Marble has lost none of its appeal. To the contrary, it has become the most reproduced image of all times. However, what is often overlooked, is its narrative quality. We wanted to assemble perspectives on this famous icon which read it as both image and narrative and thus contribute to understanding the complex processes involved in »Imagining Earth«.

2. What relevance does this subject have in the current research debates?

In the midst of the debate on the so-called Anthropocene, the relevance of discussing how and in which contexts Earth is imagined as a whole cannot be overstated. The image is still at the center of both visual and narrative concepts of wholeness or, even more prominently, perceived threats to said wholeness. The urgency with which conflicting visions of planet and humanity as precarious agents of ›Earth‹ is presented tends to forego much needed historicization and analysis of the meaning of its core-icon.

3. What new perspectives does your book open up?

This collection is the first to bring together German and US research and thinking on the topic of the whole Earth in such an intense manner. Hence, the volume covers accounts of the mathematical, medial and historical emergence of whole Earth imagery as well as whole Earth tought and is able to confront this with literary history, such as telluric imagination from the 17th to the 21st century.

4. Who would you preferably like to discuss your book with?

As the book already is a discussion, we would like to open up the floor to representatives of natural sciences, engineering, and people involved in implementing the politics associated with the Blue Marble image. Bringing together different perspectives is the main goal of the book. Hence there really is no limit as to whom we would like to discuss the book with. It deals with ›our home planet‹, thus there is no one who is not immediately concerned by its topic.

5. Your book in only one sentence:

»Imagining Earth« contemplates the narrative, media and philosophic contexts of our most defining icon.