Synopses & Reviews
Rodolphe El-Khoury translates and introduces this first English edition of
The Little House, a forgotten masterpiece of 18th-century literature. The book is an important but overlooked architectural document, and has become an underground classic among architects and architectural historians.
The Little House narrates a plot of seduction as it gradually unfolds in a visit to an architectural and artistic gema maison de plaisance in suburban Parisenacting a tale of seduction, affect, and desire.
Princeton Architectural Press's The Little House is the first English edition of La petite maison to be published since the original French edition was released in 1879.
Review
This tiny book, with its luscious descriptions or forecourts and foreplay, is the neatest intersection of architecture adn sexuality since Dominique Francon fell -- like a ton of bricks, so to speak -- for Howard Roark in <> Cathleen Medwick, House and Garden
Synopsis
"This tiny book, with its luscious descriptions of forecourts and foreplay, is the neatest intersection of architecture and sexuality, since Dominique Francon fell -- like a ton of bricks, so to speak -- for Howard Roark in The Fountainhead". -- Cathleen Medwick, House & Garden
This 18th-century fictional narrative tells the tale of a seduction in a maison de plaisance outside of Paris. The house itself -- its architecture, gardens, artwork, and furnishings -- is the central element of the story.
Long an underground classic among architectural historians and theorists, The Little House has never before been published in English. Anthony Vidler's insightful preface and Rodolphe el-Khoury's informative introduction, notes, and careful translation make the novella accessible to the contemporary reader.
"Beautifully designed and reasonably priced, this book would make a fine gift for a saucy' friend". -- House & Garden
Synopsis
Exemplary of an 18th-century literary genre that combined fictional narrative with didactic observations on art and architecture, The Little House tells the tale of a seduction in a maison de plaisance outside of Paris. The house itself - its architecture, gardens, artwork, and furnishings - is the central element of a story in which an impressionable woman mistakes good taste for good intentions, with unforseen results. The Little House, long an underground classic among architectural historians and theorists, has never before been published in English. Anthony Vidler's insightful preface and Rodolphe el-Khoury's informative introduction, notes, and careful translation make the novella more accessible to the contemporary reader.