Synopses & Reviews
In 1981 Alison Lurie published
The Language of Clothes, a meditation on costume and fashion as an expression of history, social status and individual psychology. Amusing, enlightening and full of literary allusion, the book was highly praised and widely anthologized.
Now Lurie has returned with a companion book, The Language of Houses, a lucid, provocative and entertaining look at how the architecture of buildings and the spaces within them both reflect and affect the people who inhabit them. Schools, churches, government buildings, museums, prisons, hospitals, restaurants, and of course, houses and apartmentsall of them speak to human experience in vital and varied ways.
The Language of Houses discusses historical and regional styles and the use of materials such as stone and wood and concrete, as well as contemplating the roles of stairs and mirrors, windows and doors, tiny rooms and cathedral-like expanses, illustrating its conclusions with illuminating literary references and the comments of experts in the field.
Accompanied by lighthearted original drawings, The Language of Houses is an essential and highly entertaining new contribution to the literature of modern architecture.
Review
“Alison Lurie, in her lucid, jargon-free way, allows us to read what architecture is saying. She has culled the best ideas from a vast secondary literature and passed it all through the sieve of her brilliant mind.” Edmund White, author of < i=""> Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris <>
Review
“There's much to absorb in this sequel to Alison Lurie's The Language of Clothes, but The Language of Houses is an extraordinarily absorbing bookit wears its learning lightly, holding this reader's attention the way a fine novel does. I was particularly fascinated by the linked chapters on religious buildings and museums.” James McConkey, author of < i=""> Court of Memory <>
Review
“ The Language of Houses has every quality you would expect from a work by Alison Lurie: intelligence, authority, wit and charm.” Louis Begley
Review
“The Language of Houses …. makes a powerful argument that how we choose to order the space we live and work in reveals far more about us.… full of mischievous apercus, and Ms. Lurie at her best is bracingly subversive….a mine of adroit observation, uncovering apparently humdrum details to reveal their unexpected, and occasionally poignant, human meaning.” Wall Street Journal
Review
“. . . a book meticulously packed with facts, paradoxes and observations. . . . a rich compendium of information, exploring how we inhabit our homes, our offices and our places of learning, leisure and worship, from every conceivable angle, in neatly organized chapters addressing each category of building.” Seattle Times
Review
“Lurie maintains a light touch with such damning observations. . . One of the books best chapters treats public high schools. . . .its insights into our vanity, and capacity for almost negligent public construction, are ripe for the gleaning.” Boston Globe
Synopsis
Schools, churches, government buildings, museums, prisons, hospitals, restaurants, and of course, houses and homes.
How does the structure resonate with us, whether due to the materials used, or the small or vast spaces within?
Lurie has returned with The Language of Houses, a provocative and entertaining journey through the architecture of houses and buildings and the divided spaces within that come to reflect the attitudes and purposes of the organizations and people who inhabit them.
Synopsis
In the 1980s, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alison Lurie wrote a meditation on clothing as an expression of history, social status and individual psychology.
The Language of Clothes came to be highly regarded in the literature of couture and design.
Lurie has returned with The Language of Houses, a provocative and entertaining journey through the architecture of houses and buildings and the divided spaces within come to reflect the attitudes and purposes of the organizations and people who inhabit them.
What makes a house is in the eye of the beholder, and the word can mean anything from church to office to domicile and more and relies on the use of materials such as stone and wood and stucco and the roles of stairs and windows, tight interiors and open expanses. Structures under scrutiny include schools, churches, government buildings, museums, prisons, hospitals, restaurants, and of course, houses and homes.
Filled with literary references from Kafka to Hawthorne and charming hand-drawings by Karen Chen, Luries new work is an essential and highly entertaining new contribution to the literature of buildings and architecture.
About the Author
Alison Lurie, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Foreign Affairs, has published ten books of fiction, four works of non-fiction, and three collections of tales for children. She is a former professor of English at Cornell University, and lives in an old house in upstate New York with her husband, the Writer, Edward Hower.