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Summary
Summary
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 apartments--all 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.
Author Notes
Novelist Alison Lurie was born September 3, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois to Harry and Bernice Stewart Lurie. She is an American novelist and academic. Lurie won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. She received an A.B. from Radcliffe College in 1947. After finishing college, Lurie worked as an editorial assistant for Oxford University Press in New York, but she wanted to make a living as a writer. After years of receiving rejection slips, she devoted herself to raising her children. Lurie had taught at Cornell University since 1968, becoming a full professor in 1976 specializing in folklore and children's literature.
Lurie's first novel was "Love and Friendship" (1962) and its characters were modeled on friends and colleagues. Afterwards, she published "The Nowhere City" (1965), "Imaginary Friends" (1967), "The War Between the Tates" (1974), which tells of the collapse of a perfect marriage between a professor and his wife, "Only Children" (1979), and "The Truth About Lorin Jones" (1988). "Foreign Affairs" (1984) won the Pulitzer Prize; it tells the story of two academics in England who learn more about love than academia. Her more recent books include the novels "Women and Ghosts" (1994), and "The Last Resort" (1998), and a work of nonfiction, "Familiar Spirits (2001)."
Among her awards and honors, she received honorary degrees from the University of Oxford (2006) and the University of Nottingham (2007). And from 2012-2014, she was the official author of the state of New York.
Alison Lurie died on December 3, 2020 in Ithaca, NY at the age of 94.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
According to Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Lurie (Foreign Affairs), buildings make statements "in brick and stone... metal and glass" if one knows what to look for. In this companion to The Language of Clothes, the author shows how architecture, buildings, and spaces affect us and how they reveal a wealth of information about their inhabitants. A lighthearted and lucid narrator, Lurie unearths the historical, psychological, social, and emotional meanings of public and private spaces: churches, museums, schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons, hotels, retirement communities, offices, stores, restaurants, and homes. Making use of ample wisdom from architectural historians, sociologists, philosophers, art critics, environmental psychologists, and others, Lurie discusses architecture as a moral force. For example, she writes about the way weather affected how houses were built in different parts of the country; the evolution of popular religious architecture in 19th- and 21st-century America and the particular denominations drawn to each style; and the way current concerns about safety have affected school and playground designs. At times, Lurie belabors the obvious (less welcoming homes have "high wall[s] around the whole property"), though, overall, her observations are witty, insightful, and playful, particularly in the chapter on religious buildings: "Some churches in southern Germany and Austria, with their gilt barley-sugar pilasters and whipped-cream cupids and angels, suggest a highly romantic nature, with a craving for sweets." Illus. throughout. Agent: Melanie Jackson, Melanie Jackson Agency. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Architecture can make a person feel many emotions including joy, awe, sadness, and foreboding. Lurie (English emerita, Cornell Univ.; The Language of Clothes) builds on this idea as she posits that architecture is a language that naturally conveys meaning to those who look upon a building. The author explores various types of buildings houses of worship, prisons, offices, hotels, restaurants, schools, and shopping malls and demonstrates how architectural choices influence how people feel and act within a structure. The bulk of the book covers residences, as in how these structures' size, building materials, decorations, and landscaping all play a role in how the building and its inhabitants are perceived. The material is highly readable and accessible and is most appropriate for casual readers as the author tends to generalize the psychological and social effects of architecture without the benefit of scholarly rigor. Additionally, Lurie is primarily concerned with architectural styles within the United States. VERDICT For casual readers interested in learning about architecture in the United States. Rebekah Kati, Duke Univ. Pr., Durham, NC (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.