Main entry:

Sweeting, Adam W., 1963-

Title & Author:

Reading houses and building books : Andrew Jackson Downing and the architecture of popular antebellum literature, 1835-1855 / Adam W. Sweeting.

Publication:

Hanover : University Press of New England, [1996]
©1996

Description:

x, 230 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-197) and index.
Ch. 1. "The Imperfections of Our Nature": Downing's Landscapes and the Picturesque -- Ch. 2. "For Convenience and Comfort": Downing's Architectural Pattern Books -- Ch. 3. Framing the Restless Mirror: The Hudson River and the Genteel Aesthetic -- Ch. 4. "A More Beautiful and Tasteful Model": Architecture, Morality, and Gentility -- Ch. 5. "A Very Pleasant Patriarchal Life": The Homes of the Genteel Romantics -- Ch. 6. The Stage Comes to Life: The Socialization of Genteel Aesthetics.
Also issued online.

Summary:

Andrew Jackson Downing's reputation as architect, landscape designer, and author spread far beyond his native Hudson River Valley during the first half of the 19th century. But as Adam Sweeting suggests in this elegantly written, illustrated account, Downing's real legacy lies in the philosophical statement he created by melding the literary and building arts with an intensely moralistic outlook.
Along with such contemporaries as William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, and Frederick Law Olmsted, Downing pursued what Sweeting calls genteel romanticism, an ideal that viewed the confluence of polite literature and graceful dwellings as not just an aesthetic statement, but an ethical imperative.
This study of a unique coalescence of literature, architecture, and gardening illuminates "the widely held belief that efforts to reform the world began at home, that beautiful and clean houses produced morally beautiful and spiritually clean people."

ISBN:

0874517508 (alk. paper)
9780874517507 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Downing, A. J. (Andrew Jackson), 1815-1852 Influence.
Downing, Andrew Jackson, 1815-1852 Influence.
Downing, A. J. (Andrew Jackson), 1815-1852
Downing, Andrew J. 1815-1852
Downing, Andrew Jackson Influence.
Downing, Andrew J.
American literature Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.) History and criticism.
Authors, American Homes and haunts Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)
American literature 19th century History and criticism.
Popular literature United States History and criticism.
Books and reading United States History 19th century.
Architecture and literature History 19th century.
Landscape architecture United States.
Books and reading United States 19th century History.
Littérature américaine Hudson, Vallée de l' (N.Y. et N.J.) Histoire et critique.
Littérature américaine 19e siècle Histoire et critique.
Paralittérature États-Unis Histoire et critique.
Livres et lecture États-Unis 19e siècle Histoire.
Architecture et littérature Histoire 19e siècle.
Écrivains américains Résidences et lieux familiers Hudson, Vallée de l' (N.Y. et N.J.)
Architecture du paysage États-Unis.
American literature
Architecture and literature
Authors, American Homes and haunts
Books and reading
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Intellectual life
Landscape architecture
Popular literature
Architektur
Architekturtheorie
Gartenkunst
Literatur
Wohnungsbau
Ästhetik
Popular literature United States 19th century History and criticism.
Landscape architecture United States History 19th century.
Geschichte 1835-1855.
Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.) Intellectual life 19th century.
Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.) Intellectual life.
Hudson, Vallée de l' (N.Y. et N.J.) Vie intellectuelle 19e siècle.
Hudson, Vallée de l' (N.Y. et N.J.) Vie intellectuelle.
United States
United States Hudson River Valley
Neuengland
USA
English literature

Form/genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 120164
Call No.: ID NA44.D751 S9; ID:96-B414
Status: Available