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An iconic figure in American culture, Frank Lloyd Wright is famous throughout the world. Although his achievements in architecture are stunning, it is his importance in cultural history, Jerome Klinkowitz contends, that makes Wright the object of such avid and continuing interest. Designing more than just buildings, Wright offered a concept for living that still influences how people conduct their lives today. Wright's innovations in architecture have been widely studied, but this is the most comprehensive and sustained treatment of his thought.

Klinkowitz presents a critical biography driven by the architect's own work and intellectual growth, focusing on the evolution of Wright's thinking and writings from his first public addresses in 1894 to his last essay in 1959. Did Wright reject all of Victorian thinking about the home, or do his attentions to a minister's sermon on "the house beautiful" deserve closer attention? Was Wright echoing the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson, or was he more in step with the philosophy of William James? Did he reject the Arts and Crafts movement, or repurpose its beliefs and practices for new times? And, what can be said of his deep dissatisfaction with architectural concepts of his own era, the dominant modernism that became the International Style? Even the strongest advocates of Frank Lloyd Wright have been puzzled by his objections to so much that characterized the twentieth century, from ideas for building to styles of living.

In Frank Lloyd Wright and His Manner of Thought , Klinkowitz, a widely published authority on twentieth-century literature, thought, and culture, examines the full extent of Wright's books, essays, and lectures to show how he emerged from the nineteenth century to anticipate the twenty-first.



Outstanding Book, selected by the American Association of School Librarians



Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Reviewers

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface
• Introduction: Truth against the World
• 1 Architects and Machines
• 2 The Prairie and the World
• 3 Japan and After
• 4 An Autobiography and the Fellowship
• 5 Broadacre City and the 1930s
• Conclusion: A Second Career
• Appendix: Divorce Papers of William C. and Anna L. Wright
• Bibliography of Works Consulted
• Index

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The literature of architecture includes many studies of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959); his singular genius, his innovative design, his departure from the past, and his grasp of the future. However, few if any, explore the mind of the artist, the philosophical and cultural context of his development, and the wide and varied influences upon his vision of life, love, and humanity. With a keen eye and a deep understanding of the thought processes to be found in Wright's voluminous writings, Klinkowitz (English, Univ. of Northern Iowa) has chronicled the evolution of a philosophy which sought to understand and illuminate the human condition. Familiar images of his works-the Prairie House, the Imperial Hotel in Japan, dwellings built with flowing spaces and no clean definition between inside and outside-are called upon in the examination of the inner workings of an artist's thoughts that never ceased to question. The complexity of his thinking, both as an architect and as a philosopher of the aesthetic, was astounding and Klinkowitz has done a splendid job of tracing these multiple byways and illuminating the final achievements. VERDICT Scholarly, if intense, this is a notable contribution to both architectural and cultural history. For the reader in search of a short but elegant biography, one of the best is Frank Lloyd Wright by Ada Louise Huxtable (2004).-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

That Frank Lloyd Wright was his own greatest creation is a truism rendered all the more defensible with this critique of the architect's collected writings. As Klinkowitz (Univ. of Northern Iowa) rightly observes, even when beset by personal scandals, financial hardships, and old age, Wright was able to write himself back into relevance as the United States' perennially pertinent architect-author, for whom the articulation of ideas had always been a regular pursuit. Motivated to build and write (1.5 million words in total) by an obsession with organic architecture, Wright was in such absolute control of his canon that, right from the start in 1894 and despite seven decades of subsequent refinements and variations, both his manner of design and his manner of thought were never inconsistent or contradictory. In this respect, Klinkowitz's book is a perfect companion to Robert McCarter's edited On and By Frank Lloyd Wright: A Primer of Architectural Principles (CH, Jul'06, 43-6331). It similarly engages the buildings of this design genius--not as products of mere biographical or historical happenstance, but through penetrating analyses of the compositions themselves. Each book buttresses the other by demonstrating that, whether expressing himself in concrete or abstract terms, Wright was the most principled architect-philosopher of modern times. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. --W. Mick Charney, Kansas State University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Jerome Klinkowitz is a University Distinguished Scholar and professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa. He is the author and editor of many books, including four editions of The Norton Anthology of American Literature .