Instant online reading.
Don't wait for delivery!
Go digital and save!

Plotting Gothic

By: Stephen Murray

Write A Review

Hardcover | 6 March 2015 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
336 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.64 x 1.87 x 0.23

Hardcover

$133.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $33.44 with

or

Ships in 5 to 10 business days

A historian of medieval art and architecture with a rich appreciation of literary studies, Stephen Murray brings all those fields to bear on a new approach to understanding the great Gothic churches of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Plotting Gothicpositions the rhetoric of the Gothic as a series of three interlocking plots: a spatial plot tied to the material construction of the churches, a social plot stemming from the collaborative efforts that made Gothic output possible, and a rhetorical plot involving narratives that treat the churches as objects of desire. Drawing on the testimony of three witnesses involved in church building-Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, Gervase of Canterbury, and the image maker Villard de Honnecourt-and a range of secondary sources, Murray traces common patterns in the way medieval buildings were represented in words and images. Our witnesses provide vital information about the way the great churches of Gothic were built and the complexity of their meanings. Taking a fresh approach to Gothic architecture, Plotting Gothic offers an invigorating new way to understand some of the most lasting achievements of the medieval era.

Industry Reviews

"Plotting Gothic is not a new book about an old subject; it's a new kind of architectural history. Murray reads cathedrals as objects of desire by those who planned and built them . . . and makes us see them with avid eyes."--Stephen G. Nichols, author of Romanesque Signs: Early Medieval Narrative and Iconography
"A compact overview of the phenomenon of Gothic architecture. . . . Although some of Murray's conclusions may be controversial, the discussion they generate can only be beneficial to the continued study of the great Gothic structures of the Middle Ages. Recommended."
-- "Choice"
"Murray expertly intertwines his interlocutors' narrative with a wealth of scholarly information, and while his overall narrative is linear, as each chapter builds on the previous, he tells many interconnected stories that demonstrate his own love affair with the subject, providing a window into the motives and feelings of the people who lived Gothic."
-- "ARLIS/NA Reviews"
"The real joy of the book [is] seeing how the witnesses, builders and rulers transform thought into stone and mortar. . . . A doorway to understanding how the power of Gothic came to be and why it resounds and amazes even to our time."
-- "Manhattan Book Review"
"This book is full of invigorating observations on three of the most iconic witnesses of Gothic."

-- "Journal of the British Archaeological Association"

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $0.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.