Book Review
(text)
Glass Architecture by Paul Scheerbart.
Edited by Dennis Sharp; James Palmes, translator.
New York, 1972 (first published in Berlin, 1914).
Is the editor of this remarkable book kidding? He introduces Glass Architecture as if it were about architecture. Yes, and he even cites some eminent architects who say they were seriously inspired by it. Well! Maybe that’s why mid-century structures are so strange.
No. Though comparatively unknown at present, neither Scheerbart nor his hilarious insouciance can long remain misconstrued. Among his other works were Rakkox the Billionaire: A Snobbish Novel (1900), Ever Courageous! A Fantastic Hippopotamus Novel (1902), and The Development of Air Warfare and the Dissolution of European Ground Forces, Fortresses, and Navies; An Ephemeral (1909). Glass Architecture (1914) is made up of 111 short chapters. Here’s chapter 44, “Vanquishing Vermin”, in its entirety: “That in a glass house, if properly built, vermin must be unknown, needs no further comment.”
Page(s) 31
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