Review: Conjuring the Real: The Role of Architecture in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Fiction, by Rumiko Handa and James Potter

Abstract

Rumiko Handa and James Potter, editors. Conjuring the Real: The Role of Architecture in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Fiction . Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011, 232 pp., 33 b/w illus. $35.00, ISBN 9780803217430. Given how much has been written about architecture and literature over the last few decades, the subtitle of this book might seem to promise a belated subject. The essays collected here are the result of a lecture series held in 2007 at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, though the length and density of some of them suggest versions that preceded their presentation at that conference. This density is in fact one of the strengths of this book, which strays far from its title and announced theme. The other strength is the astounding roster of contributors, many of whom will be familiar to readers of this journal. For those not familiar with them, this volume is valuable as an introduction to some of the leading figures in fields as far apart as literary medievalism, structuralist art history, poststructuralist architectural theory, and Victorian set design. Most of the chapters restate arguments or present evidence that the authors have published in earlier forms. An analogy might be some projects that bring in a team of superstar architects to design separate buildings for what is supposed to be a common project. Rumiko Handa, one of the editors, provides the introduction to the volume, explaining that the lecture series was part of an effort to integrate architecture into the study of the humanities. One aspect of this effort is a …