The Essay as Form

This essay explores German sociologist Theodor Adorno’s 1958 text “The Essay as Form”, through the writings of a quintet of English post-war architectural historians: John Summerson, Colin Rowe, Alan Colquhoun, Reyner Banham and Robin Evans. It argues that each of these historians’ commitment...

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Main Author: Thomas Weaver
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad San Sebastian 2014-08-01
Series:Materia Arquitectura
Subjects:
Online Access:http://materiaarquitectura.com/index.php/MA/article/view/180
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author Thomas Weaver
author_facet Thomas Weaver
author_sort Thomas Weaver
collection DOAJ
description This essay explores German sociologist Theodor Adorno’s 1958 text “The Essay as Form”, through the writings of a quintet of English post-war architectural historians: John Summerson, Colin Rowe, Alan Colquhoun, Reyner Banham and Robin Evans. It argues that each of these historians’ commitment to the essay form has gone largely unnoticed among any kind of appreciation of their work, and more generally that the essay, as a very particular way of communicating learned ideas in a populist way, should be resurrected as an important and accessible model for all academic writing.  
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spelling doaj-art-d71fb3a26b9b47aaa1e6969dc52f8b772025-08-20T03:01:55ZengUniversidad San SebastianMateria Arquitectura0718-70332735-75032014-08-010910.56255/ma.v0i09.180The Essay as FormThomas Weaver0Architectural Association School of Architecture This essay explores German sociologist Theodor Adorno’s 1958 text “The Essay as Form”, through the writings of a quintet of English post-war architectural historians: John Summerson, Colin Rowe, Alan Colquhoun, Reyner Banham and Robin Evans. It argues that each of these historians’ commitment to the essay form has gone largely unnoticed among any kind of appreciation of their work, and more generally that the essay, as a very particular way of communicating learned ideas in a populist way, should be resurrected as an important and accessible model for all academic writing.  http://materiaarquitectura.com/index.php/MA/article/view/180Architecturewritinghistoriographyessayacademicism
spellingShingle Thomas Weaver
The Essay as Form
Materia Arquitectura
Architecture
writing
historiography
essay
academicism
title The Essay as Form
title_full The Essay as Form
title_fullStr The Essay as Form
title_full_unstemmed The Essay as Form
title_short The Essay as Form
title_sort essay as form
topic Architecture
writing
historiography
essay
academicism
url http://materiaarquitectura.com/index.php/MA/article/view/180
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