Beyond Building

"Beyond Building is a book of archival and analytical daring. A fine example of feminist recovery work, it convinces us yet again that the historical record itself remains a problem in the way it effaces women and gender non-conforming subjects from scenes they were very much a part of – here varied scenes of what Brevik-Zender memorably calls ‘architectural engagement.’ I found her discussion of Dieulafoy’s Parysatis especially striking, and I expect Brevik-Zender’s readers will all find many other stunning moments to treasure." -- Michael Lucey, University of California, Berkeley
"Heidi Brevik-Zender’s erudite yet accessible Beyond Building models what the best interdisciplinary work can do: bringing critical perspectives from literature, history, and visual culture to bear on each other to introduce a wholly original corpus that invites us to rethink what we know about nineteenth-century artistic and creative practices. This book makes an essential contribution to the history of architecture, but it does much more, convincing readers that architecture is an essential lens for understanding nineteenth-century French literature and material culture. Brevik-Zender makes an equally important intervention into gender history, exploring architectural creations not just beyond buildings but beyond the binary, resisting the conflation of the category of woman as it was understood at the time with the way individuals may have understood themselves. As a result, her analysis is deeply attuned to the nuances driving her five subjects and the diverse ways in which their architectural contributions were determined by their gender." -- Rachel Mesch, Boston University
"A remarkable tour de force which rewrites our understanding of women's roles in reshaping the architecture of nineteenth-century French culture. A book of astonishing breadth which invites us to think anew about how to move beyond the received limits of current interdisciplinarity." -- Nicholas White, University of Cambridge