Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–1983)

This book is almost 70 years old. As Pevsner states in the introduction, much about "national identity" is mutable. Many of the characteristics he ascribes to the English in 1955 are no longer part of an international vision of "England," while others have endured.

He makes it quite clear that he's trying to do something (pin down aspects of national identity as expressed artistically) that even the author finds a little suspect. He warns against the recent resurgence of nationalism and show more (more implicitly) ethnonationalism, and argues that "race" is a "dangerous" way to define national identity. So should one even try to do this? And avoiding narrow, chauvinistic ethnic or racial explanations for national identity, how could we do it?

In the end, he comes down on the factors of language, climate, geography, class structure, and political system as the ones that have determined the Englishness of English art. The visual characters are, essentially, linearity over plasticity; fact over fantasy. These are explored primarily through medieval architecture and 18th/early 19th century painting, with a tiny love letter at the end to modernist architecture and the New Towns of postwar Britain.

What a strange little document. show less

Not light reading by any means; this is a very in-depth, technical analysis of the cathedrals of England (ancient and modern) from an architectural point of view. The material was based on Pevsner's series of books on the buildings of England. There's a wealth of photographs and diagrams, and the material is presented logically, though it's assumed the reader has a high level of familiarity with the material. For specialists, but still enjoyable.

Replaces old edition by Pevsner alone. This is the part of the country which I know best and in which my soul and spirit truly live. An authoritative and truly comprehensive masterpiece. Reliable and companionable. Lovely colour photos do enhance the text. My only criticism is that the author is over-fond of understatement - more lavish praise of some buildings would not go amiss with this reader.

A useful summary. His prejudice against anything he deems "irrational" gets in the way though.