Glossary

THEMES

Locations - Sacher Hotel, Vienna; ancient Palazzo on the Canal Grande, balcony of couple's room (dinner by candlelight), Italy, near Villach; cemetery on the Tagliamento River; Venice (canals, churches, palaces, Rialto bridge, Riva degli Schiavoni, newly built pavilons, gardens, neo-classical buildings), villa in the Masaryk (couple's rented house), Czech Republic (railway station), The Grand Hotel; Cernopolni, Blackfield hill (their new house), park,

Interiors - the Landauer's house - two storeys and a basement. Entrance from the upper floor. Floor area of five hundred square meters, garage for a car saloon, quarters for servants, bedrooms and bathrooms on the entrance floor and living room below. Huge windows, plate glass,

Family - definitely valuable part of life for the couple which wanted to build a perfect house for themselves and a child who was about to be born,

Fleeing - although Viktor loved his wife, he was fleeing away from the reality and from his family. He did not really understand why he had this love affair, but he didn't feel sorry, he wanted to cheat on his wife again and again. Maybe he expirienced different feelings with Kata, maybe he was jelous about special connection between his wife and the architect or maybe he was way over of his head,

Structure/Construction - 'mechanical excavator churn the soil, the land was cut away, the ramp was leading down and clad with planks to stabilise it, the foundations were sank and concrete was laid, cement mixtures churned'; steel pillars; four-angle beams to support construction; cruciform cross-section; the hammering of the riveters and the clangour of steel cut through the tranquility; the house rose from the frames outside to the inside,

Ambition - architect von Abt was very ambitious, always did everything to achieve his goal,

Travel - Vienna, Venice, Masaryk, Czech Republic (the couple travelled around Europe because of their honeymoon and they met von Abt during this trip),

Future - Viktor wanted his house to be a reflection of the future. He didn't want chandeliers, silk walls, elaborate and ornate interior (everything just the opposite way),

Modernism - period in art and architecture on which this book focuses. The Laundaers' new house is designed in a very modernist way (simple, lot of space, huge windows, walls made out of concrete and glass, everything was functional),

Glass - one of the main materials that was used to build the house. Huge, glass windows let the sunlight through so that colours inside were constantly changing, although walls were painted white,

Sexuality - prostitution (Kata with anonymous guys) and on the other side, husband and wife making love (Viktor and Liesel),

Space - empty space enclosed with walls,

Lies - Viktor has a love affair with an anonymous girl, (later we get to know her name - Kata),

History - story happens in 1929; time of technical progress; period before World War II,

Exterior - house and garden as one, silver birch as the axis of garden, house built upside down,

Surfaces - balsa wood, celluloid, cork, pillars of chrome, concrete, glaucous pearl, glass, glossy prints, white plaster, mosaics, velvet drapes, ormolu lamps, onyx, alabaster, travertine, linoleum,

Power - von Abt had a power to build a house for the couple; Viktor had a power over money,

Women's role - to satisfy men's needs (Katalin), to give birth to children (Liesel),

Religion - Viktor is a Jew, Leisel Christian,