With our primitive and sub-rudimentary
data connections in the regressive Vir-
ginian countryside, if we have begun to
see the smart and witty restoration pro-
posals of the moment's architects for
the rooftops and parapets of Notre Dame,
then we know we can trust our reader to
be able to lead this discussion, should
we somehow tumble from that peak of nau-
sea to which they all have floated us,
and be lucky, as if as a gargoyle, all
we should dispense from here were tears.
The other day, a considerate genius of
our acquaintance wrote in from that city
of angels on the further coast, to relay
Notre Dame has acquired through her many
centuries of witness to the follies of
the building trades, not least upon her
own elevations. I pass it along, hopeful
that the vigor of its perceptions, if not
their virtue, might serve as a kind of e-
metic buttress of humility in the face
of the heroically self-referential rap-
tures of our contractor-exhibitionists.
Paul Berman
The Tears of Quasimodo
Victor Hugo and the
Ideals of Progress
Tablet
April 24, 2019©
Applause !
ReplyDeleteSilvano