Fictional wanderings
Dear All,
Lockdown 2.0 is well upon those of us in the UK and I hope you are all keeping well. I don’t know about you but I am in need of a little escapism and have been dealing with the dark, and the cold and the enforced absence of a social life with a little bit more reading. For those here for more serious architectural content I am very sorry - this is a letter of some of my favourite fictional places.
I’m re-reading Wolf Hall at the moment and love the descriptions of the homes, palaces and streets that Hillary Mantel weaves through her narrative. There is a particular thrill of reading about a place you regularly walked through (before covid lockdowns) in a different age… and I must admit my mental imaginings of Greenwich Palace are entangled with my experience of the Royal Naval Academy there. However, it is also the way she uses rooms as backdrops to her characters that adds so much richness to an even mildly architectural reading.
“He imagines the cardinal among the canons at Southwell, in his chair at the high chapter house, presiding beneath the high vaulting like a prince at his ease in some forest glade, wreathed by carvings of leaves and flowers. They are so supple that it is as if the columns, the ribs have quickened, as if stone has burst into florid life…”
I realise that this London is not entirely fictional - but this one entirely is- strictly in the interests of Christmas shopping browsing for my two year old niece (and that is the story I am sticking to) I rediscovered the delightful Brambly Hedge books. I used to love these when I was younger- not so much for the stories of the hedgerow animals but for the beautiful and intricate drawings of the town in a hedgerow Jill Barklem describes.
I think I may have even referred to one during one of my degrees for drawing inspiration- but never tell any of my old tutors that- the ‘doll’s house’ look has never been trendy in architecture school! (Though arguably Atelier Bow Wow have found a sophisticated way of doing this.) There is also a reference in the writings of Plato to the need for trainee architects to learn their trade with miniature tools building dolls houses, but this is besides the point.
Children’s literature is so full of wonderful places but were I to recount at length the delights in Narnia, Just William, Beatrix Potter, The Famous Five, Treasure Island, Little Women and so on you would all no doubt get very bored- as a point of personal pride I would also like to assure you I do read ‘grown-up’ books! I flicked back through Anna Karenina which I am halfway through but couldn’t find the scene that had stood out to me.
However, one of the most magical ‘grown-up’ places I have read is Terry Pratchett’s disc world. A sort of satirical re-telling of our world, the disc world is both hilarious and profound- Ankh Morpork - a sort of London-ish he describes thus:
“Poets have tried to describe Ankh-Morpork. They have failed. Perhaps it’s the sheer zestful vitality of the place, or maybe it’s just that a city with a million inhabitants and no sewers is rather robust for poets, who prefer daffodils and no wonder. So let’s just say that Ankh-Morpork is as full of life as an old cheese on a hot day, as loud as a curse in a cathedral, as bright as an oil slick, as colourful as a bruise and as full of activity, industry, bustle and sheer exuberant busyness as a dead dog on a termite mound”.
There is also a rather wonderful- and so resonant- description of a house in Susannah Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.
“Houses, like people, are apt to become rather eccentric if left too much on their own; this house was the architectural equivalent of an old gentleman in a worn dressing-gown and torn slippers, who got up and went to bed at odd times of day, and who kept up a continual conversation with friends no one else could see.”
Please do comment below or reply if you know of any wonderful fictional places we can retreat to over this strangest of winters.
In other news I am very excited to have just signed a contract with RIBA publishing to co-author a book on the history of the architectural profession - more on this anon; I had so much fun speaking to my co-author’s final year students at The Architectural Association on the profession and professionalism recently; and I was flattered to be featured in Lloyd Alter’s most recent piece on environmental website treehugger.com.
In news slightly less self promotional I have been watching the discussions around the new road near Stonehenge with interest; was interested to note this news on the 'festival of Brexit' and found this article on art displayed in people's windows charming.
As ever, do please feel free to forward this note to anyone you think may enjoy it!
Until next time!