On the book: Architecture and magic

[pegkerr]

Today, as pameladean says, I glared at my novel awhile, specifically chapter 2, where I am trying to figure out the transition from the (pretty good) opening scene at home between Solveig and Ingrid, to Solveig meeting Jack for the first time at work. Finally, gave up and switched to writing one of Solveig's journal entries, which is more words on the page, but am not sure it will be included in the book.

Have been thinking: what is it about the fact that Solveig is an architect that shapes the ending (the final climax, etc.) about the ending of the book? How is the fact that Solveig is an architect significant magically? I started thinking about the concept of "genius," which I first picked up on in a footnote (!) to the mystery novel Jane and the Genius of the Place, by Stephanie Barron (quite good, as are all other novels in this series, if you're wondering. Jane Austen as detective. A delight to readers familiar with her books.) Anyway, the footnote reads:

It was Alexander Pope (1688-1744) who remarked that nothing could be achieved in landscape design without respect for the "genius of the place"--the governing spirit of a particular landscape. He referred to an idea first stated by Horace, that every place possessed a resident genie, that must be propitiated if Beauty was to be achieved. Pope probably intended this to mean a respect for the natural attributes of the terrain; but at times his words were interpreted quite literally as a respect for a resident god.

You see where this is going, don't you? Neil Gaiman worked with this, in a way, in American Gods, although he seemed to say that gods were tied to both a people and a place. He hypothesized that the people who came over to the New World brought their old world gods with them, but as there were fewer and fewer people who believed in those old gods (Odin, Loki, etc.), the old gods weakened as the new gods of technology, money, the Internet, etc., waxed in power. Emma Bull perhaps touched upon a similar idea, glancingly, in War for the Oaks, where the phouka says that the soul a city is centered on water; he locates Minneapolis's heart (nexus of its power) at Minnehaha Falls.

So if there is a genius of the place in Minneapolis/St. Paul, what would it be? Some kind of Amerindian/Scandinavian mixture, perhaps? The discussion of geniuses of places I read concerned landscape design, but why should it not concern architecture/building design, too, as buildings, too have to fit into places? What would the genius be for the ice palace? The Frost King, perhaps? And after all, an ice palace melts, just as spring follows winter. Perhaps the genius of the place changes with the change of the seasons? That seems to be what the St. Paul Winter Carnival myth is about, with King Boreas battling it out with the Vulcans (their word, not mine) for supremacy.

I find these ideas interesting but am annoyed, as usual, that threads of thought I consider worthy of further consideration seem to be already tangled up in American Gods and War for the Oaks.

I'm taking the day off work from the day job as I have a visiting Author in the Schools appearance tomorrow (at Fiona's school, actually). I've already arranged to meet again with Inga the architect afterwards. I want to talk with her about what I might need to read to help me get an idea of the field of architecture, and to ask more specific questions about what happens at a cherette (a design meeting). I think my back brain has been reluctant to write about Jack and Solveig in the work place because I'm so appallingly ignorant about architecture.

Cheers,
Peg

Comments

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

The Austen info you included above reminds me of something I had read about Regency times -- that a man's land, his home, his landscaping, was considered an outward expression of the man himself. (It was posited that this concept was behind Elizabeth Bennet's comment that she first fell in love with Mr. Darcy upon seeing Pemberley -- in seeing Pemberley, she was seeing the true man.)

An architect, I would think, definitely puts much of him or herself into the buildings he/she designs. Even if it's a design to a client's specifications, there's still the attention and care to detail, the emotion, etc. Might that not come through in the design -- for example, if an architect had a difficult time with a harsh client, could the building in some way carry that feeling in it? (And here we go with the magical realism...)

In Solveig's case, since she has a certain magic from the fish, could that not be part of what she imparts to the buildings she designs?

- Darice

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Perhaps architectural magic is the reverse: buildings don't express the inner selves of the people in them, but change the people in them to be more in tune with the building. So buildings could be designed to foster efficiency, comfort, patience, mind-numbing bureaucracy; what, for example, would the capitol building in St. Paul, with the six-story entry and the peace-pipe statue, foster? What does it mean that they commissioned one statue, but replaced it with a different one (my memory of the story is very vague, I think I heard it from elisem)?

If Solveig can do this, and doesn't know it, she could actually be very dangerous: imagine living in a house that the designer magically imprinted with frustration and fear because she's pregnant and alone and finals are coming? Maybe Jack is spending so much time with Solveig's plans for the Ice Palace that he is being changed by them. What is she expressing her her design of the Ice Palace? He's magical enough that he might notice the changes -- maybe the surprise is that he doesn't mind what he's becoming under her influence. Isn't that a part of love?

Hmm, I like this idea. Maybe I'll have use it on something. But ideas are free.

I remember reading somewhere about a program where architectural students designed houses, pro bono, for a charitable house-building association. Not Habitat for Humanity, but something similar. The emphasis was on well-designed, one-of-a-kind houses; just because one is poor doesn't mean one deserves to live in a box. Perhaps there are similar programs in Minnesota.

Well, that's gone on long enough... I hope some of it is useful for someone other than me. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

Hmm, I feel strange even giving input, but anyway, here are the thoughts that ran through my head after reading your post.

So if there is a genius of the place in Minneapolis/St. Paul, what would it be? Some kind of Amerindian/Scandinavian mixture, perhaps? The discussion of geniuses of places I read concerned landscape design, but why should it not concern architecture/building design, too, as buildings, too have to fit into places?
*new gods of technology, money, the Internet, etc., waxed in power

If the Frost King is the genius of the place in regards to the landscape/weather/natural design, as an old god, perhaps he wants/doesn't want Solveig to become a new god in regards to the architecture of the city. Building the ice palace bridges the elements and the architecture (old and new).

Hmm, I had several points of why that would make sense when I was thinking about this last night, but I can't remember any of them now... my mind is just numb today.

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

I've always thought the ruler of winter is the Snow Queen rather than the Frost King. And the Snow Queen is certainly Scandanavian. From a different direction how does the interface between Scandanavian and Native American mix in Minneapolis?

The idea of architecture as magic (intellectual, building, developing, creating) especially in terms of something as fragile and transitory as an ice castle is fantastic in itself.