The Spire: With an introduction by John Mullan

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Dean Jocelin brooks no argument in his determination to fulfill his mission. Despite warnings from the master builder Roger Mason, that the foundations are not strong enough to support the spire’s weight, he presses on relentlessly. He will not stop even when the supporting columns protest, “singing” as they bend under the strain. Nor when his fellow members of the Cathedral chapter complain that celebrants can no longer hear the services amid the banging and clattering way above their heads. urn:lcp:spire0000gold_n6f6:epub:fc2d5db0-824c-48a2-b99e-a4062f6bd9c2 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier spire0000gold_n6f6 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t37186j2s Invoice 1652 Isbn 0571064922 This is the second time I’ve read The Spire. It’s so rich in imagery, symbolism and metaphor that it can be challenging to absorb in one reading. I understood the way Jocelin’s degrading spine connects to the instability of the spire and the significance of Goody’s red hair. But I’m still puzzled about the meaning of the mistletoe placed within the corpse of one character and which Jocelin scrapes off his shoes with disgust. Golding respects the way medieval individuals actually might have thought, felt, or spoken in their world --not in ours. He 'keeps faith' with them; even though this renders them awkward and unfamiliar to our eyes and ears. It is difficult material; but Golding conquered it in the writing and you must conquer it in the reading. That is the arrangement here. You keep up with him, rather than him pandering to you. It's refreshing in that respect.

If there was a Jocelin, and his spire fell, it becomes something else. All that incredible effort was for something – but left nothing, Or in fact, less than nothing, given the financial, physical and mental toll it took on everyone connected to its construction. Golding apparently struggled to write this novel and went through several versions before publication in 1964. It was originally intended to have two settings but the modern day elements were dropped so the finished novel is entirely set in the Middle Ages in an unnamed town. I’d be interested to see Golding’s handwritten manuscript notes which are at the University of Exeter‘s Special Collections archive along with the typescripts. Thus the erection of The Spire commences… And, similar to Isaiah, he sees the guarding angel by his side…Lccn 79109894 Ocr tesseract 4.1.1 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 1.0000 Ocr_module_version 0.0.11 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000225 Openlibrary_edition If it is all a figment of Golding's imagination, and there was no Jocelin, or anyone like him, The Spire becomes a tremendous mental exercise. A great abstract symbol of folly that is itself insubstantial; a symphony of words, surrounding empty space in a manner even more flimsy than that cone of scaffolding and ladders wrapped around the air at the top of the spire. Carey, Professor John (2009). William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies . London: Faber and Faber Limited. ISBN 978-0-571-23163-8.

There's never any doubt about the phallic symbolism of the spire – but there are variations in its meaning. At first it rises from the belly of the church as a fairly straightforward expression of Jocelin's pride and power. Yet the imagery becomes ever more dangerous and unpleasant. We see workmen waving models of it between their legs. It is the centre of the apparent rape of Goody Pangall. It then seems, for a while at least, to promise a kind of fertility, a hope of life and love, when Goody falls pregnant and has an adulterous affair with the master builder Roger Mason. But in this novel, such hopes breed death and madness. And afterwards, as the tower sways and looks set to fall, there is hopeless impotence. He opened his eyes and found that he was looking away from the tower and out into the world.... He could see over the bending workmen ... the valleys of the three rivers that met by the cathedral close opened themselves up.... You could see that all those places which had been separate to feet and only joined by an act of reason were indeed part of a whole. Miller, Jeanne C. "ELUSIVE AND OBSCURE." The Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 40, no. 4, 1964, pp. 668–671. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26444912. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020. Paul, Leslie. "The Spire That Stayed out in the Cold." The Kenyon Review, vol. 26, no. 3, 1964, pp. 568–571. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4334473. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020. Bu kez bir manastırdayız. Bir baş rahibimiz var. Adı Jocelin. Şahsi yorumumu şimdiden söyleyeyim. Bence bu adam delinin teki. Yaşlandıkça ve Hıristyanlık aleminde yükseldikçe kafayı yemiş. Bir meleği var. (Kim bilir hangi psikolojik rahatsızlıktan muzdarip. Yazık la kimin çocuğuysa...) Meleği sürekli sırtında. Ondan hiç ayrılmıyor. Konuşmuyor da. Sadece peşinde dolanıyor, sırtında ağırlık yapıyor hepsi bu. Dolayısıyla bizim başrahip "ben seçilmiş kişiyim" diye dolanıyor ortalıkta.Golding knew exactly what he was doing. Later, he describes Jocelin's fractured memories in terms of narrative: "they were like sentences from a story, which though they left great gaps, still told enough." Clearly self-referential. True, we are afforded glimpses, dispatches, from the outside world. Two young deacons are overheard by Jocelin, denigrating someone unspecified: "Say what you like; he's proud." Second deacon: "And ignorant." First deacon: "Do you know what? He thinks he is a saint! A man like that!" Like Lord of the Flies, the only other of Golding's novels I've read, this is an intense study of extreme behavior, in this case of Dean Jocelin's obsession to build a spire atop the medieval cathedral over which he presides, that already is too heavy for its fragile and shifting foundation. Convinced that he has been chosen by God to lead this project, Jocelin sacrifices everything and everyone around him in his quest to complete the work before a growing array of opposing forces can stop it. Obviously a crudely simplistic 'Freudian' reading might see the spire as a symbol of both his writing – he aspired to create something of greatness, against some hostility, but worried that it was built on shaky foundations; and it is also a phallic symbol of course – again on shaky foundations."

I bought this book while taking a short break in Salisbury a few years ago. The flat we rented had a window directly facing the cathedral so I did spend quite some hours just like Golding, gazing in wonder at the spire. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-02-10 14:01:07 Boxid IA40059022 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier He was laughing, chin up, and shaking his head. God the Father was exploding in his face with a glory of sunlight through painted glass, a glory that moved with his movements to consume and exalt Abraham and Isaac and then God again."When people tell you it can't be done but you hold all the cards and can have them burned as heretics for denying your will, you MAY or MAY NOT descend into madness while trying to twist yourself into knots trying to make reality conform to your will. Roger Mason, a medieval Master Mason is, in direct contrast to Jocelin, physically powerful and a rationalist. He is associated with the imagery of a bull and a stallion. Roger contends with Jocelin, arguing that the cathedral foundations are insufficient to support the spire. He is forced to continue with the project because Jocelin makes it impossible for him to work elsewhere. After the death of Goody, Roger becomes an alcoholic. In a moment of clarity, Jocelin visits Roger and we eventually learn of his suicide attempt. stars out of 5. Perhaps it is not the most engaging story, but for me it marks my very first exposure to true literary art and the seed from which my pretentious reading habit grew. Nu știu exact care e miza autorului, nici nu prea mă interesează. Lectura a fost iar potrivită, având în vedere ultimele "bârfe". Nu condamn construcția de biserici și edificii:)). Poate că pe parcursul istoriei unii capi de biserică au fost mai preocupați de ziduri decât de oameni, fie și așa. Nu sunt oare atât de frumoase?! Bine că le-au făcut! Să nu ne plângem, se preocupă Hristos de noi și noi unii de alții.