“Nature is a Haunted House – but Art – a House that tries to be haunted.” —Emily Dickinson
Going to get somewhat personal again. I haven’t really been reading or following the news today other than the cable news in the background of my hotel room. I am about to move into a very old building for a year-long rental lease. I am looking forward to the move-in. Old buildings are beautiful to me. I think Henry James wrote about how he preferred Europe to the U.S. because it has aging ruins.
The one I am moving into reminds me of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. It isn’t quite 170 years old and is larger than a seven-gabled home (it was formerly a large inn). It is odd the way a place can affect your emotions. T.S. Eliot said, “time is time, and place is always and only place.” But place does make a difference to your mood and emotional well-being. And, as I recall, one meaning of ethos in the ancient Greek rhetorical sense is understanding your place.
I am not afraid of potential ghosts in the building.